The Boating Party

The Boating Party ©2013 - Some of the 7 images included in this montage have been hanging around in my files since the spring of 2011 until an idea for this composition hit me recently.  The base image is a lovely little stream running through the town of Spotswood, NJ that I photographed during a visit in April of 2011.  The boat, oddly enough, was inside an abandoned house in Middle Valley, NJ (the same house I used in "By the Light of the Moon" which you can find in the archives of this blog).  Speaking of moons, the one used here was taken in Lambertville, NJ just as it was rising, very full and golden.  The birds are actually Canadian geese from a lake near my house.  I decided to take a few liberties with their coloring to better fit the mood of the piece.  A young man from my vintage photo collection completed the gathering of "The Boating Party".

The Fortune Teller

The Fortune Teller ©2013 - Last September I attended an antiques show at the Hunterdon County fairgrounds in Amwell Township, NJ.  When leaving the show after a lovely afternoon of browsing for treasures, I happened across an interesting looking yardsale while heading down the road to Lambertville for dinner.  While perusing the sale, a building on the property with lots of texture and peeling paint caught my eye so I asked the owner if she would mind if I took some photographs.  She was extremely gracious, telling me it was an old garage badly in need of a coat of paint, but I could take all the photos I wanted.  She even moved her car and several other items out of the way to give me more room to shoot!  As often happens, the images were filed away until recently when the pieces of a composition came together in my head.  The vintage photo of the gypsy from my collection seemed to echo the mood of the building with the odd emblem attached to the door.  The crocodile I found a couple of months before on someone's front lawn in Lambertville and my curious backyard blackbirds completed "The Fortune Teller".

The Ball Game

Back to the abandoned property of St. Paul's Abbey in Andover, NJ.  This time, it's looking up a small road running along the back of the large main building.  I keep checking online for any news on the fate of this property but haven't found any recent updates.  As with so many of the abandoned places I've visited, it seems all too few are being restored to their former grandeur and put to good use again.  Most remain lonely ghosts of their former selves that I will continue to photograph and preserve in my artwork.  The distinguished gentleman on the road and mischievous girls hiding in the bushes are from my vintage photo collection.  The birds patrolling the sky are from a trip to Marlboro, NJ and the ball that prompted the title belonged to my beloved ferrets, all of whom have passed on.