Evening Stroll ~ Southern Outer Banks

"When the way looks infinitely long, if you are sure that it is the right way, ignore the distance and start walking!" ~ Mehmet Murat ildan

beachcoupleEmerald IsleNorth CarolinaEastern SeaboardEastern North CarolinasandeveningstrollingwalkingwaterAtlantic OceanBogue Banksseasideoceanwaterscapetidesunlightinfinitely long

The Sea, Late Evening ~ Bogue Banks, North Carolina

“Photography is a way of feeling, of touching, of loving. What you have caught on film is captured forever… It remembers little things, long after you have forgotten everything.” ~ Aaron Siskind

Bogue BanksAtlantic OceanseaoceanseasidecoastlinewatersandshoreshorelinewavesCrystal CoastNorth CarolinaEastern SeaboardEastern North Carolinasunsunsetbeachskywavelandscapelightcoast

European Starling, winter/non-breeding adult ~ Sturnus vulgaris ~ Huron River

"Just a dream and the wind to carry me and soon I will be free" ~ Carter Burwell

Sturnus vulgarisEuropean Starlingwinternonbreedingadultbirdsongbirdblackbird sizedlook like stars in flightwhite spots in winterboisterousshort square tailblack and white undertailyellow bill in summeraerial balletShakespeare enthusiasts added 100 to NAlittle genetic variations from 1st 100vocal mimicstrong flier

memories ~ Huron River Watershed, Michigan

"With mirth and laughter, let wrinkles come." ~ Shakespeare

memoriesNikon D7100AFS Nikkor 70200mm f2.8G ED VR IItire swingContinental United Statesrural Washtenaw CountyMIchigan

American Herring Gull ~ Larus argentatus ~ Lake Michigan

"Do what makes you happy. Look upon what gives you joy. Listen to what lifts your spirit. Speak to those who warm your heart. Surround yourself with sights and sounds and people who make you smile." ~ Unknown

birdOld SaugatuckLake Michigan inflightAmerican Herring GullLarus argentatusNikon D7100gull

Sanderling ~ Calidris alba ~ Lake Michigan

"You don't make a photograph just with a camera. You bring to the act of photography all the pictures you have seen, the books you have read, the music you have heard, the people you have loved." ~ Ansel Adams

AFS Nikkor 70200mm f2.8G ED VR IINikon D7100MichiganbirdsanderlingOld SaugatuckLake MichiganshorebirdbirdinflightContinental United StatesCalidris albainflight

Sanderling ~ Calidris alba ~ Old Saugatuck, Michigan

"In order to see birds, it is necessary to become part of the silence." ~ Robert Lind

American Herring Gull ~ Larus argentatus smithsonianus ~ Lake Michigan

"If you want to know where your heart is, look to where your mind goes when it wanders." ~ Walt Whitman

gullLake MichiganOld SaugatuckContinental United StatesinflightbirdNikon D7100AFS Nikkor 70200mm f2.8G ED VR II

American Herring Gull ~ Larus argentatus ~ Lake Michigan

"Re-examine all you have been told. Dismiss what insults your soul." ~ Walt Whitman

gullLake MichiganOld SaugatuckContinental United StatesinflightbirdNikon D7100AFS Nikkor 70200mm f2.8G ED VR II

Sanderlings ~ Calidris alba ~ Lake Michigan

"When you realize how perfect everything is, you will tilt your head back and laugh at the sky." ~ Buddha

AFS Nikkor 70200mm f2.8G ED VR IINikon D7100MichiganbirdsanderlingOld SaugatuckLake MichiganshorebirdbirdinflightContinental United StatesCalidris albainflight

American Herring Gull ~ Larus argentatus ~ road trip to Lake Michigan with new D7100 and lens

"Let us read, and let us dance; these two amusements will never do any harm to the world." ~ Voltaire

gullLake MichiganOld SaugatuckContinental United StatesinflightbirdNikon D7100AFS Nikkor 70200mm f2.8G ED VR IIgull like birdMichigan

Sanderling ~ Calidris alba ~ Great Lakes and Watersheds

"All good things are wild and free." ~ Henry David Thoreau

SanderlingCalidris albaLake Michigansandsurfbeachbirdpeepsandpipershorebirdbreed only on High Arctic tundrawinter along beacheswave chaserswaternatureoutdoorsbirthday

Ring-billed Gull, Strolling ~ Larus delawarensis ~ Old Saugatuck

"Jonathan Seagull discovered that boredom and fear and anger are the reasons that a gull's life is so short, and with those gone from his thought, he lived a long fine life indeed." ~ Richard Bach

