It's Today ... on this website

 
 

Today was instituted on January 18, 2024.
 
Most days, we feature an image to stir an emotional ripple. Viewing images, some don’t react at all; others ponder life, laugh, or choke back a tear. Disappointment swells in the image creator if an image doesn’t elicit at least a ripple, not necessarily a tsunami, but some sensory wave action.
 
Apologies, been a while since last post. New-monia can do that to an aspiring and elderly photojournalist.
 

Most humans, in the US and abroad, do not have to migrate thousands of miles on foot, or on wing, to forage for food. But, fortunately, the migratory animal population is generally not impacted by war and pestilence created by mankind. A flock of ibis samples the menu on the grounds of the Pamlico Middle School in Bayboro, NC, on the fringes of their northernmost range from Florida.
 
Posted by Ben, 2-10-27
 

Encountering a human with one leg, manners and decency dictate not to jokingly call him/her a mono-pod. Right out of the hound’s mouth , four legged creatures who have just 3 legs because a human in an automobile destroyed one, are not tripods.
 
Posted by Ben, 2-10-24
 

Restricted to just walking around the house with walking pneumonia, one looks thru windows hoping to capture an image to accompany deathless prose. In mid-February, firing up the shutter breaks a dry spell of viewing the outside world thru a lens. As for deathless prose, the chair looks as though it is going to take a bite out of winter, based on a rodent’s forecast whose predictions allegedly have a 61% accuracy rate.
 
Posted by Ben, 2-10-24
 

When the wind blows, the fence is steered into the wind for take-offs and landings.
 
Posted by Ben, 2-9-24
 

Where in North Carolina will one find this scene? Apologies to that great Tideland magazine, Carolina Country.
 
Posted by Ben, 1-31-24
 

Were this to be a painting you adored, considered a great work of abstract art by a critically acclaimed international artist, perhaps French, Italian, or Dutch, would you reject it for your parlor because it didn’t go with your draperies? Creditable art critics would advise you to hang the painting and get new draperies. It is however, a photograph of fungi growing on top of a maple stump. If this photograph generates positive feelings in your visual senses and you would like to hang it in your home, but are afraid the room in which you hang it won’t have an aesthetically pleasing feel about it when paired with your draperies, get new draperies.
 
Posted by Ben, 1-31-24
 
The optometrist says, ONE

or TWO?

Ben says, in the meta physical senses, whatever that means, life can surely take some twists and turns.
 
Posted by Ben, 1-31-24
 

Ground fog is mist clinging to the terrain. If fog is clinging to the water’s surface, is it water fog? Strange, late January, mid afternoon, clear skies, temps in the high 70s, yet there’s “smoke” over the water.”
 
Posted by Cindy, Friday, 1-26-24
 

Over Dawson’s Creek, a southwest wind directs a Hercules C-130 to line up for its final approach to MCAS Cherry Point. Up close, one can see the nose gear about to deploy. Cindy’s Nikon was not lining up properly for good exposures; out comes the phone. It is absolute blasphemy and heresy to use a phone to capture images for publication … which explains how old folks like me are set in their ways.
 
Posted by Cindy, Friday, 1-26-24
 

The late photojournalist, Henri Cartier Bresson, said, “Capture images, don’t create them.” Many created images are simply not great. My mentor, Milton Rogerson, said, “If it’s not great, trash it. The most important tool in your darkroom is a big trash can.” Forgive me Milton, stubborn, I wanted to post this not necessarily great image, thinking, “If it tastes good, it’s not good for you.” But what if it looks good, not great, like an ornamental cabbage?
 
Posted by Ben, Friday, 1-26-24
 

The fall ritual of burning leaves has yielded to lawn mowers mulching leaves for soil enrichment. A remnant of that ritual is burning the insides of ditches to clear them of weeds and debris. Riding a motorcycle upright before going down – really down – inhaling burning-ditch aroma, is the impetus to recall Robert Pirsig’s  Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance.  Visually absorbing the scene and breathing that fragrance on a January day is like stopping by a woods on a snowy evening.
 
