The New Landscape: New Jersey Fine Art Photography

I’ve always been a believer that Mother Nature is a cruel but beautiful mistress, and that the ocean deserves the utmost respect. When disasters happen, I can’t help but often feel like the ocean gives and takes, and that the way it leaves things is often the way it wants them.

The jetty down at Island Beach State Park has long been one of my favorite spots. I remember being in middle school and walking down with some family friends for the first time. It’s a mile or so of a walk, so to get there by foot you really have to want it. I found an enormous, perfect whelk shell. It was like finding GOLD. I was awed at the time that I just happened to be passing by the spot where that beauty washed up. I have never found another. I’ve found other neat things, and I do harbor an intense love of perfect scallop shells. I used to intently search for a perfect, pure white one. Believe it or not – they’re actually insanely difficult to find. Mostly they’re black, or reddish, or an assortment of colors. Over many years of looking I only ever found one that was truly white. I display it in a velvet ring box – perhaps as a reminder that even when the ocean flings things like Super-storm Sandy at the coast, it also produces small, perfect miracles. But I digress.

The landscape of the jetty changed significantly after the storm. Oddly enough, it now makes for more beautiful photographs thanks to a lovely tide pool that is somewhat reminiscent of what it looked like many years ago. I don’t know that us humans will allow it to stay that way for long, but I can’t help but enjoy the beauty that is there now.

Without further ado…

Beautiful Things: New Jersey Landscape Photography

I feel like it’s always a catch-up with this blog! We have done so many great family shoots and weddings recently, that it will take a bit to get all that goodness up. For now, enjoy this sampling from last night in Ocean Gate, NJ. The iconic (to locals) boardwalk and pavilion made it through Sandy – so it’s nice to see one local landmark completely untouched. Yes – these are HDR photos!





If you’re digging all this, make sure to check out our Facebook page where there is plenty more goodness from the Summer 2013 Landscape Collection (as well as much more!).

We also have a site with plenty to see!
www.deepsixphotography.com

Ortley Beach: 80 Days After Sandy

Just about 3 months after the storm, visiting Ortley Beach, NJ still feels like a different world. This post is going to be a bit photo-heavy, but it can serve as a dedication of sorts to the town that Ortley once was, and what it will be again. It’s difficult to describe what it’s like to go to a town you once knew so well that you could probably describe the streets house by house – and be met with what feels like no landmarks to identify what street you’re standing on. The rubble is extensive, the streets are buckled, and there are enormous masses of tangled rope and the fabric of people’s lives washed up on the shore. These are really the only photos I’ve taken thus far since the storm – I’ve only been back twice. Ray has been back several more times than that. The beach in Ortley is closed, and not wanting to tempt fate we didn’t try to sneak up so I could get some photos of the now-infamous fallen JetStar. In the last shot of the first grouping, Ray is feeling the water – not something we get to do every day anymore.











These photos are from the same street in happier times.

This is a favorite shot of the pier and JetStar – taken standing on the old ramp that used to lie at the end of the street.








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Sky’s The Limit

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Ray and I go to a handful of ‘regular’ sunset shooting locations depending on time of year. In the summertime, one of our key spots is a little dead end, where you almost have to kind of sit on someone’s bulkhead to get the shot. We’ve never been apprehended doing this, so I assume it’s legal.

Anyhow – while getting this shot, we were approached by a duck gang. They excitedly came up to us, trolling for bread. We don’t usually carry bread when we shoot – and the ducks were incredibly persistent. Lesson learned: bring bread.

Anyway, here’s the shot.

Epic Engagement

The other week, we had the pleasure of shooting an engagement session with Kristin and Matt. Unfortunately, try as we might – the weather was really not cooperating, but we toughed it out through really unseasonable June temperatures and some howling south wind for some absolutely gorgeous shots:

 

 

And then.. to cap an awesome evening – they were open to letting me do some HDR stuff – which I love to do. So basically, they bravely took engagement photos to a whole new level:

 

Awesome.

Perspective

Every once in a while I end up having a really epic sunset session, where it feels like everywhere I look there is an awesome photo opportunity. I especially like it when each opportunity presents a totally different photo experience – almost to the point where you might think that each of the photos was taken on a different day.

So basically I’m going to present to you a sunset that was lookin’ good from the front, the side, and even the back.

Front. Lovin’ it. And it wasn’t all for show.

Side. Look at that form! What beautiful cloud shape. I also love when the sky reflects off the water and kinda makes it glow. It’s totally happening here, and I’m digging it.

From the back. You can see Ray taking some pictures inside the gazebo. I really didn’t think this would turn out. I love how crystal clear the bay looks. Drink it in now, because in two months the bennys will have yucked it all up. I just love the glow the sun was shining on the wood of the gazebo, and the nice orange-y blue-y tones.

So yeah. Lookin’ good Lavallette. Lookin’ good.

Visit our site for more about DSP. We’re now booking spring shoots – so if you need photos drop us a line!

Somethin’ Special

I made a modest attempt at using my new portrait lens for some scenic HDR photography. I didn’t really expect much out of the results, because it’s really not the right lens for the job – but I got a photo that I really do adore. It has a strong color cast and is obviously rather surreal, but I do like what happened. I suppose it’s good to experiment every now and again.

That’s lovely, right? Well. I happen to think it is.

 

Bonus Material

Sometimes when I’m going through a day’s pictures, I kind of have to triage and decide what I think is worth working on at the moment. Occasionally some potential photos end up slipping through the filter until months later when I really get a chance to go through my shots with a fine-toothed comb. I’ve done a little of this recently, and come up with a few that I didn’t think would work initially, but with a little love, have taken on a life of their own.

The shot below I really did not imagine working. I had gotten a bunch of really awesome shots from that day, because the sky was completely epic – so I didn’t really care much about what was going on in the other direction. However, the bike and camera bad nestled into some super golden green foliage is pretty cool.

Not bad, right?

The one above took a bit of tweaking. I had gotten a couple other nice shots from that night, and decided to try and go back and snag one more. The sky color was really dynamic and great, and I’m pretty happy with the way the ‘bonus material’ turned out.

On a whole, I’m glad that I had a chance to go back and pick out some other goodies from my heaping pile of unprocessed photos!

 

I keep on shamelessly promoting: but don’t forget to check out our site – www.deepsixphotography.weebly.com. There is a bunch more of our stuff there! Additionally, don’t forget that if you’re on the market for engagement or wedding (or graduation, event, or basically any other type of photography) we are ready to book you! Since we’re still building our portfolio, our rates are reasonable and we are ready to work! We’re New Jersey based but willing to travel.

Cloudporn.

I see the ‘cloudporn’ get tossed around quite a bit. There is also sunsetporn, and skyporn, for those with varying tastes. Frankly, I like all three. Not all sunsets meet the criteria of the -porn designation. Some of them are pretty, yes – but in order to be in the upper echelon some real magic has to be happening. The other day, even though there wasn’t any sun – I found a little magic.

This particular sunset was interesting, because I believe that it transitioned from cloudporn to skyporn over the duration of the sunset. I have a feeling that’s a rare thing.

And while we’re here, if you want to see more from DeepSix Photography, check out the newly re-vamped site I’ve been fiddling with: www.deepsixphotography.weebly.com

Smoke On the Water

New Jersey/Ocean County have been doing some controlled burning of local woods lately, so it’s been making for some interesting sunset action. The smoke has indeed been acting as a bit of a screen (filter?) and making the sunset a bit more subdued. I’ll let you decide for yourself whether you find the effect favorable.

This was Monday evening.

You can’t see it as much in this shot. However, last night:

It’s like of apocalyptic and I admit… I like it.