Old SaugatuckMichiganGreat LakesLake Michiganshorewatertidesociableringbilled gullLarus delawarensisbirdbeachsandacrobatopportunistic feederforagerbirthday

Ring-billed Gull ~ Larus delawarensis ~ Lake Michigan

Ringbilled GullLarus delawarensisacrobatyellow bill with black bandbuiltin compasspale eyesyellow legsomnivoreground foragerbirdon the wingLake MichiganwaterfaunaGreat Lakes

Lake Michigan

“The camera is an instrument that teaches people how to see without a camera." ~ Dorothea Lange

sailboatsailingboatoutdoorsLake MichiganGreat Lakeswaterrecreationwavessheetssunshinebirthday

jellyfish ~ road trip to Newport Aquarium, Cincinnati, Ohio ~ June 2013

"Sometimes you will never know the value of a moment until it becomes a memory." ~ Dr. Seuss

jellyfishjellyNikon D80AFS DX ZoomNikkor 18135mm f3.55.6G IFEDContinental United StatesNewport AquariumCincinnatiOhio

Cincinnati

"Let us raise a standard to which the wise and honest can repair." ~ George Washington

CincinnatiOhioOhio RivercitycitscapeHamilton County County Seatsettled in 1788Licking Riverknown for historic architectureriverfrontfirst major american city founded after the american revolutionbirthday

Blooming ~ Huron River and Watershed

bloompurpleHuron River and Watershedflowersnaturenatural beautyplant

tilled and untllled ~ Michigan

"It never hurts to keep looking for sunshine." ~ Eeyore

AFS Nikkor 70200mm f2.8G ED VR IItilleduntilledlandfieldsgreenMichiganNikon D7100

early island light II ~ Southern Outer Banks

"Life is the art of drawing without an eraser." ~ John W. Gardner

AFS Nikkor 70200mm f2.8G ED VR IINikon D7100Atlantic Oceanislandbarrier islandPine Knoll ShoresBogue BanksCrystal CoastSOBXSouthern Outer Banksearly island lightoceanseashoreseashorelinemorningNorth Carolinaeastern North Carolina

Smell the Sea ~ Southern Outer Banks

"Smell the sea, feel the sky, let your soul and spirit fly...." ~ Van Morrison

coastal defenseFort Macon State ParkEastern North CarolinajettyfootpintssandblueshorelneshorecoastwaterbeachoceanseaskyBogue BanksNorth CarolinaFort MaconislandCrystal CoastAtlantic Oceanbirthday

seashells by the seashore ~ Southern Outer Banks

"Not a shred of evidence exists in favor of the idea that life is serious." ~ Brendan Gill

Nikon D7100AFS Nikkor 70200mm f2.8G ED VR IIseashellsseashoreSouthern Outer BanksSOBXCrystal CoastNorth CarolinaPine Knoll Shoresbarrier islandBogue Banks

magic hour ~ Southern Outer Banks

"Though nothing can bring back the hour of splendour in the grass, of glory in the flower; we will grieve not, rather find strength in what remains behind..." ~ William Wordsworth

sunsetPine Knoll ShoresNorth CarolinaBogue Banks Crystal CoastAtlantic Oceanseascapegolden hourbeachwavesocean

seashell ~ Southern Outer Banks

"Act as if what you do makes a difference. It does." ~ William James

seashellSouthern Outer BanksSOBXCrystal Coastbarrier islandBogue BanksPine Knoll ShoresAtlantic OceanNikon D80

Ring-billed Gull ~ Larus delawarensis Larus delawarensis ~ Southern Outer Banks

"It's supposed to be hard. If it wasn't hard, everyone would do it. The hard is what makes it great." ~ "A League of Their Own"

ringbilled gullLarus delawarensisbirdacrobatgullsociableopportunistic feederoceanwaterskyinflightbuiltin compassoldest27 yearsadults play by scooping dropped objectsseawavesanimal

Between Sky and Sand ~ Southern Outer Banks

"Photography is by nature a documentary art." ~ August Sander

willettringa semipalmatacrabbing piercing callsdistinctive wing markingsshorebirdbirdbeachcoastcoastlineAtlantic Oceanseaoceanfeedingmale spends the night on the nextpretend to be disabledsandywavesoutdoornatureSouthern Outer BanksBogue BanksCrystal CoastislandNorth Carolinashorefeed both night and daysand crabsskybetween sky and sandbirthday

view from the beach ~ Southern Outer Banks

"It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it." ~ Aristotle

beachgolden hourNikon D7100seascapeAtlantic OceanPine Knoll Shores North CarolinaislandBogue BanksCrystal Coastoceanwatersea

