One of the more extravagant and spur of the moment photography related purchases I’ve ever made was a Hoya ND 400 filter, which blocks out an astounding 9.5 stops of light. As much as I love long exposure photography, not living super close to the ocean and being one of two working parents makes it tough to get the kind of shots I want. When my wife asked if we

A few weeks ago, I was excited to see the Picture Challenge group on link-sharing powerhouse Reddit had posted a challenge posed by the Kennedy Center. The challenge revolved around the Center’s “What’s Going on … Now” project, which celebrates the 40th anniversary of Marvin Gaye’s performance of his best-known record, “What’s Going On.” The project asks people to think critically about the issues, ideas, and themes Gaye presented on

On his very first birthday, I took a day off from work to hit the Philadelphia Zoo with Max and my wife, who was lucky enough to be home for spring break. A Wednesday, we were looking forward to the zoo being relatively empty while we enjoyed the gift of a zoo membership from my parents. Boy, were we wrong. Having been to the zoo a million times, I’ve never

Fitting in perfectly with this year, it is now very chilly after being absolutely glorious last week. Late spring was in full effect in early March, so much so that the cherry blossoms got impatient and thought they’d show up. Gifted with an unexpected day off with junior, we hit Crum Woods and Swarthmore College to check out their arboretum and to get some fresh air. The flowers and heady

The good folks at Hidden City Philadelphia noticed one or two of my architectural abstractions over in my Flickr stream and asked if I had more or would be willing to shoot a few more. I happily obliged, but, unfortunately, they didn’t have enough room to run the full text I had written. That said, I’ve included it here, along with a few of the images. To see more, visit

As it continues to get a little warmer each week, I finally felt comfortable to stomp around a creek and risk getting my feet (and gear!) wet. This past weekend, I dragged my family out to Ithan Valley park in Radnor, PA, to shoot the waterfall that cascades over the old dam. We had originally intended to visit another location, but I wasn’t sure there was enough to keep my

I realized a little while ago that any Philadelphia photographer worth their salt has a shot of David Michie Violins’ Rittenhouse Square storefront, which features what I believe to be an exploded cello. I have not a musical bone in my body, sadly, so feel free to correct me if I’ve identified the wrong instrument. Anyhow, I walked by on a nice February day and between that and seeing a friend

At my first day back at work since the Hawaiian-themed Philadelphia Flower Show began, I find it quite funny that I faced dreary, grey skies on my lunchtime walkaround while color exploded inside the walls of the convention center. After another unusally warm weekend, I stuck close to the area around my office today as the temperature dipped, opting to pick through my well-mined areas looking for new stuff. I had

I’ve always loved the street photography shots that feature steam as a unique element. You generally see a lot of those coming out of New York City. Philadelphia is vastly different in the amount of steam we have being pumped out of the ground, and, generally, it’s funneled through large, chimney-like contraptions to keep it off the sidewalk. When shooting street, I’ve always liked to run and gun, rather than

OK. This winter is officially just weird. As I write this on February 23, 2012, it is over 60 degrees outside, just as it was yesterday. We’re looking at another 60-degree day tomorrow. Just nuts. I do miss the cold a bit, but I can’t complain about the fact that I did two photo walks this week at lunchtime and didn’t wear a jacket either time. Despite the gorgeous weather,