a winter walk

January 13, 2013 by Rhoda Maurer

Yesterday was one of those winter days when I just had to get out of the house and see what all this snowfall has done to the winter landscape near our home.  We didn’t have a bright blue sky or a fresh snowfall.  Rather it was a cool drizzle after a warm rainy day before.  But Joe and I now live in an area surrounded by gorges, and gorges mean waterfalls.  So when the big snow starts to melt and […]

Categories: Transformation, water, waterfalls • Tags: parks, photo, photography, photos, picture, Rhoda Maurer, seasonal change, signs of spring, state parks, Taughannock Falls, Taughannock State Park, water, waterfall, winter

reflective images from 2012

December 29, 2012 by Rhoda Maurer

This past year has been far from usual, full of many changes, personal growth, true gifts of friendship and new grounding in Geneva, NY.  I’ve moved into a Greenhouse & Grounds Manager position with the New York State Agricultural Experiment Station, am half-way through graduate school in the Critical and Creative Thinking Program: Science in a Changing World at UMass Boston, and am trying to balance time for photography and life with Joe. Since I don’t have as much free […]

Categories: artistic process, Just for fun, Transformation • Tags: art making, Best of 2012, photography, photos, picture, Rhoda Maurer

scouting Watkins Glen

July 8, 2012 by Rhoda Maurer

What was I thinking not bringing my tripod to Watkins Glen State Park?  Well this was a scouting trip and a day out that wasn’t supposed to focus on photography.  I found a few gems even among all the harsh light coming in from above the glen.  Tuning out the hundreds of tourists was a bit harder along this 1.5mile walk.  But leaving behind most of my equipment allowed me to see possibilities and make notes of what I want […]

Categories: abstracts, Just for fun • Tags: New York, parks, photo, photography, picture, state parks, water, Watkins Glen State Park

a new place to discover… a new path to follow

June 27, 2012 by Rhoda Maurer

I’ve now been in Geneva, NY for four weeks.  I’ve yet to pull out the camera in any serious attempt to make images, but I’ve been soaking in the authentic beauty of the area surrounding the Finger Lakes.  The sky is immense here and the farms have a unique beauty to them among the rolling hills.  In many ways this place is stirring up ties to my roots in Ohio.  I’ll be venturing out to Watkin’s Glen this weekend and […]

Categories: artistic process, creativity, Transformation • Tags: art, art making, crea, creative process, creativity, discovery, growth, photography

my best images of 2011

January 1, 2012 by Rhoda Maurer

This past year has been one of amazing adventure, small gifts and big changes.  I’ve also been growing my photography business and continue to find editing an amazingly reflective practice that helps bring into perspective the small gifts I’ve received in my photographic journey every time I bring images up on the monitor or review them in print.  Taking the time to review those images produced in only one year is something that Jim Goldstein inspired me to do last […]

Categories: creativity, editing, Just for fun • Tags: art making, artistic process, best of 2011, creative life, editing, happy new year, new year, photo, photography, photos, picture, pictures, Rhoda Maurer Photography, year in review

a time between…

December 30, 2011 by Rhoda Maurer

I haven’t known what to post for a long time.  You see, I was hit with a bomb in late October… “you’re being laid off in two weeks.”  And while this isn’t nearly the worst thing that could happen, I still found myself confused about how a place I put so much of myself into could let me go so easily and scared about how I was going to make ends meet and keep food on the table.  I don’t […]

Categories: artistic process, creativity, Transformation • Tags: awake my soul, awareness, creative life, fire, life change, meditations, observation, parks, photo, photography, photos, picture, pictures, Rhoda Maurer, seasonal change, transitions, winter, Yosemite National Park

simplicity

August 13, 2011 by Rhoda Maurer

I only had a few hours to shoot today, but the weather was agreeable enough… wonderful overcast skies with an intermittent breeze.  The delicate nature of these flowers might fool most people.  They belong to Colocasia esculenta and are attached to giant elephant ear shaped leaves spanning 2-3 feet across.  Even the slightest breeze today made the entire ensemble move.  So I patiently waited and took many frames over the course of about 30 minutes with this one composition.  I […]

