The Foxes of Brigantine Beach

In the shadow of the glitz and hustle-bustle of Atlantic City lies one of the most peaceful beaches along the NJ coast. Both the north and south ends of Brigantine beach are quite isolated from the residential areas, and there is no boardwalk to draw throngs of crowds.

I spent a beautiful morning recently along the southern end, where the casinos of A.C. loom across the water. There is a wide area of brush and dunes between the houses and the beach, and this is where I found a bunch of foxes making their home.





I didn't see all of them all at once. First there was just one that peeked out from the tall grass, then another. They stayed near the dunes as I was about 50 feet away on the beach. I was making some progress getting fairly close to one of them that was resting on a pile of sand and leaves. This one was gnawing on a piece of wood that sticking from the sand.





At this point the foxes became spooked by someone walking down the path through the dunes. I thought my morning was done here, and was planning to move on to another location, but I soon discovered that the foxes were not so easily scared away. They came back within a few minutes, and I soon realized that there were at least five different foxes in this area.





I continued shooting them for a while, and even when I decided to finally leave and move on they kept an eye on me as I was walking back down the path. One even made itself very comfortable in the middle of the path, as if to show me the way out.





This was a very enjoyable morning at this peaceful beach. It was the middle of winter, and for much of the time I could not see another soul up or down the beach. The constant breaking of the waves was very relaxing - these foxes have picked a great place to live.

Main Website: Photography by Matt Schrier
 

Ocean City - New Years Eve

We spent our last day of 2009 in Ocean City NJ. As many other towns do they put on a First Night event in which attendees pay a fixed price and get the chance to either see many different performances or (for the kids mainly) take advantage of hands-on fun such as mini-golf and kiddie rides.

Kathy's dance group (the Crossroads Irish dance group) put on a couple of performances for the crowds. The kids and I played mini-golf and saw acts such as Trout Fishing in America and Broadway by Request.

The weather was overcast and a little rainy, and before seeing Trout Fishing at the music pier I caught this image of the boardwalk stretching into the darkness. Without a tripod I managed to get one clear shot.

Bone Chilling Cold

The weather is decidedly nasty to start the new year. Although there are parts of the country that are much colder, walking the dog in 20 degree weather in a blowing wind is not my idea of a good time. This kind of weather puts a real damper on my desire to get out with my camera and find something unique in the colorless, bare-tree environment that surrounds us.

So instead I'll post another work of digital art. I took this shot of a sunflower a few years ago, but it did not knock me over as a straight photo. I like it much better after massaging it in my digital darkroom.



Main website: Photography by Matt Schrier
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Snow Robin

I don't usually see robins in winter. I know that they feed mostly on worms and other creepy-crawly things they find in the ground, and around here the ground can be frozen for weeks if not months. At the local nature center we spotted them eating some of the winter berries.

I am trying some digital manipulation techniques these days, making use of the down-time that usually accompanies winter. Here is one example.

Holiday Greetings

Photography by Matt Schrier

Winter is Almost Here

The calendar says Dec. 19, but it sure feels like winter. Snow is falling heavily today in the Mid-Atlantic states, so I headed over to my local nature center to check out the bird activity. There were plenty of local bird species filling up on the bird seed and the winter berries. I think I'll be spending a fair amount of time outside this weekend, as the snowfall is supposed to last all day, and stick around for a while.

New Philly Pics Added

I've added three new Philly images to my website:

Philadelphia Photos

Here's one of them:

Back to Philly

It's been a while, but I've made a trip into the city of Philadelphia to begin producing some new work from there. For the last few years I've been concentrating on more natural settings, and also of birds and other animals. But I do enjoy the more scenic parts of the city as well, especially in the right light.

During the morning when our family is preparing for our day we often have a local news channel on the TV. They usually show a shot of the city from across the Delaware River from the riverfront of Camden, NJ. Frequently there is a beautiful sunrise that casts a soft morning light across the hulking buildings, making them look almost beautiful (if you can say that about a hulking building).

So that's where I headed, across the Ben Franklin Bridge (by the way a very beautiful bridge in its own right), to the area near the Adventure Aquarium. On this morning the pre-dawn light was quite nice, and some soft distant clouds provided a subtle backdrop to the skyscrapers. I took a number of "keeper" shots, but one that stood out for me was the one below, where I include the moon that stood far above. I don't usually make a concerted attempt to extract deep meaning from my photos, but there's something about this composition that makes me reflect on how small our world is in the big scheme of things.

From the Archives

I often go back to my image files to see if there any shots I previously overlooked, or never completed processing. This image of the oft-photographed Jenne Farm in Vermont was made on a workshop trip a few years ago. In retrospect the reason I did not select this photo for my portfolio is because I didn't care for the composition in the "standard" aspect ratio. But after I cropped it for a panoramic I like it a lot.

Last Show of the Year

Well it's that time of year. This weekend is my last show of 2009. I have been showing at the Archbishop Wood fall craft show for 4 years, and I a glad that many past customers stop by to take a look at the new work I bring back every year.

The show runs Friday night, 6:30-9:30, and then Saturday 10-4.

Below is one of my new prints that I'll have this weekend, one of those "instant favorites" that is hard not to like if you live in the Bucks County area.