Golden Morning

As summer winds down we often get treated to foggy mornings. If you are prepared and put yourself in the right location to catch the sunbeams streaming through, you will have a good chance to make very nice images.

At my favorite local haunt I was fortunate to have the light fog hang around the trees while the full sun blasted from behind it.

I'm beginning to catch the fall foliage in Pennsylvania, and I hope to have some new images in time for my last two shows of the year. Stay tuned ...


Website: Photography by Matt Schrier

New Hope Award

The New Hope Arts and Crafts Festival was a mixed bag. Saturday's great weather was followed by some rain on Sunday. As always I met a lot of fun and interesting people, with many stories to share.

I was fortunate to receive the second place award in the photography category this year. In addition to the cash award it is very gratifying to know that my body of work is impressive enough to win an award at a high-end arts festival such as New Hope.

Below is a photo of me receiving the award.

I Spy

Prepping for New Hope

My last outdoor show of the year is coming up, and I'm busy selecting some new images to print. I've tweaked my presentation a bit over the past few shows, in an attempt to make browsing easier (and in the end to increase sales, of course). First of all I've produced two gallery-wraps (one which sold at the Doylestown show), to try a bit of a different effect. This format has become much more popular in recent years, and for certain images the result can be really beautiful. I've added them as an option on my website.

I've also left the smaller items home, in order to give me more flexibility in arranging my print bins. I've eliminated a table, which allows more room to move around, and allows customers to get closer to the works hanging on the walls.

The image below was made a few weeks ago in a local field. The flowers have died, but the birds were busy filling up on the remaining seeds. I like the early-day lighting, as well as the color tone of this image.

Doylestown Arts Festival

We had a very nice day yesterday at the Doylestown Arts Festival. The weather was great, the crowds were overflowing, and the atmosphere was electric. After a few weather-dampened disappointing shows this year this show was a breath of fresh air.

I met a lot of new customers, and a few old ones. A few family members also took advantage of the nice day to stop by and support me (Thanks Leslie, Vince, Linda, Frank and Ellen).

This image below seemed to garner a lot of interest. Bucks County still brims with farming, despite the explosion of development over the past few decades. And our local historical connections are also well-appreciated. So this shot of sheep on a wet winter day at the Thompson-Neely farm, right across from Bowman's Hill near New Hope, resonates with a lot of people.

Next stop: New Hope Arts and Crafts Festival, Sept 26 and 27.

Young Heron

While walking around my local nature center recently, on a quiet morning where I wasn't expecting anything especially interesting, I was startled when this young heron flew from near the path to a branch not too far away. Since he didn't go too far I was thinking that he wasn't really too afraid of me, so I calmly swapped lenses on my camera and prepared the tripod.

While I snapped some initial shots he preened himself for a while. Then he moved to this branch, above the walking path. Here I was able to inch closer and capture some clean shots.

I'm not sure what variety of heron this is, as I think his color will change as he gets older. It may be a white heron.

One lesson that I have learned while walking through natural areas is to always be prepared, and be wary of what's around you. I often go walking with a destination in mind, sometimes completely oblivious to what's around me. But then I may be startled by a deer or a heron or other large bird along the water's edge. At the very least have a medium to long lens on the camera if you have one.

What's Happening

We're in the dog days of summer right now. It's been hot and humid, and frequently raining, for the past few weeks. A few nights ago we had a tremendous thunderstorm with very loud thunderclaps. No need to add water to the pool this summer, instead we're draining water out.

As far as photography goes, I'm trying to create shots of summer flowers before they wilt due to the summer heat. Some of the local fields of wildflowers have finally flowered to the point where they attract birds like goldfinches, as well as butterflies. The bird activity at my feeder has stopped almost entirely, and that's because they have moved on to more natural sources of food. Lately at my local nature center the birds are all over the wildflowers growing there. When the natural sources start to wane then I'll expect them to return to the feeder.

Below is a hawk that I discovered at a local park. He stayed on his perch atop a tall tree for awhile, apparently looking for signs of small animals for which to feed on.

Summer Morning

I don't chase sunsets so much any more, but I do chase sunrises on occasion, or at least the post-sunrise sunlight. There are a few personal reasons for this. I believe sunsets look great with some other beautiful landscape scene for the sunset to accentuate, especially a water feature. And we don't have a lot of those in our area. Also, as beautiful as they can be, sunsets are quite common. So if I'm picking some time out of my schedule to spend photographing I'd like to work on subjects that are more unique.

As for morning light, I often find interesting things happening. Such as fog or animal activity. Also many people aren't up in the early morning hours, so the scenes I find are often very surprising to people. I like my chances of having the images being more impactive and unusual.

In the photo below the sun had been up for a while, but the fog had not yet cleared. This is the time when I find very dramatic images.

Collingswood Show

This weekend I will be at the Collingswood NJ Crafts and Fine Arts Festival. The weather doesn't look too bad, considering all the rain our region has been getting lately. Saturday looks great. Please take advantage and stop by - I have new images and 2 new gallery wraps that I'm adding into the mix.

Rainy Phillies Game

Ryan and I took in a Phillies game last Friday night, against the St. Louis Cardinals. They lost the game, but we still had fun. There was a rain delay to make things a little interesting. Here are a few shots from my Canon point-and-shoot.