"Game 1 hero," Camden, New Jersey, August 2007

Game 1 hero, originally uploaded by NJ Baseball.

With Spring Training well under way and Opening Day now three weeks away, I've been enjoying all the baseball images popping up (as well as looking through some of my own). So when it came time to find a celebration, I thought back to some of the home-run high-fives I've captured over the years. This one was at Camden's Campbell's Field, where Matt DeMarco (center) won the first game of a doubleheader with a walk-off home run. Looking at the smile on his face, it may have been the first such home run of his life.

"Juniper light at Arches," Utah, March 2010

Juniper light

This became one of my favorite photos from out weeklong trip through northern Arizona and southeastern Utah. It was the end of a long day of hiking at Arches and we hoped to get one more loop in, out at the end of the park road near the big campground, hiking to Broken Arch and back to the car. But as we made our way along the path, we found ourselves alternating between dense sand and snow drifts up to our shins, even our knees. We grew tired quickly and decided to double back to the car, rather than finish the circuit.

But at least it got me this shot of the late-afternoon sunlight on the arches in the distance and the top of the tree in the foreground. If only I could drop everything now and go back out there ...

"One-on-one drills," New Jersey, August 2009

One-on-one drills

Brandon Moore (65) and D'Brickashaw Ferguson (60) engage in a turbulent one-on-one drill between linemen during Jets training camp in August.

"The eyes have legs," New Jersey, May 2005

Family portrait

I just had to dig up this photo of the characters for the Lakewood BlueClaws' eyeball race to post for Lens Day. (I only got the e-mail a few hours ago; not sure why it didn't come on Wednesday.)

The eyes have it.

"Shed in the snow," New Jersey, February 2010

Snow shed

Yeah, so we're having a little weather here today. I took these photos this afternoon, when my wife and I went out to shovel the 5-6 inches we had. I usually prefer to wait until the snow stops falling, but because that's projected to be tomorrow morning -- giving us pretty much 24 hours' worth of snowfall -- I figured our muscles and backs would be better off tomorrow if we tackled some of it today. In the five hours since then, we've had about another 4-5 inches. And there's more to come.

"Emerging from the storm," Ohio, July 2009

Emerging from the storm

I'm pretty sure this was in Ohio. We came across this dramatic storm cloud on I-80 as we headed west to Cleveland. It was so-so in color, but I found the black-and-white treatment gave it another layer.

Day 95 of 365

The American Book Bindery Building

I'd seen this faded American Book Bindery Building sign before -- probably when I used to take the bus into NYC from the Edgewater apartment and we'd get caught in the rightmost lane and be forced down Dyer Ave. and onto 10th Ave. A longer-than-usual backup at the traffic light near here allowed me the chance to spot it again today, and when I had pulled up to the light beneath it, I had my chance for a picture I'd long wanted to take.

Day 53 of 365

As if it's sliding

As I waited inside the lobby of my building for my car to pick me up at 3:30 a.m., I watched the revelers pass by on the sidewalk, heading home after a night out in the bars of the Meatpacking District. Ninth Avenue was busy, mostly with taxis making their way toward the Village. As one after another passed by in the city night, I realized that I could be outside, setting the camera to a slower shutter speed and panning with the cars as they zipped by, capturing the motion. My ride home was running late, and I fired off five shots before it arrived and I was on my way home.

Day 49 of 365

Across the foyer

I got down on the floor to get a cat's-eye view of Harry as he rested, but my coming to his level inspired him into action -- mostly approaching me, purring, for petting. I took a few other shots, particularly a ground-level view of the foyer, and liked this one with the large ghost cat moving through it.

"Early morning Hudson River," New Jersey, November 2004

Morning on the river

The sunrise image I really wanted to use was the multiple-image panoramic shot that this photo is just one part of a larger canvas. But that pano won't show up quite as well in the blog.

Ah, whatever ...

"Spotlight on nature," New York, December 2006

Nature's spotlight

Shots like these are why I love botanical gardens. If you're there under the right conditions, the light can do wonderful things with the blooms.

"Manhattan from Sandy Hook," Sept. 2, 2001

I don't get to the beach nearly as much as I used to these days. It used to be a regular summer ritual, considering I grew up about five miles from the nearest one, in Sea Bright, and a mere 15 minutes from one of the most beautiful, Sandy Hook. So into the archives I go for this shot, and deep "into the vault," as the DJs used to say on WNEW, back when it was a classic rock station with Scott Muni and some of New York's best throwback jockeys. I've only begun scanning in the negatives from 13 years of photographs I took with my film SLR and I haven't uploaded any of them to Flickr yet, figuring I'll wait until I can do them in chunks, either by year or month or something. It's a time-sucking project to be sure, just one of several I have lined up these days. It may have to wait for winter and conditions more suitable to spending an entire day in front of the computer.

So this shot was taken on my birthday, Sept. 2, 2001, just nine days before those towers in the background fell down. It's the last picture I have of the World Trade Center as we knew it. My sister, my friend Mia and I were out at Sandy Hook enjoying a summer-like day on Labor Day Weekend before attending that night's Lakewood BlueClaws game and stopping by a bar in Belmar on the way home. Despite the apparent haze, it was actually a clear day by comparison to what we might normally get when we look toward Manhattan from the Jersey Shore. If I recall correctly, I left my camera in the car -- a somewhat arduous trek across the hot sand and the parking lot, at least a good 5-10 minutes -- and went back to get it once I saw just how clear the view was and how close the Twin Towers appeared.

I'm glad I did.

Made in Maine, May '08: Churning sea at Pemaquid Point

Churning sea at Pemaquid Point

The weather during our trip was amazing. When we left Bar Harbor on this morning, it looked like this. During the three-hour drive, we passed through some intermittent as well as steady rain. When we arrived at Pemaquid, we had blue skies and wispy clouds above a surging ocean.

After leaving Pemaquid, it began raining again, but stopped shortly after we arrived at my uncle's house an hour later (with a stop at Round Top for ice cream).

Then we had clear skies again, for the most part.

"Double portrait," October 2007

Double portrait

Even after I'd moved out of my parents house, whenever I returned, I tended to look into the windows of the room closest to the driveway as I walked across the patio to the kitchen door. I was looking to see if the cat, Oreo, was surveying the landscape. If I was stopping by when no one else was home, I'd search him out as soon as I got inside. Even after he was gone, for months I still found myself looking in the windows on my way to the door or waiting for him to come trotting up when I was inside. It took quite some time to shake that feeling of his presence in the house.

Now, finally, my wife and I have reason again to sense another presence around the house, even if one of us isn't home at the time. Lenny and Harry have made themselves at home, and though we lived there for four months -- and together for five years -- without the two cats, I've found that after just two months with them that I can't imagine the house (and life) without them now.

Lenny, five months old when we got him, is an affectionate, playful tiny ball of terror. He'll be fast asleep at any hour of the day or night -- and I often come home in the wee small hours -- yet as soon as he hears a door, he's up and investigating in little more than a minute. And you can't sit on the couch for too long before he's in your lap.

Harry, at three years old a wise and more stoic cat, certainly marches to his own beat, but he'll put his 14 pounds of heft onto your lap when the mood strikes him. He'll also throw his weight around to open most doors in the house that aren't latched or otherwise securely closed. And should Lenny start antagonizing him and wrestling, Harry simply pins the little guy to show him who's boss.