California Dreaming...

...from a photographer's notebook

The title hasn’t much to do with the lyrics of the Mamas and Papas song…just the fact she was wearing California plates and – of course – had me dreaming…or at least dreamy.

On the way home from mounting my 'Scapes exhibit and later exploring some beachy stretches along the Severn on a great summer late afternoon, I realized I was running on fumes – not the car, the tummy. Easy to forget eating when otherwise so occupied…so stopped at an AppleRubyFriday’s type restaurant to fill my long empty tummy-tank…great big salad, a rack of ribs, some high octane iced tea of the Long Island variety, and a fudge brownie and ice cream concoction for dessert. Sweeet…no longer hungry.

But what was quintessentially “Shweeeeeet” as I stepped outside was this iconic example of mid-‘60s Detroit Iron that yanked at my eyeballs like a high powered electromagnet turned full up.

We should all look as good at 50! See her without the Blogger clutter here

There, next to the restaurant’s parking lot – with a nice dark glass building as a backdrop! – was this 1965 Chevrolet Impala SS (Super Sport) convertible, obviously lovingly maintained. Naturally, I had to shoot her from every angle (if the owner had been present, I’d have asked for a look under the hood!), and I’ll share some more images with you down the road…

Ahh, yes...she left me dreamy! See her in higher definition here

Call me sentimental, but as I edited this image, I could hear a heady audio mix, comprised of the gutsy rumble of her 396 cubic inch V8 engine through dual exhausts at idle and wafting from her radio into the air of this lovely summer evening, Bert Kaempfert’s “Strangers in the Night.”

Ahhhh…

©2015 Steve Ember

 

The Scoop on 'Scapes (My New Show)

...from a photographer's notebook
                                                                                                               

 

I'd like to invite you to my new exhibit, opening this week.

‘scapes (short for landscapes, cityscapes, nightscapes, dreamscapes, and escapes) will be on view through August 23 in the Garden Gallery, in the Visitors Center at Quiet Waters Park, a lovely nature preserve along the South River in Annapolis, Maryland. The Opening Reception is this Sunday, July12 (see below).

‘scapes makes stops high in the Bernina Alps of Switzerland’s Canton Graubünden, and in the Valais Alps – including from the 10,300-ft aerie of the Gornergrat, looking across to the mighty Matterhorn rising out of the cloud deck into the Alpine high altitude sunshine, and down at the rugged expanse of the Gornergrat Glacier. It rides the narrow gauge rails of the Rhätische Bahn’s rugged Albula Line…soars to 12,000 feet on L’Aiguille du Midi in the French Alps…relaxes on the shore of glacial-turquoise Moraine Lake and climbs to the autumn-gold Larch Valley in the Canadian Rockies…explores the rough-hewn village of Nesso, along Italy’s Lago di Como…visits the Scottish Highlands, and navigates to New York, Washington, London, Glasgow, and Paris, including by night. Some inviting destinations in the Chesapeake Bay Region, too, including autumn images taken last October in Quiet Waters Park.

About the "escapes" mentioned above...

If the early onset of the hot summer steamies has been getting to you, I've made sure to include, in addition to those high altitude alpine images, some "escapes" into a world of icebergs and glaciers. And if that doesn't work for you, there will, of course, be cold libations!

Dreamscapes? Well, sometimes, usually late at night, when the world seems a bit too literal, I'll summon my "digital genie" from her ever-present bottle as we conspire to transform certain of my images into...well...varying dimensions of (sometimes, un-)reality.  A few of these are included in the show amidst the more literal 'scapes.  Here's one of them.

The exhibit will include lots of new work created in the past two years since my last show, as well as some old faves, both in color and classic black and white. There will also be a selection of smaller matted work.

More information:

I hope you can stop by for the Opening Reception or any time during the run of the show. Please do note that the Visitors Center closes at 4 PM and that the park is closed on Tuesdays. You may also like to explore some of the park's many scenic trails while there!

©2015 Steve Ember