Categories: Small Wonders • Tags: aroid, b&w, elephant ear, geometry, macro, observation, photography, photos, picture

war in the veggie garden

July 20, 2011 by Rhoda Maurer

<I've been remiss in posting on my blog, so when I overslept this morning, missing my morning trip to the gym, I thought I would take the opportunity to share with you why by taking some photos.  I've been waging war in the vegetable garden.  Last week, I found my first two tomato fruitworms burrowing into my beautiful 'Juliet' Roma-grape tomatoes.  So I 'took care of them' and applied BT (Bacillus thuringiensis) on the eggs of the young; I’m growing […]

Categories: gardening, inspirations, Just for fun, macro, Transformation • Tags: garden, harvest, heirloom, integrated pest management, observation, organic gardening, photography, photos, picture, Rhoda Maurer, Roma, Small Wonders, summer, tomato, tomato fruitworm, tomato pests, tomatoes, vegetable garden, veggie, veggies

gently upon a soul

July 7, 2011 by Rhoda Maurer

This past weekend, I visited Eastern State Penitentiary in Philadelphia.  Many photographers have worked this ruin/museum and produced amazing images, inspiring me to visit a local place I have not seen in the 14 years I’ve lived here.  I’ve also started experimenting more with dramatic light and knew this site would be challenging and offer a good exercise.  I never expected to come away so excited about the images I captured on that day… so excited to photograph stills without […]

Categories: creativity, inspirations, Transformation • Tags: awakening, awareness, b&w, beam of light, bed, creativity, Eastern State Penitentiary, emotion, faith, god rays, humanity, images, jail, light, meditations, observation, penitentiary, persecution, photography, photos, picture, prison, punishment, Rhoda Maurer, ruin, Small Wonders, soul, spirit, spirituality, time

hot papaya

June 20, 2011 by Rhoda Maurer

With tomorrow’s solstice and the official beginning of summer, I thought I would post this image of a relatively new coneflower introduced by my friends at Plants Nouveau, Echinacea ‘Hot Papaya’.  I found it blooming last night in the entrance garden of the Scott Arboretum.  And although I took the typical portrait shot with as much detail as my 105mm macro lens could capture at f/45, I quickly found the sultry petals luring me in for a closer look.  So […]

Categories: abstracts, artistic process, Color, macro, Small Wonders • Tags: artistic process, awareness, Color, coneflower, creativity, echinacea, flower, hot papaya, images, macro, meditations, observation, photography, photos, picture, red, Rhoda Maurer, seasonal change, Small Wonders, summer, summer perennials

summer is here

June 8, 2011 by Rhoda Maurer

Since we’ve had exceptionally high daytime and soil temperatures in SE Pennsylvania this late spring, many perennials are sending out flowers earlier than I expected.  I found this Penstemon pinifolius (pineneedle beartongue) blooming on the hillside at Chanticleer Garden last weekend backed by Stipa tennuissima, or Mexican feather grass.  I intentionally blurred the grass out of focus to hightlight the form of the penstemon.  I first explored the symmetry of the individual flowers along the inflorescence.  But soon I became more fascinated by the leading […]

Categories: artistic process, macro, Small Wonders, Transformation • Tags: awareness, Color, geometry, hummingbird, macro, meditations, mexican feather grass, nectar, observation, penstemon, Penstemon pinifolius, photography, photos, picture, Rhoda Maurer, seasonal change, Small Wonders, summer, summer perennials

spring in a parking lot

May 30, 2011 by Rhoda Maurer

After spending much of my time in my home garden this spring cultivating new ground for a vegetable garden and building a protective fence of harvested bamboo from the edge of the property, I am getting back to posting new images taken this spring. Although it doesn’t feel much like spring today in Pennsylvania with temperatures reaching 91F today.  But the tomatoes are enjoying the heat and I am hoping for a nice crop of heirlooms later this summer. I’ve […]

Categories: Color, Small Wonders, Trees • Tags: art making, Color, creativity, dancing trees, dogwood, flowering tree, intimate landscape, observation, parking lot, photography, photos, picture, Rhoda Maurer, signs of spring, Small Wonders, spring