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.

Photo Of The Day: November 30, 2008

In Wellfleet on Cape Cod, there is a long wooden walking bridge over Duck Creek that connects East Commercial Street to Cannon Hill. It's called Uncle Tim's Bridge and got its name from Tim Daniels, who lived opposite the bridge on East Commercial Street. It was built in the late 1700's but has been rebuilt at least three times before this year, when it was rebuilt again. On November 12, it was officially reopened. Because it is brand new, the wood still has that yellow look to it, which will fade to a darker and grayer brown over the next several months. I saw it Friday as the sun was shining right on it, accentuating the wood's light color, as seen here. For more photos of Uncle Tim's Bridge, visit Paul Scharff Photography.com.

Photo Of The Day: November 29, 2008

Tonight I'll be at an end-of-season reception at the Sandpiper Gallery in Wellfleet, MA where my work is exhibited. The Sandpiper Gallery is right on Commercial Street and is a perfect stopover in summer or winter. Here's how it looked earlier this year. For more photos of Wellfleet, visit Paul Scharff Photography.com.

Photo Of The Day: November 28, 2008

It may be the day after Thanksgiving, but that doesn't keep some people from putting on their wetsuits and getting in some windsurfing on Sandy Hook, NJ. For more pictures of Sandy Hook, visit Paul Scharff Photography.com.

Photo Of The Day: November 27, 2008

This story will sound made up, but it's not: Last Thanksgiving Day, I was driving through Pennsylvania when I had to make a rest stop. Right outside the Burger King at a rest area on the Pennsylvania Turnpike, in honor of Thanksgiving Day, was this turkey. He was oblivious to the foot and auto traffic around him, and was the only turkey I've ever seen just hanging out in front of a Burger King, or anywhere for that matter. I thought that the turkey should have at least waited until the day after Thanksgiving to show his face. For more pictures of animals, visit Paul Scharff Photography.com.

Photo Of The Day: November 26, 2008

Sandy Hook, NJ has autumn colors like the rest of the northeast United States, but they're not of the usual maple and oak trees. Instead, Sandy Hook has a lot of what is called scrub-shrub, or low vegetation growth. So the colors are there, but in smaller increments. For more photos of Sandy Hook, visit Paul Scharff Photography.com.

Photo Of The Day: November 25, 2008

It's hard to believe that it was just a couple of months ago people were outside enjoying the summer weather. This shot was taken on the boardwalk of Point Pleasant beach here on the Jersey shore. For more photos of Point Pleasant, visit Paul Scharff Photography.com.

Photo Of The Day: November 24, 2008

I had totally forgotten this autumn photo I took last year while rambling down a country road in Middletown, NJ. It reminds me that autumn can be more than, er, just winter coming early (this said because we've had winter-like temperatures over the past few days, despite winter not arriving for another full month, which I consider grossly unjust). For more autumn photos, visit Paul Scharff Photography.com.

Photo Of The Day: November 23, 2008

I was asked to assemble some recent shots of Monmouth County for a client over the weekend, and in doing so I found a few I had forgotten all about. So we'll feature some for the next few days here. This one was a lot of fun to discover -- it looks so similar to the one I use as my gallery photo for my Sandy Hook gallery: the color is similar and the clouds have that identical dotted look. But instead of being way over to the left of the photo as it is in the other shot, the sun is over to the right, just above the osprey's nest. For more photos of Sandy Hook, visit Paul Scharff Photography.com.

Photo Of The Day: November 22, 2008

Unkempt grass usually isn't as nice as a just-mowed lawn, but that all changes when dew drops form on individual blades from condensation of moisture on a warm morning. Here's proof. For more photos of grass, visit Paul Scharff Photography.com.

Photo Of The Day: November 21, 2008

Just to be fair regarding yesterday's Photo of the Day, you don't have to be in the Caribbean to plant crops late in the season. This shot was taken in upstate New York just six weeks ago. For more pictures of upstate New York, visit Paul Scharff Photography.com.

