captured these images from favorite trails here in Virginia. i love trying to combine my love of photography with my love of poetry. To view more of my photography you can visit my gallery here
Here on the coast we are among the last to see the changing colors that our gentle giants bestow upon us. The following images I captured at a favorite park and tree arboretum, Maymont Park. For more of my photography you can visit my gallery here
I love this time of year when the foliage explodes into an artist’s wonderland. It is no wonder fall has eternally become a season of inspiration for poets and artists alike. Trying my best to get out as much as I can to capture nature’s metamorphosis. For more of my photography you can view my gallery here
I recently acquired a wide angle lens for my Canon and decided I wanted to try my hand at capturing waterfalls along our Blue Ridge Mountains and within the George Washington National Forest. With a great deal of patience and a proper tripod I walked away feeling accomplished this day. I tried my best to capture the serene beauty and tranquility that overcomes one in the presence of a waterfall, the feathers of my soul as I lovingly call them. For more of my photography you can visit my gallery here
thumbs up to the clouds waiting for the train to catch that wind
the bell tolls silently so to those who listen
to those with no fear of letting go
i cradle my bag, my makeshift courage kit
to wander now needlessly to where the leaves blow, where they seem i shall fit
always the backseat traveler i still shan’t take the helm
for it not my eyes that lead, but my heart that swells
i follow where it takes me, perhaps to dead end roads
pulling out my kit with compass to direct me as best it knows
ye of little faith, the reclusive voice no more
for those journeys once forgotten i now ready the score
days absent of sunlight, of curtains drawn
now places me on this train, piercing through dusty windows all those what ifs now gone
Iris– U2
I photographed this image along the Blue Ridge Parkway, Milepost 34. I categorized it within my abandoned photography as what you see here is the remnants of an old logging railroad. Although it is abandoned it is not forgotten and is visited quite frequently among hikers and travelers alike and offers a serene, picturesque moment to step back in time. Thank you for reading. For more of my nature and abandoned photography please visit my gallery here.
my mind resigning its weight, a bare jewel afloat,
to kelp fields, dense and fragments dark,
guiding in this underwater dance floor
traversing through your canopies wild
seasons unfold before my eyes
gardens spring blooms from a winter’s release
while the sequoias of the sea lend me their lean, serenely keen to the sun drenched skies
cerulean paves these streets of peace
as buckets of wings residing beneath the sails of tide
to antiquities void of a pirate’s lore
filling my lungs along this cathartic ride
straying further and further from the salty fits that marry my skin ashore
i fall deeper and deeper into this estuary
where a love evolves, where my heart explores
slipping into frocks left behind of mermaids best
the ballroom awaits as i untether my weathered steps
to which it replies, please, be my guest
swimming anext urchins as they needfully feed
watching otters safely sleep between the holdfast trees
i am but a visitor but a resident akin
to this underwater sanctuary that wishes me au revoir
after welcoming me with ease
This piece was inspired from watching the documentary, My Octopus Teacher featuring the kelp forests of South Africa. Filmmaker and photographer, Craig Foster begins a year long journey studying and ultimately befriending an octopus living within the kelp forest. It is beautiful and heartfelt as well as an educational piece that I would recommend giving a watch.
In writing this I imagined and truly listened to the testimony of Foster of just how magical skin diving and traversing through this underwater garden becomes to the soul. Daily stresses seem to become weightless, as trees, anchored and wise, become our guides.
The images shared within this piece are that of Foster captured during his journey within the forests in South Africa.
Kelp forests, these beautiful underwater oasis’s, are endangered, mostly so by threats from fisheries, marine pollution, invasive species and climate change. If you’d like to learn more about the ambassadors of the sea check out Sea Change Project. The group, of which Foster is a member of, is striving to educate and protect the ecosystem that is a sanctuary and home to many marine animals and wildlife.
or atop mountains shedding waterfalls as a love commences
unyielding layers, partaking of endless shades anew
unfurling through time, a slow peruse
all in a smell, as my imagination ensues
Transylvanian Lullaby-Erutan
inspired by the roses my daughter received for her graduation, i captured these images and as the scents enraptured my senses, the thoughts came. how beautiful a dying flower is to me. how even in its seemingly decay, behind the scenes, beneath the folds, life still breathes.
thank you for reading and for more of my flora photography you can view my gallery here.