Cathedral Rock is a natural sandstone butte on the Sedona skyline and one of the most-photographed sights in Arizona.  The rock formation is located in the Coconino National Forest in Yavapai County.  The Cathedral Rock trail is a popular short with a steep ascent from the Back O' Beyond trailhead to the saddle points in Cathedral Rock. The summit elevation of Cathedral Rock is 4,967 feet.

There are four main vortexes in the Sedona area, Cathedral Rock being one of them.  The Cathedral Rock vortex is considered to the the strongest at  “Red Rock Crossing” right on the Oak Creek at its closest point to the rock formation.  The vortex energy of this area is said, by many, to be feminine providing feelings of softness, receptiveness and compassion.  Regardless of how one feels about vortexes or their energy Sedona is a beautiful and peaceful place to get in touch with oneself and to feel the beauty of mother nature.

Printed on metal, canvas or fine art archival luster paper in 2 different sizes, the images in this blog will bring any room to life with class, sophistication and elegance.  Click the link to check it out, any questions when ordering please message me. Clicking on the image will take you to the metal gallery. 
 

The Little Red Lighthouse, officially Jeffrey's Hook Light, is a small lighthouse located in Fort Washington Park along the Hudson River in Manhattan, under the George Washington Bridge. It was made notable by the 1942 children's book The Little Red Lighthouse and the Great Gray Bridge by Hildegarde Swift, illustrated by Lynd Ward. The lighthouse stands on Jeffrey's Hook, a small point of land that supports the base of the eastern pier of the bridge, which connects Washington Heights, Manhattan, to Fort Lee, New Jersey.

Published in 1942, this children's book uses the story of the building of the George Washington Bridge next to the small lighthouse to affirm the idea that even the small are important. The book begins by introducing the lighthouse. Every night a man climbs up to the top of the lighthouse and uses some keys to turn on its flashing light, allowing it to do its job of warning the boats on the busy Hudson River of the rocks nearby. When there is fog, the man additionally turns on the lighthouse's fog bell. The lighthouse is pleased with and proud of its important job.  The book ends by encouraging the reader to go to Riverside Drive in New York City and "see for yourself" the lighthouse next to the bridge. The "great gray bridge" is clearly the George Washington Bridge, though it is not named in the book. 

Printed on metal, canvas or fine art archival luster paper in 2 different sizes, this image will bring any room to life with class, sophistication and elegance.  Click the link to check it out, any questions when ordering please message me. Clicking on the image will take you to the metal gallery. 

Standing mighty and tall spanning the Hudson River connecting NNJ with NYC the George Washington bridge is a double-decked suspension bridge.  Designed by engineer Othmar Ammann and architect Cass Gilbert, construction started in 1927 and was completed in 1931.  During the first full year of operation in 1932 more than 5.5 million vehicles used the original six-lane roadway. As traffic demand increased, additional construction became necessary. The two center lanes of the bridge, which had been left unpaved in the original construction, were opened to traffic in 1946, increasing capacity of the bridge by one-third. The six lanes of the lower roadway were completed in 1962.

I shot this image from the Fort Lee Historic Park overlook late summer a couple years ago.  I converted the image to black and white giving it an old school historic feel to this iconic and beautiful structure.  

Printed on metal, canvas or fine art archival luster paper in 2 different sizes, this image will bring any room to life with class, sophistication and elegance.  Clicking the image will take you to the metal print Gallery.  

Slowing the world down by blurring motion and color will add an artistic flare to your shots. Some of my best work has been captured this way. A slow shutter speed, small aperture for depth of field and a low ISO will turn your camera into a paint brush. When shooting in this fashion use a tripod to eliminate camera shake as well as a polarizing filter to cut out glare and saturate the colors.  In my next blog I'll go over the exposure triangle and also give a diagram to better explain how to get a good exposure when shooting.

So many times i'm asked the question, how do you take such beautiful pictures?  Well the answer is simple, well not that simple but it starts with understanding your camera's setting’s and exposure, but also goes much deeper than that.  Beauty in art comes from ones inner soul, it’s deep inside all of us. We must open our minds, be creative and nurture our personal style for that beauty to happen. Keep reading and let's get out that camera or camera phone and start creating some beautiful art.

What's Creativity?

The use of the imagination to develop original ideas, especially in the production of an artistic piece of work. Creativity involves two processes: thinking, then producing. If you have ideas, but don’t act on them, you are imaginative but not creative.

There’s no text book for being creative. Creativity is personal, it gets developed through years of practice, trial, error, mistakes and doing something over and over again.

What's Personal Style?

Personal style is developed from your creativity. Style is how one brands their work. It’s not developed by only following the rules, it's developed on how one applies the rules, breaks the rules, and adds their personal touch. THINK OUTSIDE THE BOX!

To Develop Your Personal Style:

* Be creative
* Take chances
* Trust your inner voice
* Do what comes natural, don’t force it * Think outside the box
* Use your imagination

A Successful Photograph Must:

* Tell a story
* Have a center of interest
* Lead the viewer
* Have balance
* Make an impact on the viewer bring out emotions.

What does one get when you put some really cool boutique and vintage guitars and photography together, GuitarScapes of course.  GuitarScapes was born when Douglas Myer of Mountain Cat Guitars approached me with the idea of photographing some of his instruments.  We came up with the concept of staging the instruments in a natural landscape tying together the device that man uses to make sound with mother nature's palette.

Many of the images were shot in Harriman St Park, NY as well as other locations throughout the New York region.  Sound is part of nature, we are all part of nature and the concept of taking an instrument of beauty and bringing it together with the beauty of the natural world seemed like the perfect scenario for me to capture.

GuitarScapes is an on going project that we continue to grow and expand when that perfect instrument enters The Mountain Cat Shop and calls out to be photographed with the beauty of Mother Nature.  Look our next GuitarScapes series coming out this Fall which we will be doing with a really cool manufacture called Teye Guitars.  You can check out Mountain Cat Guitars at the link below or give Doug a call to set up an appointment to visit his shop. 

Mountain Cat Guitars

(845) 918-1607

http://mountaincatguitars.com/