14 replies to this topic

[Peterjay]

I "made my bones" in the art world with B&W abstract photography, but I like to dabble in color from time to time. I came across this one while I was weeding out some of the junk that's been clogging up my files for God knows how long. I'm also finding a lot of stuff that I'd completely forgotten about.

One of the things that attracted us when we decided to move to the Eastern Shore was the beauty of the place. Our huge estuary is gorgeous on its own, but it's also a great place to watch weather events develop. This one's a squall that popped up out of nowhere.

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[GC59]

Wow Peter very nice, and how do you get anything done I'd be walkin around that estuary all the time. Even in the squall, no especially in the squall.

[Peterjay]

LOL GC, it ain't easy. I plan all my trips to the grocery store around the tides, so I can stop and take a peek at what's going on with the fish and the birds. When we first moved down here, I was standing down by the marsh, watching some nasty storms, when it dawned on me that the wind out there was starting to whip around in a circle. I jumped into the Jeep, and might have set a new speed record for driving up the street in reverse. (we live seven house away from where I took that picture, and I wasn't wasting any time turning around)I did see a funnel cloud later, and my neighbor saw three. None touched down though.

[bellevue.chartreuse.trout]

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[Peterjay]

BCT, to tell you the truth, I'm not sure what I did with that picture - it's been in my files for a while, and I just happened to dig it out. I do remember the original though, and you can be sure there was a fair amount of post-capture processing involved. The thing I love most about abstraction is that it sets you free to do whatever you want to do, subject matter be damned. I'm not bashful about using whatever tools I can find in the box. This one started out as a straight color photo. I saturated the colors a bit and fiddled with brushes in Corel Painter, and finished up in Photoshop. I guess you could call it mixed media, although worrying about stuff like categorization is something I leave to the folks who have too much time on their hands. BTW - that was the spot I saw the funnel cloud, but not the day. Once I saw the wind ripping around in a circle, I was too worried about my own hide to bother with a picture.

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[Rolf Jacobsen]

Peter these are wonderful! Please keep hem coming!!!!!!!!

[bellevue.chartreuse.trout]

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[Peterjay]

Many thanks guys - I appreciate the kind comments. I've gotta start posting more here; I owe a great deal to the FTF Photography Corner, and when I'm a little more coherent, (I'm in a pre-coffee state right now) I'll explain why. Again, thanks for the compliments.

[agn54]

Beautiful work Peter! Man, you live in a beautiful place. Looks similar to one of the areas I fish where we have one of the few stretches of undeveloped coast left in Florida, straight marshland

[Peterjay]

Thanks Andy. This is indeed a beautiful place, and we're here to stay. The estuary here is about 70 miles long and probably averages four or five miles deep. It's all part of the Virginia Coast Reserve, consisting of saltwater marshes, shallow bays, and uninhabited barrier islands. Fortunately, it's nearly all owned and protected by the Nature Conservancy, the state, and a couple of national wildlife refuges. Even the mainland is mostly farms and a few dinky hamlets. Paradise. My wife found the place on her way back from a painting trip to the Outer Banks. She called me up and said she'd found the most beautiful place she'd ever seen. When she got home, I jumped in the car and drove down from Connecticut. I took one look and bought a house. The angler in the picture is Jim H., known around here as "Tidewaterfly." Jim and I spent a great week stomping the flats along the Machipongo River for reds. The "rivers" here are actually saltwater estuaries; there aren't any freshwater rivers on the Virginia Eastern Shore.

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[Flat Rock native]

Thanks Andy. This is indeed a beautiful place, and we're here to stay. The estuary here is about 70 miles long and probably averages four or five miles deep. It's all part of the Virginia Coast Reserve, consisting of saltwater marshes, shallow bays, and uninhabited barrier islands. Fortunately, it's nearly all owned and protected by the Nature Conservancy, the state, and a couple of national wildlife refuges. Even the mainland is mostly farms and a few dinky hamlets. Paradise. My wife found the place on her way back from a painting trip to the Outer Banks. She called me up and said she'd found the most beautiful place she'd ever seen. When she got home, I jumped in the car and drove down from Connecticut. I took one look and bought a house. The angler in the picture is Jim H., known around here as "Tidewaterfly." Jim and I spent a great week stomping the flats along the Machipongo River for reds. The "rivers" here are actually saltwater estuaries; there aren't any freshwater rivers on the Virginia Eastern Shore.

Glad you (or spouse) found this place, thanks for great photos, you are encouraged to post more when you have them... Carry On...

[Mudskimmer]

Thanks Andy. This is indeed a beautiful place, and we're here to stay. The estuary here is about 70 miles long and probably averages four or five miles deep. It's all part of the Virginia Coast Reserve, consisting of saltwater marshes, shallow bays, and uninhabited barrier islands. Fortunately, it's nearly all owned and protected by the Nature Conservancy, the state, and a couple of national wildlife refuges. Even the mainland is mostly farms and a few dinky hamlets. Paradise. My wife found the place on her way back from a painting trip to the Outer Banks. She called me up and said she'd found the most beautiful place she'd ever seen. When she got home, I jumped in the car and drove down from Connecticut. I took one look and bought a house. The angler in the picture is Jim H., known around here as "Tidewaterfly." Jim and I spent a great week stomping the flats along the Machipongo River for reds. The "rivers" here are actually saltwater estuaries; there aren't any freshwater rivers on the Virginia Eastern Shore.

I definitely agree that you are smack dab in one of the last great places. Its a darn good thing that there aren't any fish there too, the water tastes bad, the accommodations stink, and there's too many bugs. Nevertheless, I'll keep checking it out each summer just to see if things change. Great pics btw

[Peterjay]

John, you forgot to mention the swarms of bull sharks, yard-deep mud, razor-sharp oysters, crazed jet skiers, giant waterspouts, impenetrable fog banks, violent thunderstorms, saltwater crocodiles, the Zika virus, and fleets of Somali pirates. Still, no guts, no glory. Hell, at least 25% of the tourists who come here survive long enough to pay their exorbitant hotel bills and say goodbye to our surly locals.

[tidewaterfly]

Pete, you got my only good side with that pic too! That was one heck of a week! Beautiful pics my friend! Did the Reds ever return?

I'm back to driving again, but will have the fall to fish it seems. Last I talked with you, I told you you're welcome to come to SC for some fishing. I have a spare room as long as one of my kids aren't visiting!

[Peterjay]

Jim, the winter of 2013/2014 really put the hurts to the fishing - there have been some reds around since then, but not in the numbers that you & I saw. The trout also took a beating; they're on the rebound now, so I'm hoping that the reds will follow. The bull reds didn't suffer the same fate; I saw some black drum carcasses over by the crab shacks yesterday in the 20-pound range, so the reds shouldn't be too far behind. My spies tell me they're starting to show in the surf a little south of here. The 12wt's ready to go; I plan to do a little beach-walking over on the Bayside this week. There's a 50-pounder out there somewhere with my name on it. (LOL) One of these days, I'm gonna head down your way. We almost moved to the Beaufort area about ten years ago, but we flipped a coin and relocated to Connecticut instead.