Photo Of The Day: January 19, 2009

On Sunday, the temperature rose again above freezing, getting us out of our frigid predicament. Here's a shot from the same time a few years ago when Sandy Hook Bay froze. The shot is taken from one of the two ferry docks that carry passengers to New York, looking at the other dock. Most interesting, in addition to the fact that you could literally "walk on water" to get from one to the other, is the incredible texture created by the frozen water as it get pushed into new forms from the expansion caused by freezing water. For more pictures of docks, visit Paul Scharff Photography.com.

Photo Of The Day: January 18, 2009

Yesterday the temperature here on the New Jersey shore hit a three-year low -- 5 degrees. It's already having an impact on the local rivers and bays. Here's a shot of Sandy Hook Bay from several years ago when it last froze -- all the way across to Sandy Hook. For more pictures of frozen water, visit Paul Scharff Photography.com.

Photo Of The Day: January 17, 2009

Vancouver Island has a huge range of environments in its 12,000+ square mile space. Among other things are a number of rain forests. In one, it is so damp that the moss, literally, hangs from the tree, as seen here. For more photos of Vancouver Island, visit Paul Scharff Photography.com.

Photo Of The Day: January 16, 2009

What makes it worth getting up early enough to get the 5:55 AM boat to New York? Getting this view just as dawn is approaching when pulling out of Pier 11 on the way to the East 35th Street dock. Not only is the balance between the approaching light and the electricity of the city a perfect complement to each other, but the sun rising over the East River casts a wonderful reflective gold light on the lower part of the reflective buildings, which higher up are still capturing the blue sky not yet converted by the sun. For more photos of New York, visit Paul Scharff Photography.com.

Photo Of The Day: January 15, 2009

Bougainvillea is always a pretty flower, but it usually has some color -- a magenta, pink, or even orange. But this one was white, which made for a very classy look and a nice contrast against the green leaves. For more pictures of flowers, visit Paul Scharff Photography.com.

Photo Of The Day: January 14, 2009

Mary had a little lamb and his fleece was, well, spotted. This newborn comes from a farm in upstate New York. For more pictures of animals, visit Paul Scharff Photography.com.

Photo Of The Day: January 13, 2009

One of the nice things about the dolphins at Miami Seaquarium is that after they do a great flip for the ever appreciative audience, as shown yesterday, they come by to discuss their technique and ask for constructive criticism. At least that's what it looked like this dolphin was doing here. For more pictures of dolphins, visit Paul Scharff Photography.com.

Photo Of The Day: January 12, 2009

Building on yesterday's Photo of the Day, here's another shot of a dolphin, but not taken in New Jersey. This was taken at the Seaquarium in Miami, where you'll see acrobatics from dolphins like you've never seen anywhere else. Here's just one example. For more pictures of dolphins, visit Paul Scharff Photography.com.

Photo Of The Day: January 11, 2009

NBC News had a piece this week on the dolphins here at the Jersey Shore. On Father's Day, 2008, 16 dolphins swam all the way up Sandy Hook Bay to visit, and some have never left. Three have died, eight are unaccounted for and presumed to have returned to the ocean, but five are still around, frolicking, although thinner. I last saw them in person about two weeks ago, and on the next sunny day will venture out again. It's harder to follow them because they are very transitory -- one day they'll be right here in my town at the Highlands bridge, and the next day they'll be several miles up another river in neighboring Rumson. In the meantime, I thought I'd dust off one of the shots I took earlier in the season. For more photos of dolphins, visit Paul Scharff Photography.com.

Photo Of The Day: January 10, 2009

For the final shot from my recent shoot in Maine, I've saved the simplest for last -- a clean shot of the sunrise over the Atlantic Ocean. For more pictures of sunrises, visit Paul Scharff Photography.com.

Photo Of The Day: January 9, 2009

Here's another shot of the Ram Island Ledge Lighthouse in Maine -- up close and personal so you can see the iron pier that abuts it. For more pictures of lighthouses, visit Paul Scharff Photography.com.

Photo Of The Day: January 8, 2009

Sometimes, the comparatively cold, snowy and rocky coast of Maine can seem inhospitable. That is, until you catch it during the best light of the day. In a glance, you are transformed to a feel of cool, crisp refreshment that even a beer manufacturer would envy. For more pictures of Maine, visit Paul Scharff Photography.com.

Photo Of The Day: January 7, 2009

If you want to take a shot of the sun rising over Portland Head Light, you have a pretty limited window -- the angle of the sun is dependent on the time of year, and it's just around the solstice when you can get a nice shot that includes the lighthouse, building, and the sun rising over the Atlantic Ocean. Worth getting up in the dark in four-degree weather? To me it is, when this is the result. For more pictures of lighthouses, visit Paul Scharff Photography.com.

