Tuesday, July 4, 2023

Hazy Evening On The Delaware ...

“The water you touch in a river is the last of that which has passed, & the first of that which is coming. Thus it is with time present. Life, if well spent, is long.”

       ~ Leonardo da Vinci

              ~ 1452 ~ 1519

            ~   “Leonardo’s Notebooks”

The historic Northampton Street Bridge, commonly called the Free Bridge, spans across the Delaware River linking Phillipsburg, New Jersey & Easton, Pennsylvania as sunset neared on June 30, 2023.

I shot this from the banks of the river on the Phillipsburg side facing Easton, as wildfire smoke from Canadian wildfires moving through the area caused hot milky skies and haze in the evening sky.

The bridge is colloquially referred as the “Free Bridge” to distinguish it from the Easton-Phillipsburg Toll Bridge (previously the Bushkill Street Bridge), a short distance upstream. It underwent a rehabilitation/improvement project that spanned from late 2021 until spring 2023.

The bridge that connects the two states was completed in 1896 and survived massive flooding from Hurricane Diane in 1955. It underwent a thorough restoration in 1990 and is one of my very favorite places to photograph.

 

Historic Phillipsburg was established March 8, 1861 and named for William Phillips, an early settler of the area. The historic town of Easton was founded in 1752 and is located at the confluence of the Delaware River and Lehigh River, known as the Forks-Of-The-Delaware. Both are Delaware River Towns.

The Free Bridge can also be seen from across the Delaware River at Delaware Canal State Park, Easton, near the Forks of the Delaware Trailhead of the Delaware and Lehigh National Heritage Corridor (D&L Trail).

Running from Wilkes-Barre to Bristol, the D&L Trail passes through the Lehigh and Delaware rivers and their canals in Pennsylvania.


 

Monday, June 26, 2023

Sunfire ...

 “… Goodness gracious, great balls of fire …”

    ~ “Great Balls Of Fire”

   ~ 1957 popular song recorded by

     Jerry Lee Lewis

         ~ 1935 ~ 2022

     at Sun Records, Memphis, Tennessee

Sun Records is an American independent record label founded by producer Sam Phillips in Memphis in February 1952. Sun was the first label to record the great Elvis Presley as well as Charlie Rich, Roy Orbison, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins, and Johnny Cash.

Great Balls Of Fire it’s a sunset Jerry Lee Lewis would love as a red sun sets amidst the trees in the surreal.

I created this image by blending my shot of the hazy red sunset of June 6, 2023 in the West End of Allentown, Pennsylvania with background texture by Jai Johnson for artistic effect.

The wildfire smoke from Canadian wildfires moving through the area caused the hot milky skies and orange haze in the evening sky that caused sunsets such as this.


 

Wednesday, June 21, 2023

Tongue In Cheek ...

“Any glimpse into the life of an animal quickens our own and makes it so much the larger and better in every way.”

     ~ John Muir

       ~ 1838 ~1914

My favorite button buck ~ Buttons, as I call him ~ strikes a “tongue in cheek” pose after eating an apple on a beautiful spring evening just before a late April sunset at Trexler Memorial Park, Allentown, Pennsylvania.

I began photographing Buttons as a precious white-spotted fawn, then a sweet button buck and then a beautiful yearling, until he migrated away in January 2020. Along the way I tossed him many apples, which he loved eating. It’s a true joy and blessing to me personally and as a photographer to have watched this white-tailed deer grow.