Between Seasons On The Unami
Whenever weather conditions are special but won't last long, I make my way to the Unami Creek for some photography and solitude. It's only a fifteen minute drive from my home, but it feels like it is in a different world. The suburban Philadelphia sprawl is replaced with mountainous terrain, trees, large boulders, water, and almost no inhabitants. It truly is a small escape from the normal world.
It's also a bit of a frustrating photographic subject for me. I really enjoy hiking along the creek's edge, and I have made countless images there. But whenever I get back home and review my images, the excitement fades away. And I am staring at bland, average images that just don't capture the feeling of the place. I have been photographing the Unami Creek for eight years now, and I only have about ten images that I truly like, out of the hundreds of images I have made there. I'll keep trying, but for some reason it's a tough challenge for me.
On this foggy morning however, I was able to create an image that captured the true feeling of the Unami Creek. The fog was held in place by the trees giving a faded blue color to the background. And over my shoulder, the sun was just breaking through and lighting up the creek's edge in a special way. There's a lot going on in this image, yet it seems to work. And you can look at it for a long time and keep finding new things to see. I hope this image gives you a sense of the feeling of this small, calm refuge from the busy world.