WELCOME TO MY PHOTO JOURNAL

…of commentary and images of places, things, or events that I’ve photographed. On the right are posts from the past few months; click on one and you’ll be taken to it.  For earlier posts click here to visit my alphabetical index of all posts.  The items listed are hot links which, if clicked on, will take you to that post.  if If you’d like to get an automatic email whenever I add a post, simply click under Email Subscription at the lower left. You can always unsubscribe. 

SUMMER’S FIRST G&T

Yeah, yeah, I know.  It’s not summer yet but it sure felt like it.  The Memorial Day weekend was mighty fine.  I said to the family that it was as though we had been in a winter time warp;  then someone pulled the switch and we fell out into last August.  Bagels from the Bagel Shack; three trips a day to Murphy’s to get the food items we forgot to get earlier; fisherman and crabbers at the foot of the street;  flip-flops lined up at the beach entrance; surfers and beach walkers; the ice-cream guy’s bells; roller blades on West Avenue…

We enjoyed it while looking anxiously over our shoulders, half expecting the nice weather to be pushed away.  But, it didn’t happen even though we all remember wet, cold, Memorial Days in the past.  Clearly, the season has begun and we’re pleased that neither spring nor summer have forgotton how to do it right.  The Purple Martins know it; they returned to their condos a few weeks ago.

The celebration day was beautifully clear at Beach Haven’s Veterans’ Bicentennial Park, ready for the ceremony at the gazebo. 

The parade was “down-home” with the Mayor, our friend Professor Commissioner Nancy Davis, the Boy Scouts, the antique cars, Missy and John Maschal in their early 20th C., wood-sided Fudge Truck , the fire engines and first-aiders, and a super marching band.

During the service, veterans were invited to gather before the podium.  Feeling inadequate in the presence of those who had been in harm’s way I went up anyway, proud to have served my country.  I never fired a shot in anger but I served, helping to maintain our defense establishment with the Atlantic Fleet Seabees in Morocco, Spain, and Puerto Rico.  Here’s Bergie and his construction company of Seabees in front of a completed vital defense structure (a base commissary )  (For this I had to master navigation and seamanship??)

The Memorial Day Pig Roast was fun and filling.  Fun also to see old friends again to begin the season.

Other signs of the seasonal change are here.  There’s usually a tiki of some sort nailed to the top of a post along the boardwalk from the street to the beach.  Here’s this year’s…whimsical and endearing.

And, just by that walkway are the beach roses, Rosa Rugosa, sometimes called Nantucket Roses, which are most lush and prolific at this time of year:

This is also the season for the exotic, beautiful mountain laurel blossoms.  The reddish cast, a departure from the usual light pink, is rare for the area, and is seen mostly in the nearby pine barrens.

And, finally, the regal,delicate ballerina, the iris.

The G&T?  Oh, yeah, we had a couple.

McGUIRE-DIX-LAKEHURST AIR SHOW

I have greatly enjoyed photographing the wildflowers and other spring appearances here on campus but I have been feeling more and more a need to get to another topic…to get off of the trails as it were.  Then I learned that there was to be an airshow at the Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst last weekend so we drove over and  joined a couple hundred thousand others there.  It was exciting and fun.

Thirty years apart.

Shortly after arrival these late 1930′s  SNJ-2′s split the sky above the tail of a 1969-design C-5 Galaxy transport.  A good contrast with which to begin.

Here’s that C-5 Galaxy, about the width of my living room and arranged for a walk-thru.  One apparently carries one’s own baggage aboard.

There were thousands who came out for the excitement.  I was impressed with how well base personnel handled the traffic to the parking lots.  I was sobered by the body scanning station backed up by men carrying automatic weapons at port arms, and with side arms strapped to their thighs. 

You were there, too? I didn’t see you.

Then we had a show of smoke-trailed aerial acrobatics by the SNJ-2′s.  The group calls itself the Sky-typers.