Photo Of The Day: January 6, 2009

If you want privacy, there's nothing like a house on the end of an island with no other people on it, such as this one near Cape Elizabeth, Maine. For more pictures of islands, visit Paul Scharff Photography.com.

Photo Of The Day: January 5, 2009

Any sunrise looks good, but it's even nicer when it's rising over water, and the water is punctuated by jutting rocks -- something found frequently in Maine. For more pictures of Maine, visit Paul Scharff Photography.com.

Photo Of The Day: January 4, 2009

The Ram Island Ledge Lighthouse sits about a mile offshore from Portland Head near the entrance to Portland Harbor. Surrounded by dangerous ledges, shipwrecks happened with unusual frequency in the 1800s. So in 1902, Congress appropriated funds for the building of a lighthouse on Ram Island Ledge. Work began in 1903 and was completed in July 1904, complicated by the fact that the base of the lighthouse could be built only at low tide.For more pictures of lighthouses, visit Paul Scharff Photography.com.

Photo Of The Day: January 3, 2009

I was up in Maine over the holidays to add some winter shots to my Maine gallery, and decided to get up in the dark of night to catch the first light of the day. There were some nice results, which we'll feature this week. This one is of Portland Head Light. For more pictures of Maine, visit Paul Scharff Photography.com.

Photo Of The Day: January 2, 2009

Well, you learn something new every day. For years I've been shooting Cape Cod, and I have a range of shots of Pilgrim Monument, a commemoration to the Pilgrims' first landfall in the New World. In fact, I posted a fresh photo of it just about a month ago. But this week I finally had a chance to see the latest James Bond film, Quantum of Solace. As the film opened, it showed a scene of Siena, Italy -- and there was the Pilgrim Monument. I couldn't believe my eyes. So I did some research and found that the Pilgrim Monument was designed by Willard T. Sears after the Torre del Mangia in Siena, Italy, which was designed by Arguolo and Agostino in 1309. In other words, Sears simply copied the original that was designed 600 years earlier. Here's a shot I took of the monument, along with an inserted comparison shot of the original monument, kindly provided by Steve Soper, who manages a comprehensive site about Siena, Italy found here. For more shots of Pilgrim Monument,, visit Paul Scharff Photography.com.

Photo Of The Day: January 1, 2009

Happy New Year! For more pictures of fireworks, visit Paul Scharff Photography.com.

Photo Of The Day: December 31, 2008

Tonight there will be a lot of celebrating in New York City in Times Square. There will be hundreds of thousands of people there, taking part in a ritual that began in 1904. Here's the view people will be clamoring for, in a photo taken earlier this month. For more pictures of Times Square, visit Paul Scharff Photography.com.

Photo Of The Day: December 30, 2008

It may be winter on Cape Cod, but the dunes around Pilgrim Lake in Provincetown still look beautiful. For more pictures of Cape Cod, visit Paul Scharff Photography.com.

Photo Of The Day: December 29, 2008

This feels just right for the holiday season, taken in my front yard after a snowfall a couple of years ago. For more pictures of snow, visit Paul Scharff Photography.com.

Photo Of The Day: December 28, 2008

A lot of people will be traveling today returning from holiday celebrations, and many of them will be riding on a Boeing 747, seen here on its way to JFK airport. For more pictures of planes, visit Paul Scharff Photography.com.

Photo Of The Day: December 27, 2008

As the days continue to get longer, I thought it would be a good idea to visit Miami Beach in anticipation of our warmer weather. This shot shows one of the very colorful life guard stations on Lummus Beach, along with a peaceful pathway through the dunes. For more pictures of Miami Beach, visit Paul Scharff Photography.com.

Photo Of The Day: December 26, 2008

In Asbury Park, NJ, there is a famous painting of grinning face named Tillie. Originally painted in 1955-56 on the side of the Palace Amusements building, Tillie was saved from demolition when the building was razed in July 2004 and is in storage awaiting placement on the new building going on the site. Meanwhile, a tribute to Tillie, named for George C. Tilyou, owner of Steeplechase Park in Coney Island, NY, which had a similar grinning face on its signage, still exists on the WonderBar on Ocean Avenue, as seen here. For more pictures of painted buildings, visit Paul Scharff Photography.com.

Photo Of The Day: December 25, 2008

Merry Christmas! For more photos, visit Paul Scharff Photography.com.

Photo Of The Day: December 24, 2008

The beach is always beautiful here on the Jersey shore. Here's how it looked on Christmas Eve a few years ago, while the sun was lighting up New York City. For more pictures of beaches, visit Paul Scharff Photography.com.

