Dust and Rust

Tough Ride Home

Nothing like being canned up like sardines after a long day at work… but hey, at least the train didn’t smell like fish.

In my previous post I mentioned my lack of inspiration at Brookdale park. In a search for alternative shooting locations, I took a drive over to the Eagle Rock Reservation. I think this 400+ acre preserve is going to be the focus of much of my weekend shooting for the next few months. There is not much in the way of color there right now, so I processed my shots as toned B&W. I am really looking forward to shooting here in the spring. Right now, there is so much brown and gray (dead leaves, bare trees, rocks), that moss and grass start to look colorful.

As soon as I saw this fallen tree, I noticed how the roots looked like fingers stuck in the earth. It looks like an evil hand digging into the ground.

Eagle Rock Reservation - Fallen Tree

The vine like plants in the next image can be seen on many of the trees. They look like an invasive species, but I’m not really sure.

Eagle Rock Reservation - Spiral Vine

I really liked the “cutaway view” of the roots of this tree. There is a small stream that washed out the soil, just out of the frame. It reminded me of an illustration in a science book, showing the normally invisible root system.

Eagle Rock Reservation - Exposed Roots

You can give yourself a Rorschach Test with this image. I see a skeletal hand on the right side and a weird frog/bug in the upper left. Am I nuts?

Eagle Rock Reservation - Root Formation

There is not much going on in the last image. I just liked the symmetry of the mushrooms on the trunk.

Eagle Rock Reservation - Trunk and Mushrooms

I am still trying to find a little direction for the layout of the site. I am only going to keep a single post on the front page for the time being. I am also moving away from using the flash based slide show. I had a few people comment that it took away their ability to view the images at their own pace, which made absolute sense. If you got this far, leave a comment and let me know what you think of this site! Thanks.

My wife and I negotiated some time to ourselves yesterday. She got a 3 hour block of time to catch up on her Guiding Light, and I got 3 hours to take some pictures. It was foggy and rainy, and the sunset was at 4:52. I packed up my gear quickly, and headed over to Brookdale Park. I have mixed feelings about Brookdale. There are plenty of places for activities.. playgrounds, ball fields, and a nice track and soccer field. I find that it is lacking a little in the hidden spaces and beautiful views department. Combined with my frequent visits there, it makes it hard sometimes to find a new angle to photograph. The first shot is of an old gnarled tree near the bike path :

As the light started to fade, I was struggling to find an interesting subject. I started taking shots of the raindrops on the branches. I was attracted to the little images inside of the drops. I converted all of the images to B&W since there was not much in the way of color to begin with. All photos were taken with a Nikon D200 and my old workhorse 28-105mm lens.

I was expecting a little thunderstorm last night, but not a mini tornado. I live in Montclair NJ, and the town is a mess today. There are powerlines all over, trees uprooted and damaged cars and homes.

Montclair is a very scenic place, and the old trees really add to the character. I was very sad to see some of the huge oak trees that must be close to 150 years old laying in pieces.

We experience alot of power outages in my area, mostly due to the trees getting into the wires. On many streets the wires run behind the homes, though the backyards. The lack of poles and wires as you walk down the streets is great, but PSE&G does not do enough to keep the backyard trees off of the wires.