Evening Glow ~ Southern Outer Banks

"Wherever there is light, one can photograph." ~ Alfred Stieglitz

eveningAtlantic.OceanSouthern Outer BanksCrystal CoastBogue BankscoastseaoceanPine Knoll ShoresNorth Carolinabirdringbilled gullgullbeachsandgoldenseagullshorelinecoastlinenatureoutdoorEastern Seaboardbirthday

early island light II ~ Southern Outer Banks

"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do." ~ Mark Twain

islandlightnorth carolinaPine Knoll Shoresatlantic oceanbeachNikon D80AFS DX ZoomNikkor 18135mm f3.55.6G IFEDCrystalCoastCrystal CoastBogue BanksoceanContinental United StatesSouthern Outer BanksSOBXbarrier islandcover

Evening on the Beach ~ Southern Outer Banks

"Nothing in nature has a hard outline, but everything is seen against something else, and its outlines fade gently into something else." ~ Peter Henry Emerson

Southern Outer BanksNorth CarolinaseagullcolonyPine Knoll ShoresBogue BanksCrystal Coastringbilled gullbirdbeachLarus delawarensisshorelinecoastlineeveningblack band encircling yellow billgullsociablenatureoutdoorAtlantic OceanEastern Seaboardbirthday

time and tide ~ Southern Outer Banks

"Think but this, and all is mended: that you have but slumbered here, while these visions did appear; and this weak and idle theme, no more yielding but a dream, Gentles, do not reprehend. If you pardon, we will mend.... Give me your hands, if we be friends, And Robin shall restore amends." ~ Puck, *A Midsummer Night's Dream*

ancient bridge ~ Mill Creek Park, Ohio ~ road trip to Ohio

Scenes of Mill Creek Park, founded 1891 in Youngstown, Ohio, appear every so often in my dad's home movies. When I was much younger, we routinely met for summer family reunions there, and so I have many fond memories of playing with my cousins, with fairly reckless abandon, at verdant Mill Creek. This is one of the oldest bridges in the park. Although my paternal grandpa and grandma and my dad's three brothers were all born in Pennsylvania ~ Potter, Indiana and Bradford/McKean counties ~ my dad, the youngest of the brothers, was born in Youngstown. Photo Summer 2012

lightcolorOhiobridgeMill Creek ParkYoungstowncreekreflectionswaterhistoricaloldstone bridgeNikon D80AFS DX ZoomNikkor 18135mm f3.55.6G IFEDContinental United Statescover

dark skies over farmland ~ Michigan ~ back-road trip to Lake Michigan with David Kushner ~ September 2010

"Promise me you will not spend so much time treading water and trying to keep your head above the waves that you forget, truly forget, how much you have always loved to swim." ~ Tyler Knott Gregson

dark skiesfarmlandfieldsMichiganContinental United StatesNikon D7100AFS Nikkor 70200mm f2.8G ED VR II

sunlight in tall grass ~ Texas

"I have seized the light. I have arrested its flight." ~ Louis Daguerre

grasssunlightTexassunnybrighttall grassvegetationmeadowfoliagegrasslandforageflowerwhitebirthday

Mighty Mississippi

"No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it's not the same river and he's not the same man." ~ Heraclitus

landscapeMississippiriverwaterskytreesreflectionschief.rivertributarieswatershedtransportation.arteryembaymentriverbedoutdoornatureserenebirthday

downtown Chicago

“...a city that was to live by night after the wilderness had passed. A city that was to forge out of steel and blood-red neon its own peculiar wilderness.” ~ Nelson Algren

ChicagoriverbuildingsskycityIllinoisCity.of.Chicagometropolitanglobal.architecture.capitalbusiness centersteelframed skyscraperinternational.hubmunicpalskyscraperarchitectureroadbuildingbridge

Orchard at Birtwick ~ Pacific Coast

"My troubles are all over, and I am at home; and often before I am quite awake, I fancy I am still in the orchard at Birtwick, standing with my friends under the apple trees." Anna Sewell, *Black Beauty*

horsemammalanimalbroncomustangsteedhoofed animalungulatetrestlebarebackbirthday

Road to Napa ~ Pacific Coast

"... life gushes and bubbles around me in a thousand springs" ~ Robert Schumann

NapaCaliforniaHillsPatwin Indiansoutdoorhilllandscapebirthday

Talk to Me of Mendocino ~ Pacific Coast

Thanks to Robert W Watt for the title inspiration.