Photo Of The Day: December 23, 2008

Rockefeller Center in New York City is home to Paul Manship's highly recognizable bronze gilded statue of Prometheus, prominently featured in the sunken plaza at the front of 30 Rockefeller Plaza. Some sources cite it as the fourth-most familiar statue in the United States, behind the Lincoln Memorial, Mount Rushmore and the Statue of Liberty. Whatever the case, it looks particularly good during the holidays with the colored lights behind it. For more pictures of New York City, visit Paul Scharff Photography.com.

Photo Of The Day: December 22, 2008

The Christmas Cactus is a succulent perennial that flowers around the holidays. A mechanism called photoperiodism causes the plant to flower in response to longer periods of darkness. It certainly works like clockwork for my plant, and being a photographer, I decided to get up close and personal with the flower itself. I found that it created a wonderful, almost abstract, design of color and form, as seen here. For more pictures of flowers, visit Paul Scharff Photography.com.

Photo Of The Day: December 21, 2008

It's the winter solstice today, which means the days are now officially getting longer. This is the first milestone in our journey out of winter. So I thought it would be a good idea to remember what it was like when you could kayak during the sunset -- at 8:45 PM. Hang in there -- we're officially on track towards that now. For more photos of kayaks, visit Paul Scharff Photography.com.

Photo Of The Day: December 20, 2008

In June of 2008, Miami Beach replaced its aging snow fencing in Lummus Park. It's kind of funny calling it snow fencing when you're talking about Miami, but that's what it's called. There's something picturesque about slightly run-down aged fencing, so photos of any brand new snow fence normally don't look good for the first few months the fences are up, until they've been sufficiently weathered. But there's an exception: when the sun is striking the fence at just the right direction to create a beautiful form of shadows on the sand, as seen here. For more pictures of Miami, visit Paul Scharff Photography.com.

Photo Of The Day: December 19, 2008

There's nothing like fishing in the sunset, especially when your buddies are with you and you're talking as much as fishing. For more pictures of fishermen and women, visit Paul Scharff Photography.com.

Photo Of The Day: December 18, 2008

Sometimes, all it takes is a hole in a wall to make a pretty picture. This is all the more true when the hole is a perfect square, and the view beyond it is a bursting bougainvillea, as seen here. For more pictures of walls, visit Paul Scharff Photography.com.

Photo Of The Day: December 17, 2008

I'm currently working on my next book -- a photographic portrait of Phoenix, AZ. To help inspire me, I found this shot I took of some cactus, not in Phoenix, but in Miami. For more pictures of cactus, visit Paul Scharff Photography.com.

Photo Of The Day: December 16, 2008

Recently I posted a photo of the Chicago skyline. In the interest of equal time, here's a shot of the southern end of Manhattan -- the financial district -- from the water on a day in which the light, time of day, and color of the sky all made for a brilliantly colorful photo. For more pictures of New York City, visit Paul Scharff Photography.com.

Photo Of The Day: December 15, 2008

Sometimes, a simple table with two chairs can look wonderfully artistic, particularly when placed in front of a stucco background and adorned with interesting shadows. For more pictures of tables and chairs, visit Paul Scharff Photography.com.

Photo Of The Day: December 14, 2008

The full moon that rose Thursday night was the last before the winter solstice, which makes it the Long Night Moon. Some also call it the Moon Before Yule. But it was noteworthy for another reason: this full moon was the closest it has come to earth in 15 years, and the nearest until 2016. It was 14 percent wider and 30 percent brighter than your run-of-the-mill full moon. Here in New Jersey, we were treated to clouds all night Thursday, so I missed it except for some slices of it between cloud layers. But last night it came out in full force, and despite being "off" by a day, was as stellar as could be. For more pictures of the moon, visit Paul Scharff Photography.com.

Photo Of The Day: December 13, 2008

Siamese cats were first exported from Thailand (then known as Siam) in the late 1800s. They began appearing in English cat shows almost immediately, and in American shows by the early twentieth century. There are many varieties, including the lesser-known lilac point, first recognized by the Cat Fanciers Association in 1950. Lilac points are snow white in color with silvery-gray and pink highlighted points. This rare Siamese cat has intense blue eyes, and the pads of the feet and the nose are a unique shade of lilac. They're particularly cute when they're kittens, as seen here. For more photos of cats, visit Paul Scharff Photography.com.

