The Photographer of the Month For February 2024 is Lou Nuñez

 Well before the dawn of the digital age, I got started with a Kodak lnstamatic 126 purchased at "Two Guys" Department store, taking family photos. Fast forward to being a recent college graduate and I acquired my first "real" camera - a Minolta X 570 with an f1. 7 lens.

I tend to photograph nature and architecture - anything that interests me. The colors of Autumn, sunrises and sunsets, waterfalls, reflections, stained glass windows, and great church architecture. - not modern antiseptic dull monotone interiors.

Photography is the art of capturing a moment, and evoking an emotion of remembrance, to bring the viewer into a different world, and appreciate the truth in beauty.

The photos show some of my favorite spots, and those locations evoke pleasant memories for me.  Liberty State Park in Jersey City is less than 50 years old, and has amazing views of the NY Skyline, as does the Hoboken waterfront. While photos can capture the majesty of the Great Falls of the Passaic River, they can't capture the full force and fury of the water cascading down the cliffs, or how mind numbingly cold it was the day those photos were taken.

"Digital film is cheap" - I always encourage my friends to take more photos and play with the composition and framing. It's easy to delete the duds. Also because - "You can return, but you can never go back" -Appreciate the moment, the present. You can return to the same spot, even the next day, at about the same time, but the lighting will be different. Every photo you take will be unique in that sense. The evanescent nature of light is such that every photo will be slightly different. One day we could have a pure cerulean blue sky, and the next partially cloudy, or overcast. Sometimes, we can get all three in one afternoon!

My bucket list is short - The Northern Lights, Yosemite National Park, "La Sagrada Familia" - Gaudi's Masterpiece in Barcelona, the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela in Spain.

PPC has given me ideas, inspiration, and new locales to take photos. I love being a member and hope to make more events in 2024

-Lou