"Talk to me of Mendocino
Closing my eyes I hear the sea
Must I wait, must I follow?
Won't you say "Come with me?"
And it's on to Southbend, Indiana
Flat out on the western plain
Rise up over the Rockies and down on into California
Out to where but the rocks remain
And let the sun set on the ocean
I will watch it from the shore
Let the sun rise over the redwoods
I'll rise with it till I rise no more."
~ written by Kate McGarrigle, sung by Linda Ronstad

Mendocino CountycovewaterwavestideskybluffsseashoresandFort BraggrocksPacific OceannatureeveningseaoceanseascapeseasbeachCaliforniacoastalpicturesqueRoute 1sandy beachsurfdunesoutdoorshorecoastbirthday

Sandy Bluffs of Fort Bragg ~ Pacific Coast

“Taking pictures is like tiptoeing into the kitchen late at night and stealing Oreo cookies. ~ Diane Arbus

waterseascapePacificoceanseaseashorenaturebeachFort BraggCaliforniacoastalMendocino CountypicturesqueseasidewavesrocksOcean DriveRoute 1sandy beachcovesurfskyoutdoorcoastshorecliffsdunesbirthday

Along Route 1, Pacific Coast

"Counted the stars on the Fourth of July
Wishing we were rockets bursting in the sky
Talking about redemption and leaving things behind
As the sun sank west of the Mendocino County line."
~ Willie Nelson

Route 1Pacific CoastoceanskywavessandFort BraggCaliforniawaterdunesshoreseasideseaPacific OceanshorelineMacKerricher State ParkMendocino Coast

Rocky Bluffs ~ Pacific Coast

“In photography there is a reality so subtle that it becomes more real than reality.” ~ Ansel Adams

waterskyPacificoceanseaseashorenaturebeachFort BraggCaliforniacoastalMendocino CountypicturesqueseasidewavesrockspromontorymistOcean DriveRoute 1sandycoverockybluffssurflandscapeoutdoorbirthday

Pacific Light ~ Pacific Coast

“Photography is a way of feeling, of touching, of loving. What you have caught on film is captured forever… It remembers little things, long after you have forgotten everything.” ~ Aaron Siskind

j van cise photosPacific OceanLeft CoastWest CoastCaliforniaFort BraggoceanseaseasidecoastcoastalState Route 1Mendocino.CountyCalifornia Historical Landmarkwaterskypicturesquemediterranean climatebirthday

through the majestic Redwoods ~ part of Grand Left Coast Auto Tour with Husband David Kushner (I grabbed the camera for this shot) ~ July 2007

"Take the green bowl. Take all the green bowls; love what you love without apology." ~ Elizabeth Berg, *The Year of Pleasures*

on the waterfront ~ Pacific Coast

"...Where those fishing boats
With their sails afloat
If I could only see
That familiar sunrise
Through sleepy eyes
How happy I'd be."
~ Roy Orbison, Joe Melson

boatwatchj van cise photosfishingPacificcoastseaoceanwharfdockboatsshipsskywateroutdoorwaterfrontbirthday

Oregon Coast ~ part of Grand Left Coast Road Trip with Husband David Kushner (I grabbed the camera for this shot) ~ July 2007

“If sight of sand and sky and sea has given respite from your daily cares, then pause to thank Oswald West, former governor of Oregon (1911-1915). By his foresight, nearly 400 miles of the ocean shore was set aside for public use, from the Columbia River on the north to the California border on the south. This marker is erected and dedicated by the grateful citizens of Oregon to commemorate this outstanding achievement in the conservation of natural resources.” ~ from overlook point

Nikon D80Oregon CoastOswald WestbeachscapePacific Oceanoceanshorelinechallenge

Coastal Waters ~ Oregon

“Alis volat propriis” ~ Motto of the State of Oregon

Pacific Coastcoastseacoastal watersoceancoastlineOregonwatercloudsskyvastview

Oregon Coast

"Land of the Empire Builders, Land of the Golden West;
Conquered and held by free men, Fairest and the best.
On-ward and upward ever, Forward and on, and on;
Hail to thee, Land of the Heroes, My Oregon.
Land of the rose and sunshine, Land of the summer's breeze;
Laden with health and vigor, Fresh from the western seas.
Blest by the blood of martyrs, Land of the setting sun;
Hail to thee, Land of Promise, My Oregon."
~ J. A. Buchanan

OregoncoastoceanPacificbeachshoreskywatercloudsseaseacoastwavesbluechallenge