scintillating skies II

Last year, I went to two spectacular fireworks events–Red, White and Boom and Thunder in the Valley, which proven to be some the best Ohio pyrotechnic displays to date! I had not been to Red, White and Boom since 1998 and Nelsonville’s Thunder in the Valley was a new charm! Here is a glimpse of those evenings under the scintillating skies in 2011.

scintillating skies II

Forgotten Wonders Beneath the Trees • summer series I

This is the second installment of a five part series that I captured between mid-June through early July of 2011. The diversity and  richness of species starts to unfold here in Ohio within the Summer season. Boletes and a variety of Agarics start to come up, bringing a whole new realm of colorful enchantment to the Forests themselves. Much of my time was focused in the Hocking Hills Valley region and Clear Creek Metro Park system last year which always seemed promising everytime I had gone. I even seemed to find a few critters along the way that made the trips more magical. Today is the first day of Summer and one of the best Seasons to get out enjoy Ohio's lush array and diversity of Fungi species!

Forgotten Wonders Beneath the Trees . summer series I

delicate balance VII

This is a personal series of Ohio wildlife I shot from spring 2010 to the current spring season. All captured moments where taken at various Ohio Nature Preserves, State and Metro Parks. This is part of an ongoing series that I have done over the years in the honor of Ohio's great wealth of beautiful wildlife species, flora, plants and fungi. Enjoy!

delicate balance VII series

Spring Traditions and the Forgotten Wonders Beneath the Trees

As far back as I can remember, my brother taught me to appreciate the forest and every little wonder within it. Much like he taught me to appreciate reptiles and amphibians, he also sparked my interest into the mysterious world of Fungi during my teenage years. He would take me along every year in late April to go morel picking with my cousins who lived in Ashland. We would go to our cousin’s best scouted areas for hours to find these elusive treasures. If we were lucky enough to find many, we usually followed this up in the evening with a tasty meal of delicious mushrooms! This spring tradition carried on for years to come.

During my college years in the early 90’s, my brother started to scout areas closer to home in Akron, so our bounties became even more plentiful and diverse. My brother being a chef for most of his life, had prepared several delightful meals over the years of a variety of morels for us to enjoy during the springtime season. During this time, unfortunately I experienced a severe poisoning leading back to these delicious little gems. Even though, I did not believe it myself and had ate these most of my life, I ended up in the intensive care unit of the hospital for a few days I will never forget. Although I had went through this poisoning that almost destroyed my liver, a few years later I unsuccessfully attempted to eat two very well cooked deliciosa morels only to find myself in anaphylactic shock within twenty minutes after I had eaten them and another few days in the hospital. From then, I accepted the truth that my body chemistry had changed and I had developed a very rare allergy to this particular species of mushroom. I blame no one but myself to this day, but it’s tough to part with something as tasty as morels! But thankfully, I can eat most other species of mushrooms to this day with caution. Despite I was poisoned those two times, I continued to pick every season with my brother and even got a better eye at finding them as well. I would envy the rest of my family eating our precious spring charms for years to come. This tradition carried on until my brother passed away of a seven year fight with a rare bone marrow cancer known as Multiple myeloma in 2007.

This leads me to now, and how much more I appreciate and respect the mesmerizing world of Fungi and not just species of morels. In the summer of 2010, I finally decided to join Ohio Mushroom Society and actually learn more about the actual diversity of mushrooms species we have in Ohio. Being a member has lead me into not only starting to recognize the diversity of Fungi species we have throughout the world, but the role of importance they hold that we are now only discovering in the past decades! It is said that there are well over 2000 different species of Fungi alone in Ohio. Which to me sounds quite outlandish as most of us have only seen a small number of those species, if any at all in the wild or urban areas. This is not very uncommon amongst are Western upbringings as opposed to Eastern societies and how their knowledge of Fungi has far surpassed ours for centuries. We are only now starting to understand what they have carried on from generation to generation. Leading Mycologist–Paul Stamets’ groundbreaking research and publications alone are fascinating and he is revolutionizing the importance of these elusive charms of the forest! Mycoremediation may just save this planet some day. And understanding the importance of fungi in medicine may just save our lives!

Knowing this makes me eager not only to learn more about the importance of Fungi, but to experience these individual species in their natural environment. To be there when these wonderful and mysterious things are growing in their natural state is a personal charm. To capture these moments with my camera lens is the reward and the education undeniably. In the next few months, I am revealing a Ohio Fungi series that I started in early 2011 and will be an ongoing collection much like my Delicate Balance nature series I have executed over the years. Because the diversity of species is immense, I will be presenting this series in seasonal installments throughout this year for those to enjoy.

This work is dedicated to Paul McClelland(February 20,1962–February 5, 2007)

Forgotten Wonders Beneath the Trees • Vernal Series(April - June 21)

troum • saiws

One of the most anticipated projects I have worked on in past few years is soon to be released! This release immerses us into the realm of the oceans as “saiws” is an old Germanic Gothic word for the “sea.” Gathering the vastness and depth of the ocean, Troum unveils another treasure for our ears and minds to open. This extremely limited 7inch picture disc vinyl is luxuriously encased in a transparent sea & sand gel gel pack now available from Equation Records. As always a pleasure working with Equation Records and masters of dark.drone ambience–Troum. See link below for more information! Pre-orders now being taken at Equation Records.

troum • saiws

yen pox • universal emptiness

After several years of delay, this 10inch vinyl now sees the light of day! Dark ambient pioneers–Yen Pox evoke two arcane and massive compositions in this very limited release on Drone Records excellent sublabel–Substantia Innominata. Even though most the artwork was executed almost three years ago, it was a pleasure working with musician Steven Hall and Stefan of Drone Records and well worth the wait.

yen pox • universal emptiness

scintillating skies

Last year, I was fortunate enough to make it a few fireworks events here in Ohio–Toledo and Groveport. This was my first year actually shooting these magnificent displays of color and light successfully, even though I have been to many fireworks events throughout my life. Owning a decent digital camera and tripod helped tremendously while understanding the proper exposure time and aperture settings.

This is my first installment of these grandios events that take place every summer around the 4th of July. Groveport's fireworks always prove to be great just about every year I have gone, displaying a good variety of color and intensity. But I have to say Toledo's downtown pyrotechnic display over the Maumee waterfront was undeniably one of the best I have ever been to within the past decade! Toledo's Red White Kaboom event proved not only to be one of the best in varieties of effects and color, but the duration of the display alone was amazing and well worth the travel from Columbus. Below is a glimpse of some of those magical moments from those spectacular evenings last summer.

scintillating skies