Yet another group, this time  circa 1950 T-28 trainers,  entertained us with acrobatics and pseudo dogfights.

I had thought I’d be disadvantaged since I didn’t have my 400mm telephoto with me.  I saw a couple in use but I decided that my 105mm worked fine, enhanced at times with some cropping.

The air activity also included some frightening passes by F-18s and a B-1, as well as marine paratroopers launched from one of those C-5 Galaxies, and some helicoptered troop insertions.  In addition there was a lot to see on the ground including this WWII star, the B-25.  Sixteen of these were launched from the USS Hornet to bomb Tokoyo in April, 1942.  This was largely a propaganda gesture but an important one.  As only President Roosevelt could do, he glibly referred to the attack as having been launched from Shangri-La.

I was also able to tell an Army Air Corps historian at the show about the time one of these crashed on the beach in Margate in June 1942.  We ten year-olds scoured it for souvenirs before the army arrived.  (I think my 50 caliber machine gun went in last fall’s estate sale.)

The day’s finale was a magnificent, stirring performance by the U.S. Air Force’s Thunderbirds, presently flying F-18′s.  Words and still shots fail.

It was a great day to celebrate our armed forces.  It was inspiring and encouraging.  I enjoyed flash-backs to my navy days.  I was proud to have been a part of it then, and proud of, and grateful for,  our service people today.

Si vis pacem, para bellum

(If you want peace, prepare for war.)

Attributed to the 4th or 5th century Roman writer, Vegetius

APRIL SHOWERS BRING A HIGH TIDE

One morning after the recent nor’easter I went camera-ing.  What had been the shoal waters of Sharp’s Walk (Run) had changed.  The tide had come in.  

It was nice to see the swirling waters, and the rain, having washed away the dust, had made the greens more vivid.

 

Even more important there was a new set of wildflower varieties along the red trail.

 

The trails were still there but some required special “navigation”.

Just follow the red trail marks.

ON THE TRAILS

I spent about an hour last Sunday morning on the trails along Sharp’s Run at Medford Leas, enjoying seeing the awakening of plants and trees.  It’s nice to see the feathery foliage emerging on the trees but our lack of rain shows in the shallow Sharp’s Run.

Here’s a Redbud.  It wasn’t on the trails; it’s along the walk in front of the Estaugh Building but it was too pretty against a cloud pattern of branches to be left out.

 

Back on the Red Trail here’s a crab apple that I photographed last week and, below, the same branch last Sunday.  This is the trail where I watch a local walk her several exhuberant Jack Russell terriers and her collie most mornings.  Last month one morning I watched five deer move smartly down this trail, and last week a Red Fox crossed my grass and headed for the trail.

The Red Trail Crabapple (see above) a week later.

There are lots of wildflowers happy to be here along the Yellow Trail.  Here are two for whose names I’m in debt to Maggie Heineman.

Spring Beauty

Spring Cress Cardamine Bulbosa

DEBUSSY’S LA MER AND OTHER PAENS TO THE SEA

 

Sea Fever by John Masefield

I must go down to the seas again, to the lonely sea and the sky,
And all I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by,
And the wheel’s kick and the wind’s song and the white sail’s shaking,
And a grey mist on the sea’s face, and a grey dawn breaking.

I must go down to the seas again, for the call of the running tide
Is a wild call and a clear call that may not be denied;
And all I ask is a windy day with the white clouds flying,
And the flung spray and the blown spume, and the sea-gulls crying.

I must go down to the seas again, to the vagrant gypsy life,
To the gull’s way and the whale’s way, where the wind’s like a whetted knife;
And all I ask is a merry yarn from a laughing fellow-rover,
And quiet sleep and a sweet dream when the long trick’s over.

I recently attended a Philadelphia Orchestra concert which included the playing of Debussy’s La Mer (The Sea).  This performance was not part of my season program but I could not possibly pass it up.  It was wonderful!   While you’re reading this and looking at the images you can hear the third movement (the dialog of the wind and the sea) by turning up your volume and clicking on the arrow here.

