Of Rocks and Roots (Post Script)

New Card Series

At the very bottom of my email signature page lies a quotation from Viktor Frankl that reads: "When we can no longer change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves." The idea of change frightens most but it's what life requires. We live in a dynamic world. We must adapt and renew. The choices remain within our domain. It's easy to get mired in the past. There's no need to belabor.

Artist frequently talk about their ruts. I am no exception. Right now I am working on a new card and print series: Autumn Dreams. The fact is that I am looking for tools that make the greatest visual impact without distorting my art and my message. I want something different. 

In case you've not noticed, my photography and my prose stress not only what we can see but the choices we can make. When I took the shot above and framed it in my head, many things literally clicked at the same time. This shot captured the poetry and romance placed in my head by a fellow New Englander and poet, Robert Frost.

If you are at a crossroads in your life, this image and verse are right for you. If you know someone who needs encouragement and your thoughtfulness, this makes the perfect gift.

For a limited time, I will be making a special edition 16x20 canvas gallery wrapped print ready to hang in either your home or office wall.  This print along with a complementary gift card set of eight cards will be offered to you for $275 (plus shipping handling and tax if applicable).  To insure timely receipt of orders prior to the Christmas holidays, please place your order today. You can contact me via email at alh7672@gmail.com.  Leave me your phone number and I will contact you directly to place your order. To facilitate your order, I accept all major credit cards and PayPal.

Post Script: I enjoy Robert Frost Poetry. This picture lends itself to The Road Not Taken. It is copyrighted therefore, I cannot use it to accompany this image. Instead, I've provided my own abridged observation.

We Meet

Canadian Geese at Burr Pond

Burrville, CT

Happened to pay a visit to an old childhood swimming hole called Burr Pond in Burrville, CT. This was the first time I had ever visited it in the fall. It was completely tranquil with just a few Canadian geese taking advantage of the pond's autumnal vacancy status.

What a natural juxtaposition, we both traveled to get to that place. They traveled south but I travelled north. We both had our reasons and by fate we met.

Let me add a footnote, please; yesterday while on my way to our weekly breakfast with my father-in-law we passed a field of the same geese here in Texas. I suppose if you wait long enough we will meet anyway. Then again you might not. You run the risk of never seeing what you should if you just wait for it to come to you.

A friend I met at a recent photographic workshop explained life to me rather succinctly. You do not choose when you are born nor do you choose when you will die. However, everything between those two events called life, you get to choose. Thank you Iris for sharing that with me. Hadn't I chosen to travel north, I would never have heard your wisdom. So the journey north and south, pilgrim migrations with purpose continues.

Downstream Parabolas and Quadratic Equations

Kaaterskill Creek Cascade
Palenville, NY

Come forth into the light of things, let nature be your teacher.

William Wordsworth

There's more to photographing a cascade than meets the eye. The forces and mathematical properties of gravity do their work in the shapes of abundant natural parabolas. Yes quadratic equations come to play down a creek stream and prove their equations under the scrutiny of a slow shutter speed.

Now there's an interesting thought to ponder. We see better when we choose to slow down. There are many things in life you can't see without stopping to enjoy them. As a photographer bent on capturing nature, shutter speed and a tripod are my best friends. Time is not a hindrance but something that requires patience so that I can enjoy what life is trying to teach me. Quadratic equations unfold with just a turn of a dial and patience.

How Long?

Kaaterskill Creek After a Soaking Rain
Palenville, NY

Pat's Red Lentil Soup

Someone asked me how long I stayed in Palenville. The answer is long enough to know that Alfie Beers is running for highway superintendent, that Laurie, the BBW that lives in a "bungalow" at the bottom of Woodlane has a rescued blue heeler that wandered for days before she was captured. Might I also add long enough to be able to tell you firsthand that Pat at the Circle W General Store makes the best lentil and also butternut squash soups. That's not all, Pat bakes her to die for chocolate croissants only on Fridays and on Sundays. It might remind you for a moment of the treat made once again famous in the movie: "It's Complicated". (By the way, she's on vacation this week somewhere in Canada.) Did I also mention that Bob, a retired color lab guy twice divorced, also hangs out every morning at the general store? We became friends too and talked photography every morning as I drank my small hot latte with sprinkled cinnamon on top. (By mid-day my routine changed a bit and I stopped by for either a Tannery panini sandwich or a Circle W killer pastrami reuben.)


Let's say that I was in Palenville long enough to know: that County Waste picks up both recycling and trash bins on Thursday; that the Fernwood restaurant is just around the bend from Woodland Lane; the Catholic Church is around bend south of the junction where highways 23A and 23 meet and before you get to Pat's General Store, the "Circle W". Construction is still going on up the mountain on the way Kaaterskill Falls and the towns of Hunter, Haines Falls, and Tannersville.


This truly is a sleepy hollow where a very busy creek flows through it,changes colors from white to red after a heavy rain, and where night skies are lit by only the moon and stars and seldom else. A destination point for tourists for many years, Palenville now affords solace for an affluent few city dwellers, bikers, cyclists, and a few Woodstock hippies that never left. To me, it was and is all good. This place grants, those that make the sojourn, the luxury to take in the simple beauties and pleasure that make living worthwhile. We need places like Palenville off the beaten path with great soups and creeks to enjoy we need them as beacons that lead us to safety and the promise of comfort,warmth, and joy along the journey.

Memories My Autumns Bring

Birches Along the Way
Haines Falls, NY

Autumn Memories

Autumn speaks in terms of leaves,

In frosty morns and crispy eves,

Of bright colors orange to red,

These images engrave in my head.

Comes rain, maple and pine, soon do mix,

 A new sweet fragrance: autumnal twists.

Post rain and underneath the trees,

 Now only half full with leaves,

Children work at play and make birches swing,

Those memories my autumns bring.

Al Hernandez

Getting It Right

Kaaterskill Creek Cascade
Palenville, NY

Yesterday was just a dress rehearsal for today. This morning the light was soft and diffused. There was no need to put a neutral density filter on my camera. It was a matter of patience and composition. Mother nature, gravity, and a slow shutter speed did the work.

Think about it. Today may very well be just a dress rehearsal for tomorrow. What you learn today may very well help you master tomorrow. Regardless, live today don't worry about tomorrow. Go ahead and try new things. Keep doing it, practice what love and master it.

Go Out on a Limb

Birches Along the Way
Haines Falls, NY

"Don't be afraid to go out on a limb.

 That's where the fruit is." ---H. Jackson Browne

In graduate business school, we were taught about mitigating risks. In fact we learned to try to avoid risks by all kinds of methods and schemes to insure the safe for safe returns of our benefactors, the stockholders. In life, that same practice, leads to under achievement, anxiety, and boredom. We experience the uneasiness associated with the lack of purpose. We miss out on living and joy.


Robert Frost alludes to "the road not taken". What could be worse in life than the constant nagging and revisiting of choices and opportunities foregone? The fact is that we had no choice in being brought into this world and we will not have a choice as to when will die. We do have a choice about everything in life between those to benchmarks. Our job is to fill everything in between those milestones: birth and death. The choices we make in the space between is the key to our our happiness.