Have you ever noticed how a city (irrespective of size) transforms from day to night? The daily transformation of these dualities reveals character omitted or overlooked by most. To truly get a fair and accurate sense of the city, we must examine both of these personalities. For then, and only then, do we see the true essence of the city.

Above is a photograph made of Harborside Fountain Park, the gem of the City of Bremerton’s revitalization project. The park contains five large copper-ringed fountains each one with its own wading pool. At different time intervals during the day, the fountains perform a variety of hydraulic ballets. It really is something to see.

In general, the fountains are captivating as they entertain both mind and spirit during the day. The powerful jets and pumps in each fountain provide a delight for both the visual and auditory senses. Yet, when the sun goes down, this same park transforms into a tranquil and clearly meditative area. Yet again, the true essence of the city is revealed once it is explored by both day and night.

This was not my first visit to the Park. But, it was my first visiting at night. The scene above revealed itself to me early in my trip. The challenge for me was trying to capture the entire essence of my experience in a single photograph. I lined myself up, and snapped the scene from several different angles. The published image, I believe, truly captures the visual as well as the emotional aspects of this evening in Bremerton.

People are not the only things which experience transformation when the sun goes down. The cities and towns which we live in and visit change as much (if not more) than we do. What is truly amazing to me is how the experience of interacting with a city is usually based on the characteristics found in that city during the day.

Next time you are playing tourist, be sure to examine the cities you travel to both from the day as well as the night. The true beauty and sheer awe of a distant land is only truly revealed when you do.

This limited edition photograph is available for purchase.

Author’s Note: As some of you may have learned, this photograph is featured in the full-page advertisement for the Digital Photo Academy in the June 2010 edition of Digital Photo (page 11). I had been working on this article for a couple of weeks and although it was not scheduled to run today, I thought it was only fitting to tell the story of how I made this photo in light of this honor.

The world can get dull sometimes, can’t it? Day in. Day out. We do the same thing over and over to the point that most of the actions become cliché. As a side effect of this transcendence into the mundane, part of the world around us gets overlooked. Walking to work, you see the same flowerpot each and every day. Soon you may recognize that it is there physically, but the beauty is overlooked. There are times in life where we must close our eyes, recompose, and then open them to truly see what’s around us.

In January of 2010, I participated in a photo workshop where we visited the Littleton Historic Museum in Littleton, Colorado. We arrived at the museum and I did my standard lap around the area we were going to shoot to see if anything caught my eye. Most of the subject material available for us to shoot as part of this workshop was farm equipment. I did my lap and concluded that I did not see anything that was eye catching.

Slightly discouraged and a little frustrated, I decided to do a second lap. I pressed the shutter on my camera several times in hopes that it would get my creative juices flowing and help me see what I had overlooked the first time around.

As I began my second lap around the Museum, I noticed a small building that had some milk canisters on the side of the building. I examined this setup from different angles and what caught my eye about each angle was the texture on the canisters themselves.

By this point, I was convinced that not only was there a photograph to be made here but also that, with the subtle texture, it was a candidate for black and white. I positioned myself and pressed the shutter release to capture this image that had engaged me.

Alterations in perceptions change our view on the world around us. Naturally, this extends way beyond photography. Our perceptions shape our experiences. Experience shapes who we are.

Life is always interesting. The degrees to which we find our surroundings engaging are subject to our own ability to see things differently from others. So, the next time you pass by a scene you have viewed a hundred times before; try changing your perspective of it. Doing so will unlock a world of things you never knew were there.

This photograph is available for purchase here.

I think it’s fair to say that each of us, at one point in our lives thought about the notion of becoming a magician. Even today, go and see a magician and try not to smile. Sure, we may realize that this is all an illusion, but that inner (and sometimes outer) child still wants to believe in the magic. Some try to figure out how the trick was done, while others just embrace the moment.

As we get older, that sense of wonder and intrigue fades with time. Yet even as I continue my journey on this merry-go-round of life, I still hold to the notion that not all magic is an illusion.

The image above is a photograph of the Garden of the Gods I made in the spring of 2010 during a day trip to Colorado Springs, Colorado. There was a lot of magic on this particular morning. Some of the magic I anticipated and some I did not. Regardless, the magic carried the same amount of wonder.

For those of you who are unaware, the Garden of the Gods is comprised of ancient sedimentary beds of sandstone, conglomerates, and limestone in a wide variety of colors (including red) which over the millennia have been pushed into a vertical orientation. Add to that, you have the 14,110 foot Pikes Peak displayed behind the Garden so close you could almost touch it.

I had been to the Garden of the Gods for a sunrise shoot before. My wife, however, had not. So this particular Saturday morning we woke up very early and headed down to Colorado Springs. We arrived in the park, hiked to our location and waited for the sun to rise and do its magic.

My wife and I were set up and ready to shoot. As the sun began to peak above the horizon, the rocks began to glow. It started with a slight glow of intensity that slowly grew and grew until the entire Garden looked as if the rocks were on fire. I think it is fair to say my wife was rather amazed with this little act of magic that Mother Nature plays on a daily basis.

To experience this moment, and my wife’s first reaction to this event, was truly something special. It goes to show that when you are patient and know where to look, sometimes (even when you think you have seen it all) Mother Nature pulls another trick out of her hat and continues to amaze you.

The sheer brilliance and beauty of the scene and the emotion can be summed up in one single word. Magical. Houdini and Copperfield have nothing on this magician.

This image is available for purchase here.