 

Observers at the time referred to all of his work as impressionistic, a parallel to the French school of impressionistic art by such as Monet, Renoir, Pissaro and Cezanne.  Debussy is said to have rejected the idea but eventually accepted it.  I think it is bang-on, particularly in contrast to the structured work of the classical and baroque periods.

It is the impressionistic style that appeals to me but it is also the images evoked of the sea, something with which I have had a long love affair.  (My Nordic genes?)    As I mentioned in a previous post, my late friend, psycho-analyst LeRoy Byerly, once observed that the sea reminded us of the sloshing waters of the womb.    Well, it could be but my own affinity for the waters dates from childhood on the beaches and along the Intra Coastal Waterway, in a boathouse on pilings with my rowboat underneath it.  Also, having to watch all of the episodes of Victory at Sea many times over in OCS probably had some effect as well.

In any event I have a bountiful stream of memories involving the seas and other waterways.  As a child, diving under the waters, pretending to be the comic book character, Submariner; walking the beaches in winter after school;  scampering dangerously from rock to rock on the jettys; putt-putting through the marshes after a night of fishing, with only a war surplus one-cell life jacket light as a running light.   

As an adult it was watching the chairs slide across the deck in the wardroom while crossing a March, storm-tossed North Atlantic, and watching the long deck of the LST ripple with each wave through which we pounded.  It was  barely surviving a windy day’s broach and near capsizing of a Captain’s gig while rounding the tip of Conanicut Island where the Narrangansett opened to Long Island Sound’s four foot chop.  It was standing on the bridge in deep night during a quieter Atlantic crossing and seeing another ship ghosting by in the distance, sharing the greatness and the depths and the loneliness of stars and sea.  It was standing on a Pacific shore as the sun sank into the mysterious Far East, with Richard Rodgers’ Theme of the Fast Carriers spinning in my head, thinking about that war and my brother storming murderous beaches, and the great dramas and losses and sadness of that profound and forever-gone era.

It is my brother, Bill’s, poem defining experiences I have also felt.

It was being placidly anchored in some secluded gunk-hole of the Chesapeake Bay as twlight descended, amidst others at anchor; secure, sharing private peace from the hazards of life, the bay and the night… islands of humanity.   And, it has been struggling through six foot seas while the cat puked on the aft deck and Marty Lou wondered out loud why she had ever left the mountains.  It has been walking the docks of marinas after safely tying up at day’s end, hearing the sounds and smelling the smells of boats at rest.  It has been gazing over the froth-filled near-shore reefs at the distant mountains of St. Bart’s as the sun rose on our beloved Dawn Beach.  It has been gliding on a canal boat through a dark mountain tunnel in lantern light with the sounds of a requiem mass being played.  Whose?  Too many years ago; I don’t remember.

It has been out on the sailing grounds,sun and spray in my face, watching the races and hearing the shhhhh of the hulls slicing through the water, the clicking of the cranked winches, and the occasional flapping of luffing sails.  It has been standing on the beach during a Nor’easter, physically understanding the overwhelming forces of the pounding waves and my own insignificance.  And it has been watching the moon’s reflection on the brief sheen left by a receeding wave.

Yes, I must go down to the seas again…….

SPRING’S BLOUSE SLIPS ALLURINGLY OFF OF HER SHOULDER

Of course I’m writing about spring flowers gradually appearing.   Whatever were you thinking?  

As I raised the blinds yesterday morning this  tree called to me in the slight fog.  Where did all of those white blossoms come from so suddenly?

Then, on the adjacent trail I came across this night’s work showing the effects of the fog.  It looks as though all that work yielded only a few bits of wet chaff.

Elsewhere on the campus there are lots of splashes of naturalized Narcissi which please the eye and anchor other pleasant woodland scenes.

