In Review - September 2023
2023 has officially entered the home stretch! Three quarters down, one quarter to go. At the start of this year I set out to make sure I was blogging with more regularity, and though I have managed to keep up with the monthly In Review series, I can’t say it has reached the heights I was expecting it to as the year has progressed - perhaps that is something to work on as the year enters its final months though!
Looking back at September, I can say it was a really great month photography-wise. Between the Point at Cape Henlopen reopening to a few trips to Assateague, it really had a little bit of everything!
With the Point reopening, I’m looking forward to some hikes around there photographing the lighthouses and seeing what wildlife stops by to visit. It won’t be long and the seals will be starting to come back to the area for the winter, and they can sometimes pop up on the beach at the Point.
Meanwhile, down at Assateague, I got to spend some time with the northern band again thanks to my friend Kevin Lynam inviting me for a ride on his boat. That band has some of my favorite horses from the island, so I am always glad to see them.
That encounter also allowed me to photograph the cattle egret for the Birds of Delmarva project, which has a total count of 119 birds captured so far!
I’m slowly starting to prepare myself for putting the book together that I have planned as the culmination of that project, so be sure to keep an eye out for updates on that!
The end of the month got to be a little hectic with real estate shoots, so I wasn’t able to get out and shoot as much as I would have liked, but that’s just something I have to work with as a full-time creative, and am learning to manage as the year goes on.
Now we get to take a look at my favorite photo of the month of September, which is this black and white reflection of a little blue heron to the left!
I snapped this from the Life of the Marsh Trail at Assateague Island, with the bird sitting out in a marsh pool one morning. The stillness of the water and bird allowed me to capture a stunning reflection image, which really lent itself to a clean and simple edit.
To achieve this look and feel, I started with the image in color and focused on editing out any pieces of mud flat that were protruding from the water to break it up - this helped give it the minimalist feel that I was looking for, and focus on the bird.
Once I had that done, I went through all my normal edits, but decided at the last second to see what it looked like in black and white. It was amazing! The classic feel of black and white really gives it a sort of elegant feeling.
Looking ahead, I don’t have a whole lot planned for the rest of the year - it is going to be a lot of playing by ear and going with the flow I think. I’ll be putting in a lot of work to finish the year on a high note and also looking back on one full year as a full-time photographer pretty soon.
Currently I’m working on running a special for any calendar purchases between now and October 31, 2023 where you can get a special discount code for 30% off your next purchase if you buy one or more calendars in that time period, making it a great time to grab a calendar while they are still in stock, plus a way to save on some holiday shopping!
2024 is right around the corner, so let’s get out there and make the rest of 2023 as amazing as we can!
Thanks so much for taking the time to check out this new post, and here’s to the adventures ahead!
- Tyler
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