Photo Of The Day: November 20, 2008

Even though it's winter, there are brand new crops that have just been planted that are in the springtime of their life. The catch: they're in Barbados, where they plant year round. For more photos of crops, visit Paul Scharff Photography.com.

Photo Of The Day: November 19, 2008

Today New York City's Triborough Bridge will officially be renamed the Robert F. Kennedy Bridge. The Triborough Bridge is a complex of 3 spans that connect the three boroughs of Manhattan, the Bronx and Queens -- hence the name "Tri-Borough." The naming is in recognition of Robert Kennedy's representation of New York in the United States Senate, and is being held a day before what would have been Robert Kennedy's 83rd birthday. Here's how the newly named Robert F. Kennedy Bridge looks, taken from the East River in Manhattan. For more pictures of bridges, visit Paul Scharff Photography.com.

Photo Of The Day: November 18, 2008

Spring Bay is on the almost-most-Eastern point of Barbados in St. Philip, sitting immediately to the Southeast of Ragged Point. It is deeply indented, and terminates at the South with the vertical face of Deebles Point. Deebles Point is a dramatic extension of land that has 80 foot cliffs dropping right down to the Atlantic Ocean, as seen here. For more photos of cliffs, visit Paul Scharff Photography.com.

Photo Of The Day: November 17, 2008

As autumn turns into a memory here where temperatures are struggling to get into the 40s, I thought it would be good to look back a few weeks when the leaves were showing off their beauty. This one was taken in upstate New York. For more pictures of upstate New York, visit Paul Scharff Photography.com.

Photo Of The Day: November 16, 2008

Taking photographs in mirrors is a fun challenge: you have to keep yourself and your equipment out of the shot, and at the same time keep the perspective as straight-on as possible so it looks as if you're shooting in a centered position directly in front of the mirror. Then, you have to have good raw material in the mirror to show, and ensure that from where you are shooting you create a nicely framed composition created by the confines of the mirror itself. And of course you have to start with a good looking mirror. All of this was easy in this photo, because I was at The Palms in Turks and Caicos, where the artistic design of the entire property ensures that there is nothing but beautiful raw material to shoot. For more pictures of mirrors, visit Paul Scharff Photography.com.

Photo Of The Day: November 15, 2008

A photographer friend recently sent me a batch of terrific photos of this year's foliage in New York City. I realized that, despite having literally thousands of photos of New York, I don't have any real arsenal of foliage shots from there. So that will be on my To-Do list for next year. In the meantime, I was able to scrounge up one shot I took a few years ago at Madison Square Park. For more photos of New York City, visit Paul Scharff Photography.com.

Photo Of The Day: November 14, 2008

My travels have kept me from getting any foliage shots here in New Jersey this year. So we'll go to the archives for this shot taken two years ago here in New Jersey near Bon Jovi's home. Those of you who are local may recognize this from guidebooks published by the Northern Monmouth Chamber of Commerce. For more autumn pictures, visit Paul Scharff Photography.com.

Photo Of The Day: November 13, 2008

Yesterday I showed a photo of Foul Bay Beach, and mentioned the cliffs that define the end of the beach. Here's a close-up of the cliff shown in yesterday's photo, and you can see how large and dramatic it is. For more pictures of beaches, visit Paul Scharff Photography.com.

Photo Of The Day: November 12, 2008

There's a beach on Barbados which may be the prettiest beach I've seen. It's called Foul Bay Beach, which is an interesting name because the beach is anything but foul. The beach is pristine, with no washed up seaweed or other objects -- like a beach that is carefully coiffed at a resort every morning, except there's no one there to coif it. To add to that, it is bordered by a cliff on both sides, so despite its expansive size, you feel like you're all alone in this paradise. This shot was taken with a very wide angle lens, and still shows just about two-thirds of the beach. Tomorrow I'll show you a close up of one of the cliffs. For more pictures of beaches, visit Paul Scharff Photography.com.