Lovejoy

A few weeks ago, I started hearing a lot about a comet. It was first seen by Australian amateur astronomer Terry Lovejoy last August. Officially called C/2014 Q2, the comet appears a dim, hazy ball to the naked eye. It’s not too difficult to find it with a decent pair of binoculars. There are some good sky charts online to help locate Comet Lovejoy.

Orion makes a good reference point. For me the comet was high in the sky during clear, dark conditions. Over a period of time, it’s movement is evident in it’s changing position in relationship to the stars.

I spotted it one cold night from my yard, and the next evening attempted some photographs. It was hard to line up at first, but I finally got it focused in my viewfinder for some time exposures.

comet sky

My first shot was taken with a 200mm telephoto and didn’t show a tail.

C2014 Q2

A week later, when I went to a 500mm lens and increased the exposure, the tail became apparent.

There’s still a week or so to see this spectacle. After that, Lovejoy’s next pass isn’t for another 8,000 years.

Freedom

I’ve always loved taking pictures of things without being tied to restrictive parameters or deadlines. So over the years, I’ve given myself “assignments” to shoot particular things almost exclusively on the Outer Banks. I’ll hunt for waterfowl, landscapes or even people just for the satisfaction of getting a good shot.

Several weeks ago I decided to look for pelicans, and there was a lot of activity on Pea Island National Wildlife Refuge near Oregon Inlet. I have pelican shots both in film and digital formats, but felt a need to improve on what I already had.

The main thing was to put myself in a location and react. It’s simple. I had an image or two in mind, but the unexpected always happens. I shot 3 different sessions, as elements seemed to come together at once, wind and light as key components.

beachscape I had a beautiful environment in which to work.

frenzy There was a huge feeding frenzy one afternoon with cormorants, gulls and a few pelicans.

dive For those with skills, the ocean provided.

wave One day swells from an offshore storm made a nice backdrop.

soaring

Most of the flocks seemed to come in groups of three.

three pelicans

bridge As I was leaving, a landscape scene impressed me.

tree

Then I was inspired by a beautiful tree someone had lovingly decorated.

Merry Christmas Everyone!

 

Sargassum

The beach is a dynamic place, and has many faces. Like the seasons, it’s ever changing. The warm Gulf Stream meanders in and out, and even influences our weather.

A sure sign of the Gulf Stream is the presence of seaweed washed up on the beach. Sargassum is a free floating seaweed that drifts in island-like masses and goes with the current. It is an important habitat for various forms of marine life while at sea. It provides food and protection for juvenile fish and invertebrates.

When it washes up on the beach, it attracts birds and other creatures that feed around it.

close upbirdsDuring Summer and Fall, sargassum can drift up in huge rafts.seaweedEventually it dries and decomposes. I’ve used it in my garden after it’s rinsed and composted.marrymeLast month while on a beach walk, I noticed another use for sargassum. verticle                                                        I don’t know who the author of this message was, but considering the effort, I hope the answer was an emphatic “YES”.

 

Hallowed Ground

On the first of this month, Denise and I were in the DC area for the interment of her father at Arlington National Cemetery. He was a 30 year veteran of the US Army Reserve, active overseas during the Korean conflict, and was extremely proud to serve his country. He retired as Colonel.

It was an overcast day when we encountered a regiment awaiting our arrival at the top of a hill.

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10The emotion of this reception was indescribable. It evoked a mix of feelings as the caisson was drawn to the burial plot. This is a dignified resting place for over 400,000 service members, and the cemetery conducts up to 30 burials every weekday.

My sister-in-law made this powerful photograph of her father’s caisson beneath a beautiful canopy of green.

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18The riderless horse reminded me of “Black Jack” the caparisoned horse that I saw at President Kennedy’s funeral. By tradition in military funerals, this horse follows the casket of an officer who was a colonel or above. The empty boots facing backward in the stirrups represent that the individual will ride no more. They also suggest the deceased taking one last look back at his family and troops that he commanded.

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flag

dadThis wasn’t my first experience at Arlington National Cemetery. It gave me, a brother, and two sisters a chance to visit the grave of our father, interred in 2001.

sand                                        His resting place is within a hundred yards of Dick Murray. As a tribute, Denise placed some beach sand at the base of the headstone.

Vintage Surf

It’s been a year since my lifelong friend, Robin, passed away, so I’ve been contemplating our relationship and good times. It’s hard to believe it’s over and done. We all have opportunities to love and enjoy life, and Robin certainly did. What a gift!

His worldly possessions have been dispersed as he wanted. Among the items he left me was a fairly large collection of photographs. He was many things, hunter-gatherer, prolific reader, jack of all trades and surfer. Most people don’t realize the amount of photography he produced.

I spent last winter going over thousands of photos he made since his early teens. Many of those images were inconsequential personal memories, but there are many that have merit.

northside Taken from the north jetty.

Of particular interest to me are Robin’s photographs contained in an album from his early days surfing at Indian River Inlet in Delaware. I didn’t know him then, but it’s about the time I learned to surf a 9’6” Bing there. It was a good wave and a good place for a young surfer to make friends and integrate into a new lifestyle.

These old Polaroid photographs taken in 1967 and ’68 are one-of-a-kind originals.

longboards I think Robin is on the far right, the others are unidentified.

surfari I don’t know where this Polaroid was taken, but it looks typical of rural Delaware.            A 19 year old Robin stands between two unidentified friends while changing a flat tire.

gemini 1 A few years later, surfboards got a lot smaller. Robin took this snapshot of his team mates from Gemini Surf Shop out of Rehoboth Beach, perhaps about 1970. Dave Isaacs, Gary Revel, Jeff Ammons, Bryant Clark, Brent Clark, Skip Savage, Karl Gude and one unidentified. Who knows who he is?

When most people take a picture, they don’t realize they’re making a historical record. As a photographer, I didn’t intend the pictures I took many years ago become history. But in retrospect, I see a lot of value in old photographs, the older the better. If I had it to do all over again, I would opt to do much more shooting of people or things that I routinely took for granted.