New Work: Fort McClary (Kittery, ME)

Fort McClary (Kittery, ME) dates from the late 1700s and was built to protect the approaches to the Piscataqua River.  It  was named for a Revolutionary War soldier from New Hampshire who died at the Battle of Bunker Hill.  </p><p>

The fort was garrisoned during five wars - the Revolutionary War, War of 1812, Civil War, Spanish-American War, and World War I.  </p><p>

My husband Darren is fascinated by these kinds of sites, but they leave me cold because of their violent past. It seems odd to me to have them open as tourist attractions, even considering their historical importance.  While it's easy to find beauty in its natural setting, I challenged myself to find aspects of the fort that intrigued me enough to photograph them. Ultimately, architectural lines, texture and light won out during this late afternoon/early evening shoot:</p><p>

New Work: Lily

I've been wanting to experiment with very grainy, sensuous forms for quite a while now. This year's Easter lily was a very patient model.

The first few pix stared out pretty rigid and minimalist. For example:

Then I played around with some more overly sensual images and tapped my inner O'Keeffe:

(with a tad of Beavis and Butthead thrown in for good measure):

Finally, I tried to go "post-Georgia" to create something more abstract. While I think these are interesting from a composition standpoint, the soft focus might have created too much tension with the tight cropping:

All in all, certainly nothing gallery-worthy (but still a fun way to spend an hour or so...)