Photo Of The Day: December 12, 2008

Long Bay Beach in Providenciales in Turks and Caicos is not just a beautiful beach -- it's home to a new innovative development. This new project has been strategically designed to offer a village-like cluster of low-density buildings, resulting in a unique combination of tranquility, unsurpassed views, and privacy. The property looks really good in the daytime -- we'll show you an example soon -- but it may look even better at sunset, when the silhouette of the carefully protected natural vegetation is showcased against the colorful drama of the early evening sky. For more pictures of beautiful beaches, visit Paul Scharff Photography.com.

Photo Of The Day: December 11, 2008

A couple of months ago, I posted a shot I took of the Chicago skyline taken at night, and promised you a follow up. Here is almost the exact same scene, but taken at dusk, when the color of the sky is blue and the ambient light allows for more detail in the buildings themselves. It goes to show that 30 minutes can make a world of difference in photography. For more pictures of Chicago, visit Paul Scharff Photography.com.

Photo Of The Day: December 10, 2008

Whether winter or summer, waves look beautiful when the sun is coming up and shining through the spritz off the top of the wave. For more photos of waves, visit Paul Scharff Photography.com.

Photo Of The Day: December 9, 2008

While shooting in Barbados, I came across a beachfront lunch area. Since it was still early in the morning, the tables were empty. But catching them all lined up made for a very interesting design. For more pictures of tables and chairs, visit Paul Scharff Photography.com.

Photo Of The Day: December 8, 2008

The sun sure looked pretty rising up over the Mount Hope Bay in Rhode Island a few weeks ago. For more pictures of Rhode Island, visit Paul Scharff Photography.com.

Photo Of The Day: December 7, 2008

Portsmouth Harbor Lighthouse sits in New Castle, NH. Built in 1771, it was just the 10th of 11 light stations established prior to the American Revolution. After some re-building in 1804, 1851 and 1854, a new 48-foot cast-iron, brick-lined lighthouse was erected. The lighthouse has a fixed green signal, made green via an acrylic cylinder surrounding the lens, and is visible for 12 nautical miles. With that unusual color, it always looks nice, but particularly so at dusk, as shown here. For more pictures of lighthouses, visit Paul Scharff Photography.com.

Photo Of The Day: December 6, 2008

Lake Ontario is one of just five great lakes in the United States. It always looks impressive, but even more so when the water is crashing up against the rocky surface while the sun is just beginning to rise in the background. For more pictures of water and lakes, visit Paul Scharff Photography.com.

Photo Of The Day: December 5, 2008

It's easy to remember that it's still autumn despite the cold temperatures: yesterday I spent five hours cleaning leaves in my yard, and I'm not done. But the chilly weather and colorful leaves become even more colorful when they're enhanced by a great blue heron, as was the case recently in upstate New York. For more pictures of herons, visit Paul Scharff Photography.com.

Photo Of The Day: December 4, 2008

If you're a town living by the sea, how do you make an unusual holiday display? How about putting together a collection of lobster traps, assembled to create a "tree," as seen here? For more photos of trees, visit Paul Scharff Photography.com.

Photo Of The Day: December 3, 2008

Tonight the lights get turned on the Christmas tree at Rockefeller Center in New York City. It is an annual tradition, which started in 1931. The tree this year is a Norway Spruce, which is typically selected -- but since Norway Spruce in forests generally don't reach the 75-90 foot height required, the tree is usually one ornamentally planted in someone's front or back yard. The tree is decorated with 35,000 lights that stretch over five miles, and a star, and nothing else. Still, it looks mighty good, as seen in this shot of last year's tree. For more pictures of trees, visit, visit Paul Scharff Photography.com.

Photo Of The Day: December 2, 2008

Day's Cottages are a series of tiny cottages lined up along Cape Cod Bay in North Truro, MA. This group of several identical white and green cottages have been a landmark and artists' favorite since they were built in 1931. Because each one looks like the other, a lot of their appeal is the repetitive look of multiple cottages lined up along Route 6A on Cape Cod. That's what you see in photographs and paintings, year after year. So I decided to do something completely different when I saw them this past weekend: focus instead on just one individual cottage. It worked well, as seen below, particularly because I had the advantage of a beautiful sky as the end of the day neared. For more pictures of Cape Cod, visit Paul Scharff Photography.com.

Photo Of The Day: December 1, 2008

Pilgrim Monument is a 252-foot granite tower in Provincetown, MA designed by Willard T. Sears which celebrates the Pilgrim’s first landing in America at Provincetown in November of 1620. The tallest all-granite structure in the United States, it always looks impressive. But it takes on another completely different look every year when it is lit the day before Thanksgiving with 3,500 lights, which remain up though January 6. It's wonderful to look at, but even nicer when the lights are set against a dramatic sunset, which happened this past Friday night. For more photos of Cape Cod, visit Paul Scharff Photography.com.