Posted by Ben Tuesday, 1-23-24
 

Only the strong survive,
Only the strong survive
Yeah, you gotta be strong
You better hold on
Because only the strong survive
 
Naturalist Charles Darwin and singer Jerry Butler colluded to conclude that only the strong survive. After a significant number of nights with sub-freezing temps, why is the cheap pumpkin from a swine focused grocery store still intact while expensive ones purchased from a purveyor of hybrids have folded. As the late Andy Rooney would say on 60 Minutes, “Why is that?”
 
Posted by Ben, Friday, 1-19-24
 

Kale is trendy, but I’ve been a collard man for about three-quarters of a century. While growing up in Arapahoe, if I had not liked collards, in many months my diet would have been severely restricted. Not cooked or sauteed in olive oil, but taking advantage of the poor hog that sacrificed his/her life for human consumption, collards were boiled until they were tender. Think about it, a plant that can withstand the inferno of a coastal summer, yet survive all through fall into cool nights dipping into the low twenties or early teens … if they are that strong and resilient, collards are strong enough to keep the ticker ticking despite the fact that hog grease will float on top of the pot likker.
 
Posted by Ben, Thursday, 1-18-24

Light fog on Camp Creek

The late Bob Simpson described fog as smoke over the water. That’s a poetic description for all the ages.

The fog, or smoke, had lifted by the time the shutter warmed up, but the feeling of the mist was still there.

Open House at a net house,

A vessel hailing from 2 ports.

Pamlico osprey family

Near the mouth of Whitaker Creek, which is near the mouth of the Neuse River, which on clear days is in sight of the Neuse River’s junction with Pamlico Sound, three young osprey are stretching their wings in preparation for a life beyond their nest. They were photographed in the early morning hours of July 4. Common to the area, ospreys are occasionally mistaken to be eagles because of their white head feathers. But they have a dark stripe running from their yellow eyes to the back of their heads. Unlike eagles, ospreys do not have white tail feathers. They are also much smaller than eagles, weighing about 4 pounds.

Sometimes referred to as sea hawks because they are also birds of prey, ospreys dine almost exclusively on fish. Diving to the water from heights as much as 200 feet, they strike the water feet first to snare their prey. This “air fishing” is enhanced by reversible front toes which assist in clutching a slippery fish on the return flight to nests.

Like bald eagles, osprey often use the same nest after refurbishing them each season. Those 3 years or older generally mate for life. The female lays 2 -4 eggs about 3 days apart. The chicks hatch in the sequential order in which the eggs are laid, thus the first hatched grows faster than its siblings. The chicks fledge in about 55 days. The young birds are characterized by bright orange eyes.

A necklace of brown spots across the breast is more pronounced in females. The upper tails on males is dark brown with paler bands. Females have darker heads than males. Males and females share household duties while the eggs are incubating.

Sound People: The book has been released.

Ben Casey explores a threatened way of life in Down East Carteret County, NC

Sound People presents Casey’s interviews with fishermen, boat builders and tradespeople. Families that have lived on Core Sound for generations, and even those that chose to leave. All add to the story in Sound People

Buy the book.

The Poetry of Jazz

Willie E. Atkinson & The Transitional Jazz Quintet

Craven Community College
Exploration of the Arts Series

Willie Atkinson, veteran blues and jazz singer from New Bern, performed in concert at Orringer Auditorium on the Campus of Craven Community College, Friday, February 15, 2019. He was accompanied by the Transitional Jazz Quintet, Stephen Anderson, piano, Phil Owens, guitar, Doug Trammel, bass, Michael Hanson, percussion, and Jeff Bair, saxophone.

 
 
 
 
 
In a news release about the concert, reviewers of his work said, “Atkinson uses his talents as a jazz vocalist to provide audiences with a fluid interpretation of jazz and blues standards”

 
 
 
 
 
“Whether exploring the syncopated rhythms of a swing tune or telling the story of a lonesome wanting heart, Atkinson offers a fresh approach and seizes every moment in his performance to make the songs his own.”

 
 
 
 
 
Atkinson’s vocals were intertwined with several solos from each member of the Transitional Jazz Quintet.


Willie and his wife, Jacquelyn, are noted historians as well as musicians. They teach in the Lifetime Learning Continuing Education Program at Craven Comunity College. Willie is also the archivist for the NC Coastal Heritage Association.

Old fishing boats don't die

They just rust, and piece by piece, flake away …








Left behind

Dawn's early light ... Atlantic, NC