"Empire o'lantern," New York, October 2009

Empire o'lantern

Every block seems to contain a symbol of New York, especially those that include a view of the Empire State Building.

"Abandoned autumn," New Jersey, October 2009

Beautiful tree by the abandoned home

Back in October, I took a drive along Old Mine Road, an historic trail-turned-road that's been around since the 1600s. It features several abandoned homes and camps that were left behind when plans were made to dam the Delaware at Tocks Island. It was a beautiful autumn day, a perfect afternoon for a drive with a few stops to hike along the way. I only explored about half the road and can't wait to get back.

Day 298 of 365

Gorgeous sunset

We often get sexy underwear ads on top of that building at 14th St. and Ninth Ave. It used to be David Beckham's crotch up there, which I'm sure was a big hit in Chelsea.

Day 295 of 365

Farview Trail off the Old Mine Road

On my third day of autumn road tripping, I explored the southern stretch of the Old Mine Road along the Delaware River for the first time. Looking for the remains of an old camp resort, I parked at the Farview trailhead on the east side of the road and walked an hour up the hill -- crossing the Appalachian Trail -- and back down. Only then did I finally figure out that the poorly written account I'd printed out from the internet was talking about the trails on the western side of the road -- which go no more than a few hundred feet before they reach the Delaware. And sure enough, there were concrete steps and sheds and other remnants of a long-gone riverside resort.

Day 288 of 365

Soggy autumn day

I was hoping to spend one of my days off this week on another drive through northern New Jersey's rural highlands to take in the foliage, but the weather didn't cooperate. But I didn't want to miss the peak days of my favorite tree in the yard, so I opened the window next to it and shot from the dining room -- staying dry the whole time.

Day 270 of 365

Autumn's arrival

On my walk out of Chelsea Market in the early morning, I came across the new pumpkin display at the Manhattan Fruit Exchange -- a sure sign that autumn has come to the city.

Day 252 of 365

Skyline sunset

After I polished off a taste Shackburger, fries and Shackmeister Ale (probably the best beer at Citi Field), I caught the clouds and fading daylight above the old scoreboard skyline perched atop two of the Danny Meyer restaurants out beyond center field.

Day 232 of 365

City sunset

The sun sets over Queens.

Day 230 of 365

Summer sunrise with the Moon and Venus

Coming home at 5:30 a.m., I got to gaze up at the pairing of the Moon and Venus in the lightening dawn sky, but didn't get to an open (and dark) enough space to spot the International Space Station as it moved across the sky.

Day 176 of 365

Well, orange you a pair

Waiting for a friend outside Citi Field.

Day 124 of 365

Wet day

Watching the sky rain.

"Vengeance, thy color is orange," Indiana, November 2008

Orange tops

My wife loves orange. It's hands-down her favorite color. She owns every type of clothing in one hue or another -- tops, pants, socks, jackets, underwear. Our kitchen is painted orange, as are appliances and other implements. I have no problem with the color, particularly because it's one of two that signifies my favorite baseball team, the Mets.

But seeing it like this, on the helmets of the Syracuse football team, now has me vengeful after the Orange ruined an otherwise perfect winter-like Saturday in northern Indiana.

Had I not been so disgusted, I'm sure I could've gotten some stunning celebration shots after the game, but I was making a hasty retreat from the stands. The shame.

"Central Park colors," October 2006

Central Park Colors No. 5, originally uploaded by DC Products.

I don't care if it's cliche, overdone, banal or played out -- I'll always set aside a day or two in the fall to head out on a photo expedition to let nature do what I might otherwise do in Photoshop.

In this case, it was an afternoon stroll through Central Park before work. It was about a week -- maybe more -- too early for the peak color in the middle of Manhattan, but I found a few hot spots. I'm planning to drive west through northern New Jersey tomorrow to see what remains, though I fear that the gusting winds on Sunday may have ripped the peak color off the trees. We shall see.

It's seemed like a down year for the autumn leaves this year. The trees seemed to change late and not as uniformily as in past years. But a year ago, I did venture out into the New Jersey Highlands during the first week of November and came away with some decent shots, so hopefully more is in store this year.

"New Jersey sunset," Sept. 11, 2006

New Jersey sunset, 9/11/06

So in America when the sun goes down and I sit on the old broken-down river pier watching the long, long skies over New Jersey and sense all that raw land that rolls in one unbelievable huge bulge over to the West Coast, and all that road going, all the people dreaming in the immensity of it, and in Iowa I know by now the children must be crying in the land where they let the children cry, and tonight the stars’ll be out, and don’t you know that God is Pooh Bear? The evening star must be drooping and shedding her sparkler dims on the prairie, which is just before the coming of complete night that blesses the earth, darkens all rivers, cups the peaks and folds the final shore in, and nobody, nobody knows what’s going to happen to anybody besides the forlorn rags of growing old, I think of Dean Moriarty, I even think of Old Dean Moriarty the father we never found. I think of Dean Moriarty.

-- final lines of On The Road by Jack Kerouac

"At the San Diego Zoo," April 2006

She's not one for portraits, so hopefully she doesn't stop by this blog this week. She's away for the weekend, so maybe I can put up a newer entry before Monday. In any case, we went back to the slope of orange flowers -- pansies, I think -- because I thought a portrait of her in her orange wrap in front of the flowers would be a nice blend of her favorite color. Unfortunately, we couldn't find a spot where the flowers blanketed the hillside, or at least approached a 50-50 ratio with the green leaves, but we still got a nice shot out of it. I should send it to her parents.

One always stands out, November 2005

As if playing with a new camera weren't enough, now we've got all these easy-to-use photo editing programs that turn digital processing time into playtime. "Oh, what's this 'focal BW' tool do?" Not that the leaf couldn't stand on its own or anything; I just felt that this was a good image with which to play around and I think it holds up as a variation on the tree theme.

New York City sunrise, Edgewater, NJ, November 2004

Week two of my conscientious effort to participate more regularly in the Photo Friday projects. I tend to think of the spectacles of nature as divine intervention of a sort. In college at Notre Dame, my roommate Bryan and I chose to skip the all-campus welcome-back mass our junior year to rent a canoe and paddle a few miles on the St. Joseph River. You'd be surprised at how pastoral the Michiana area can be if all you know of it is Grape Road, downtown South Bend and the campus (though the latter certainly is more scenic and peaceful than, say, campuses I've visited in Boston and Austin). The majesty of a sunrise or sunset, to me, is more of a display of the divine nature of this world than a factory-made reproduction of Christ on the cross or Mary and the baby in a nativity scene.

Besides, my archives contain few -- if any -- images of those last two icons. So sunrise it is.

Gates series

Gates reflection, Central Park, February 2005


Atop Great Hill, Central Park, February 2005


Near the Great Lawn, Central Park, February 2005

If there's one thing that meant "orange" this winter in New York, it was Christo's The Gates. I took close to 200 photographs in four different trips to Central Park during the installations three-week run. I went into the city on two consecutive mid-week off-days and treked from Columbus Circle in the southwest corner (at 59th St.) of the park up to around 100th St. and then east, over to Central Park East and down to the 80s. My plans were more ambitious than I'd expected, and I didn't get to explore the northern edge of the park, which now remains the last great section I've yet to explore.