Changing of Seasons...

I went out last week to a local bird sanctuary and wildlife preserve to see if I could capture some of the waning moments of autumn's foliage. It's interesting to me—being a nature photographer, but not a naturalist—how the brilliant golden hues of maple trees hang on the longest, seemingly every fall. The beautiful crimson, pink, and orange maples have long since dropped their leaves. Yet as the first light snows befall us, and winter is whispering in the shadows, the deep shades of yellow seem to shine their best at this late time in the fall.

To be fair, however, the world is not completely bathed in yellow. Burning bushes are also resiliently holding fast to their leaves, which are a beautiful deep shade of red this time of year.

Beyond the last remnants of a colorful fall, I was able to also spot a white goose within the bird sanctuary. At least this is what a bird photographer told me it was. The little fella cooperated enough so as to let me zoom in on him and get a nice close up. I have no idea if this bird is a goose of some sort or not. My research on a few bird websites didn't shed much insight on the situation either. Perhaps if someone knows, they'll be so kind as to leave a response in the comments section.

So now I'm gazing out my window as the rising sun glistens against a fresh dusting of snow, and I can't help but think that maybe, despite it traditionally being a gray season of cold and death, that perhaps this winter will have its own nostalgic beauty. I can hardly wait to see what winter-time photo opps await me. The gallery at Studio 85 will be growing this season.

To order any prints featured in this entry, or to see more from Studio 85's gallery, visit the Studio 85 homepage.

The Initial Blog

For years now, I've been an avid blogger. However, the time has come for me to "grow up" in my blogging. This means no more Xanga or MySpace blogs, and since E-Blogger seems to be the "grown-up" standard in blogging, I've decided to give it a try.

The purpose behind this blog is really simple. I am working on establishing my own fine-art photography firm called Studio 85. Wondering about the name? It comes from New York City's famed Studio 54 nightclub, but with my birth year inserted. On this blog I'm going to showcase some of my photography work, which is all available for purchase (more details to come), and share some of my ramblings as they relate to the photo(s) for each post.

So....it amazes me how big something as fun and simple as blogging has become. All through my college years we were taught in mass communication courses that blogging is ever-so important in today's business world.

It's not just blogs, though, that drive today's microchip-laden world, but computers in general. I saw a living example of this yesterday at the Fisher Price Toystore, where I currently work. The network router that powers all our cash registers went down, leaving them with no network connection, and forbidding us to use CAM32, our merchandising software. Forty minutes after the first toy-crazed soccer moms had entered the store, we still had no cash registers. A line, winding through the aisles, was beginning to form as people waited to be cashed out. Despite the wait, nobody was abandoning their Smart Cycles, Pat Pat Rockets, and other hard-to-find toys that little Billy just has to have for Christmas this year. I feared we would be mobbed.

Finally, our flustered assistant manager emerged from her office to let us know that we were to begin taking cash-only orders—and writing them up entirely by hand! Receipts were hand written, New York State's portion (sales tax) was applied with a good old fashioned calculator, and well, doing coupons and discounts became another nightmare in and of itself. Customers ransacked the ATM in the lobby as we made repeated announcements that cash and only cash was all we could accept.

Four hours of this mayhem went on until the technicians discovered the bad router on our network. This one little box failed, creating a world of pandemonium within the Toystore.

As I begin this new blog, I like to take a moment just to reflect at how dependent we as a society have become upon the microprocessor. I honestly have no idea where I'd be without my HP Media Center and my high-speed internet connection. Many people, especially those of the "boomer" generation, state how scary it is that computers run our world today. Maybe it's just because I've grown up with a mouse in my right hand, but honestly, I don't find it scary at all. I find it exciting and challenging. A computer allows you the power to create and to communicate with the world—all right at your finger tips. But let the hell of yesterday forever be a reminder to me of what happens when one tiny little micro-circuit fails, and sends we humans, the creators of micro-circuits, into flustered pandemonium.