 

Not much farther afield was this lovely tree, its blossoms so pretty and so short-lived.  I’ve always known these as Tulip trees but our arboretum sign calls them Magnolias.  Indeed, they’re closer to Magnolias than to the Lily (tulips) family. 

A few days earlier I interrupted these two taking in a morning on the south branch of the Rancocas.

Yes, clearly spring is movin’ in and isn’t that a nice thing to know each morning?

THE PHILADELPHIA FLOWER SHOW FOR 2012

This may be the shortest post I’ve done.  I didn’t think there was as much to shoot as in past years.  Lots and lots and lots of orchids.  I missed the great spring flowering gardens of other years; the wild azaleas blooming midst pineland scenes (do you remember Judd’s pine barrens scenes complete with decaying shack?); the great swaths of tulips, daffodils and hyacinths; the beds of perky annuals; the streams and fountains and woodsy gardens.   Oh, well. 

Orchids or not I thought this setting was pretty.

The show entrance was awesome for its creativity and supposed evocation of Hawaii.  The idea, I guess, was that you were under the sea, surrounded on three sides and above by the moving water and darting fish.  Interesting,  but  it reminded me of that great Peggy Lee song, “Is that all there is?” 

Because of the motion involved I tried to capture the effect with video. 

Oh, fortunately, there were lots of the usual beautiful specimen plants including some daffodils, some of the few at this “spring” show.

AN ANTIQUE SHOW FIND AND THE MAURICE RIVER AREA

As noted before in this journal one of my favorite antique shows is held twice a year at the Mauricetown, New Jersey firehall.  It’s a nice little show with good food provided by the firefighters and their helpers.  And, of course, it’s a launching point for some favorite areas for photography such as the river front at nearby Shellpile.

I find it increasingly difficult to find things for my collecting interests but Saturday produced a winner.  One of my interests is  early American, ruby-stained, pressed glass that has been souvenired for my old home town, Atlantic City.  These were popular souvenirs purchased on the boardwalk, mostly in the decades either side of 1900.  One also finds them as souvenirs of other times and cities but my collection is exclusively Atlantic City.  I began serious collecting in the 90′s.  Generally restricting myself to one functional piece, i.e. pitcher, tumbler, stem, etc. in a range of sizes per pattern I now have 135 pieces in 40 patterns.  Here’s the piece I stole Saturday.

The theft?  Well, the last time I saw this beautiful and rare pattern was in a 2001 ebay auction when a well-known Moscow collector scarfed it up for $300.  I am not that serious a collector.  But, there it was at $29 and I had the nerve to ask the dealer if he could do any better.  (It’s what one does at such shows.) 

I used to have trouble identifying patterns because there were very few references for a collector.  So, in 2002  I created a website for the glassware with pattern pictures for reference which you can see by clicking here.  This site continues to average between 40 and 50 hits per month; not bad for a narrow, obscure interest.

So then, feeling pretty satisfied with myself, it was off to the river and the Delaware River shore.  Here’s the East Point Lighthouse located, appropriately, on the eastern point of the Maurice River.

Love that red roof.

Here’s the Meerwald oyster schooner mothballed for winter at the under-preservation Bivalve Oyster Packing Docks.  All sealed up but I could hear voices inside, probably doing interior winter maintenance.  (Note to colleagues: this is a handheld HDR composite, shooting into the sunny part of the sky, and using a clone tool to take out some sunspots.)

Some other images along the Delaware River shore:

Some wind blown chop on the beach.

A Tidal Swamp.

Look out! It's going to spill onto your keyboard.

A PLEASING BENCHMARK

As most of you know I maintain a set of photo galleries at www.Pbase.com/BergiesPlace.  I launched that site seven years ago (compared to three years ago for this journal).  The site houses some 2600 images in 250 galleries (1300 images in 135 galleries are public; the remaining galleries are private). 

