Bowman’s Hill Wildflower Preserve - New Hope, Pennsylvania
Zizia aurea (Golden Alexander)
Aristolochia macrophylla (Dutchman’s Pipe)
Galium sp.
Calycanthus floridus (Carolina allspice)
Rhododendron calendulaceum (Flame Azalea)
Rhododendron calendulaceum (Flame Azalea)
Parthenocissus quinquefolia (Virginia creeper) - (through Zizia aurea)
Zizia aurea (Golden Alexander)
Zizia aurea (Golden Alexander)
Species unknown
Possible Lupine species?
Arisaema tripyllum (Jack-in-the-pulpit)
Daucus carota L. (Queen Ann’s Lace)
After waiting so long for Liam Finn to come to come to Philadelphia on a solo debut, he finally did. A few friends and I got to see him last night at World Cafe Live. Liam Finn is the son of Neil Finn, singer from Crowded House. He was an opener for the show so he was out selling his shirts and cds at intermission. Of course, I forgot to stop and get money before the show. And then the ATM was broken at the venue so I decided that it was a sign that I should not have a shirt. However, Valerie helped me grow the balls to at least get a picture with him because as she said “you have to! this is a once in a lifetime chance because someday he’s going to be famous!”. Oh, and we talked him into giving us a discount on a t-shirt for me. yay! I think he thought I was out of my mind. The truth is, I probably was. Can you tell from the photo that I was a bit giddy? Only slightly. And I look half drunk. I probably should have been so I didn’t make a fool of myself. Anyway, this photo is set for my ringtone so that his photo pops up on my phone when he calls me, ya know…duh. I have nothing of substance to write for today so that is all. Carry on now.
So apparently a white tailed deer went charging through the window of a local hair salon somewhere here in the eastern Pennsylvania area. A friend shared the story with me, which is worth the read, but the supporting photo is mine. And it just made me have a good laugh. Have a look at the article. LINK
I do quite a bit of volunteer work for non-profit and privately funded organizations that help to change the world that we live in to become a better place. When I was working as a biologist, I worked and volunteered to conserve natural resources and animals because I love them. But then one day I had a wake-up call and realized that I didn’t really hate people and thought “I want to help save people, too!”.
There are people in this world who are saving lives everyday, but there are also organizations that help people get their lives back on the ground or help them to develop something that we would call “normalcy”. One of my first volunteer efforts was with the Philadelphia Committee to End Homelessness (PCEH) where I’ve been a volunteer photographer for three years now…photographing their fund raisers and awareness events throughout the city. PCEH is an incredibly successful program in Philadelphia and it is not a homeless shelter. They help the homeless and at-risk families re-establish their lives. They have a group that goes out on the streets twice a week to talk to the homeless and tell them about the services that PCEH can offer them: re-establishing their identity and getting identity cards, getting a job interview and providing showers and interview clothes, finding jobs, and most of all…finding them a place to live so that they aren’t living on the streets. Their program SafeHome Philadelphia is a safe and privately funded alternative to the homeless shelter system. In addition to finding homes, SafeHome links these new established families and individuals to services that can help provide them with continued stability so that they aren’t living on the streets or in the same situation again. In cities such as New York, Los Angeles, and Boston, SafeHome has had an 85% success rate over the years. Here in Philadelphia, SafeHome has had a 90% success rate and has ended homelessness for 41 families (including 102 children) in just two years because of wonderful caring individuals who provide even the smallest of donations.
PCEH holds an annual art auction event that raises money for the SafeHome Philadelphia program and it is being held tomorrow night. In addition, they are also holding a Texas Hold-Em Poker Tournament. This is the first year that I’ve had one of my photos up for auction as well. Today is the last day to register for this event so get to it! There’s always lots of great food, great people, and great fun. So go register now!
Below is the photo that I will have in the art auction tomorrow night! Even if you can’t make it to the event, you can still give a donation to SafeHome Philadelphia through their website.
This past Saturday, I met up with some of the other members of the Phildelphia Grid Project to head out to Germantown where we were interviewed for FOX 29 news. The segment aired that evening on the news. In case you missed it, you can check it out on the FOX news website. I’m glad that they blurred me out because I really didn’t want to be on the news.
Below are some of the photos that I took in the area that day, but I’ll probably be heading back out to the area again to capture more for this month’s grid.
In an attempt to escape the city today, we did not escape the rain. I had been wanting to check out Supawna Meadows National Wildlife Refuge for a while now. There don’t seem to be many trails throughout the Refuge and the available maps are pretty much nil. Before realizing the correct direction to the Refuge, we stumbled upon Fort Mott State Park. Fort Mott was built in post Civil War times as part of a three-fort defense system along the Delaware River. The Fort (along with the other two, Fort Delaware and Fort DuPont) became obsolete shortly after World War I. You could only explore one of the bunkers at Fort Mott, but the structure itself was pretty cool. It started to rain again so we decided to head for the car and try to find Supawna Meadows. We took a short walk through the Refuge and very little photos. But for being under 40 miles outside of Philadelphia (in New Jersey), it was a nice escape for the day.
I haven’t really posted many old photos, but I wanted to do so today. This is my best model: Luka. He is my little chantilly/tiffany cat. And a very furry one at that. This time of the year is never a fun one for him because he sheds a lot…and as the result of his persistent cleaning, he has gotten sick a lot lately. Poor little guy.
It’s been over 100 degrees there lately.
Reminiscing about the Salton Sea tonight and how much I want to go back as soon as possible. I have so many photos that I haven’t even gone through from my trip to California. I didn’t get to spend nearly as much time photographing the Salton Sea as I had hoped. Better luck next time.
It’s been a while since I’ve made any composite photos. I will often go for months without doing any of them and then go on a rampage of making a few of them. I often use 2-4 images. This one was made with two: the photo of the house and a texture image of some plywood.
I had gone to Gettysburg National Military Park with my parents about a month ago when I went to our cabin to relax during my recovery. Gettysburg isn’t too far from our cabin so we often go there when we feel like taking a drive. The sky was really overcast and generally crappy. And it was hot and humid. I didn’t feel like taking photos.
I normally don’t work this dark. But I went for dark. I will probably hate it tomorrow.
