Albuquerque Zoo: Chilin Out

Chillin Out

Digital C-Print

     The Albuquerque Zoo was a great place to visit and I can't wait to go back. They have a wide assortment of animals in photo friendly environments. If you can make the trip, I totally recommend it. This guy was one of my favorites. It was a hot summer day and he was hanging half in/half out of his pool, just chillin out. Definitely was a lazy day for the polar bear.

     I felt like this was an appropriate Hump Day image. Wednesday is the lazy day of the week. Halfway to the weekend!

Have a great day!

If you want to visit the Albuquerque Zoo or Aquarium click HERE for park information.

Connecticut Fall Foliage: A Trip Into the Litchfield Hills

New England Pond

Digital C-Print

    

                     I love New England, especially in the fall. I went for a drive into the Litchfield hills today and even though it is past "peak" leaf peeping, the colors in the landscape were still amazingly vibrant.

Rathbun's Sugar House: Adirondack Mountain Exploration

Milk Bottles

Digital C-Print

      Rathbun's sugar house is a place my extended family has been going to for years. I just discovered it within the last couple years and can't believe I didn't know about this place earlier. Nestled away in the Adirondack Mountains this quaint little restaurant is always busy. Expect to wait a while! They have a sugar shack behind the restaurant where depending on the time of year you can watch them make maple syrup or learn about their history. Along side the restaurant they have an area chock full of old American farming equipment and old knick knacks. To some it may look like a pile of junk, to me I see a time forgotten. Surprisingly a lot of the stuff is still in decent condition for being outside year round. 
     I am enamored with these bottles. These are glass milk bottles from once local farms. You can still read the farm's names on the sides of the bottles. The row of bottles caught my eye immediately when I walked into the enclosure. It was a beautiful day and the way they were catching the light made it look like they were sparkling from a distance. From this angle the light softly fills each bottle highlighting the years that they have seen. The landscape behind the bottle is full of beautiful fall foliage.

Expect to see more images from my treks 

around the Adirondack's!

A Trip to the Mountains

             

Mountain Brook

Digital C-Print

          While editing images I took this past summer I came across this one and decided to share it with you. This is a very special place that I have been visiting ever since I was a child. Every time I visit there I am put into a trance at how absolutely serene it is. A professor once told me you never get the same shot twice. You can go to a place a million times over and take a different picture of the same landscape. He was absolutely right. I have photographed that mountain brook hundreds of times and every shot was different. The landscape keeps evolving and changing. Everyday the lighting is slightly different. I feel like we take our surroundings for granted. I try to appreciate it every day.  

Trekking Around

Exploring Santa Fe

I've traveled the world and now I am exploring our country. Santa Fe is an eclectic little community living at a high altitude.

Black Locust Tree

Santa Fe's Peppers

An Ongoing Project

NightScapes

Right Side of the Brook

11" x 14"

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        NightScapes is a series of experimental photographs that was my senior thesis in college.  It is an ongoing series that I believe I will continue experimenting with throughout my entire life.  For me it was about finding a place in nature that hasn't been touched by man.  That the night has a beauty all it's own. The kind of beauty we didn't know was there and that the naked eye cannot see. I have been slowly scanning in all my film images to create a digital library of all my work.  This portfolio is also a work in progress as I continue to scan in my other NightScapes and as I progressively shoot more.  I still want to carry on this series with film but have decided to also experiment in a digital format as well. Click HERE to view my NightScapes Portfolio and to read my artist statement about these experimental photographs.

        

Check Out My Portfolio In Progress

               

Tuna Factory

11" x 14"

C - Print

Scopello, Sicily

               
            All my work up until recently was film based.  I love shooting film.  It is how I was taught and there is something amazing about being able to create an image in the darkroom; which is why I fell in love with Photography in the first place.  My love for the darkroom is still there, but times have changed, and I can't always get to a dark room, so I have gone digital.  That doesn't mean I don't shoot film anymore, especially large format, I am just keeping pace with the rest of the world.  Over the past 7 months I have been scanning in all my film prints so I can have a digital portfolio.  But when I got my new computer somehow, someway, my external hard drive ended up being wiped of all information.  So I am slowly starting the process over again. I'm re-scanning all my work again, so as of now I only have a few images up, but there will be more to come! Take a look at the beginnings of my Sicily Portfolio. :)  Click Here to See my SICILY PORTFOLIO

Getting Back to Business

        

Paugussett Rope Swing

Digital C-Print

         
          After some major set backs since my last post, I finally was able to dump some recently shot images.  I shot this while hiking in Paugussett state forest one afternoon. I am particularly drawn to this image for different reasons.  I am drawn to the rich colors, the over all composition, and  how any one that sees this image can find a way to relate to it.  Whether it be a pastime that they enjoyed when they were young or a subliminal message that they may find with in the image itself. There will be more to come shortly now that I am back up and running! 

Rejuvenation

Golden Sunset of Siracusa

11" x 14"

C - Print

Siracusa, Sicily

Sometimes life gives you a little nudge at what may seem like the most unexpected times but ends up being when you really need it the most.

I have finally figured out that I may not know exactly where I am going with my art work or my life but to get where I eventually want to be means I have to stop making excuses and just go out and do what I love to do.

Recently I was given the opportunity to participate in a project that was being put together by a professor at the University of Hartford Art School.  They are putting together a published book "10 Years of UMass & Hartford Art School in Sicily".  Myself along with many other HAS Alum's had taken a Travel & Photo/Illustration class during undergrad that gave us the opportunity to travel the island of Sicily for 10 days.  All former students were able to submit a piece of work from Sicily and a current piece of art work. 

This project has rejuvenated me in so many ways.  I am making a digital portfolio of all my past work, which was all film; 35mm and large format.  I have a new camera, a Canon 5D Mark II, and have been going out shooting everything and anything trying to find what my new focus will be.  Plus, I am creating a blog where I will have my different portfolios available.  Being a photographer is who I am.  I'm not interested in traveling to places just to say I traveled there.  I want to show people the world in a way that they have never seen it before.