 I’m very pleased to report that last week I recorded the 300,000th page view on the site.  Thanks all for looking. 

Just as the falling tree makes no sound in the forest if there’s no one there to hear it,

the images don’t convey anything if no one looks at them.

THE WAKODAHATCHEE WETLANDS AND THE MORIKAMI JAPANESE GARDENS

I recently enjoyed a week at a friend’s condo in Delray Beach, Florida.  The condo looked out on a small lake where there was a lakeside bench we enjoyed during  the cocktail hour.  Out in the lake was an aeration fountain;  its peak is shown above, caught in the setting sun marking the end of each pleasant day in the area.

One highlight was a visit to the Wakodahotchee Wetlands.  This is a vast park maintained by Palm Beach County as a pleasant place for bird watching while serving to final filter the already pure outflow from their water treatment plant.

The park is fifty acres with a three-quarter mile boardwalk that crosses between open water pond areas, emergent marsh areas, shallow shelves, and islands with shrubs and snags to foster nesting and roosting.  Over 151 varieties of birds have been seen along with turtles, alligators, frogs, otters and racoons.  I was envious of the photographers with their long lenses, capturing the various herons, anhingas and cormorants nesting in the thickets.  My own long lens was nesting back home.  Oh, well.

a tri-color heron.

 

 

 Here’s a female Anhinga and a Great Blue Heron.

Talking about all the crazy photographers.

 

This place was so pleasant and enjoyable that we returned for another walk.  We also visited a similar Palm Beach County Park, Green Cay Nature Center, 100 acres of constructed wetlands with a 1.5 mile elevated boardwalk through it with extensive educational facilities.

 

 

ANOTHER REWARDING ACTIVITY WAS A VISIT TO THE COUNTY’S

 

 MORIKAMI JAPANESE GARDENS

 

In 1904 a group of pioneering Japanese farmers came to Florida to establish the Yamato farming colony between Delray and Boca Raton.  By the 20′s the group had given up its dream but one member, Sukeji Morikami, persevered and became a successful farmer and fruit and vegetable broker.  In the mid-70′s he donated land to the county to be used as a park to preserve the colony’s memory.  Today it is a magnificent destination.  One wanders along peaceful paths through six major gardens surrounding a central lake.  The gardens reflect periods of Japanese garden design from the eighth to the 20th century.  Centrally there is an excellent museum and educational facility, the museum housing some 5000 artifacts.  The cafe lived up to its reputation as one of the three top museum cafes in the country.

The Wisdom Ring

 

Morikami Falls

Memorial Waterfall

 

For a gallery of trip images, please click here.  

 

A JANUARY DAY AT LONGWOOD GARDENS

This afternoon a gentle snowfall began.  What better time to post about the beautiful Longwood Gardens?  A colleague and I visited there the day after the late January snow/ice storm.  Appropriate to the weather there weren’t many people there.  Because of that Longwood was generous with their tripod usage policy, permitting us to shoot from our tripods after the usual noon cutoff.

The post-holiday theme is orchids and they dominated the scene.  Here’s a simple stalk laden with blooms in harmony with a single fountain jet.

But, there were all sorts of other blossoms such as beds filled with masses of these Rieger begonias.

 

Longwood veterans will remember the warm, humid orchid room down one of the hallways from the main conservatory.  Even with the overall theme of orchids this room is still a camera stopper.  For this image there was so much light coming from the overhead glass that I found it useful to use a 3G graduated density neutral filter to darken the upper part of the stem.  I’ve gotton away from such filters and tended towards HDR but it can be problematic.  It was fun to use the “grad” here and have good results, even handheld in front if the lens.

Here’s a near-perfect yellow hibiscus.  I saw another last week  in a hedge of hibiscus during my week in Florida, growing well without need of a conservatory.

A restful scene of falling water and delicate orchids.

 

Finally, a reminder that winter awaited us outside of these lovely gardens.