Wilson Hall in Fall '04

Wilson Hall in fall '04
Originally uploaded by Jeffrey Dean H..

I'm thinking I need some more color on this page; it's looking a little blah at the moment. Hopefully I'll put some more photos up on Flickr soon and then I'll have more of a pool to draw from if I wish. There are still a lot I would like to add to this blog, but I often forget which have been added and which ones have not yet. We're going to have a solid few days heading into the weekend. Sorry for the long lapse of no photos.
This is Wilson Hall, once summer home for President Woodrow Wilson and also the filming location for the famous musical Annie. Now it's part of Monmouth University's diverse and beautiful landscape. This angle of the mansion serves as the seal of the university. I think I should have taken a step or two to the right, but hey, close enough. This was a great fall afternoon for pictures. I love the shadows and the orange tree in the background.

Tim making crazy juice

bombs
Originally uploaded by Jeffrey Dean H..

Jager in Redbull is a good combination if you feel like destroying your body in pretty much every way imaginable. But hey, we do what we can. As you can see, there were plenty of "bulls" out that night. This is a Sea Isle pic. I'll be there in less than 24 hrs, hopefully.

Waves crashing into rocks

Waves crashing into rocks
Originally uploaded by Jeffrey Dean H..

I plan to spend plenty of quality time with the Atlantic Ocean this weekend. The water will probably be slightly chilly still, but I'm sure I'll make it in there a couple times. Weather should be beautiful and I'm really excited to just get down to the shore and relax. Enjoy your Memorial Day weekend, kids.

silver tower

silver tower
Originally uploaded by Jeffrey Dean H..

I brought my camera to work one day because I thought this silver tower thing would make for a decent photo. While it didn't turn out quite like I'd pictured it, I guess it's okay. The weather was beautiful that day as spring turns into summer.

N. balcony view

N. balcony view
Originally uploaded by Jeffrey Dean H..

It's Monday morning and being here is what's keeping me going. Hopefully I'll be there Thursday night; Friday afternoon at the latest. Sitting on the deck with a nice vodka and a friggin' smile on my face. If I look to the right the waves will be rolling up to the shore line and people will be going down the ramp too fast. Wawa's only two blocks away and the "No shower happy hour" starts at four at the OD. I'm so there. PS-we love fat people.

Curvy green and purple benches

nyc green and purple park
Originally uploaded by Jeffrey Dean H..

Here's a photo that captures more of the everyday, not-so-famous, character of New York City. Some say New York is the best city in the world, and it's tough to argue against that, but I haven't been too every city. And while London will always hold a special place in my heart, I love New York. I also love the colors green and purple together, it reminds me of Jack Nicholson in Batman.

Guarding the library

Guarding the library
Originally uploaded by Jeffrey Dean H..

I'm going to New York tomorrow so it's a double dose of NYC pics today. Here's the first: one of the famous lions "guarding" the library. I believe this one is named Fortitude. His buddy, Patience, is on the other side of the entrance. The library opened in 1911, the same year all the candy corn in the world was made. I shot with my Coolpix while attending a college newspaper convention in March 2005 with my lovely ladies Bev and Jackie. I wondered off one day and took some pictures, what a surprise.

Abandoned

Abandoned
Originally uploaded by Jeffrey Dean H..

Inside there were hundreds of volunteers cleaning, fixing, painting, decorating and working to make the Boys and Girls Club of Asbury Park a better place for the young kids to have fun. Look out the second story window and here's the view (in black and white). I took a lot of pictures that day to augment the story I was writing about the Big Event for The Outlook, unfortunately this is the best one, in my opinion. A view of an abandoned house, dissected by power lines, cluttered with discarded bulk waste.

Brown Caddy

Brown Caddy
Originally uploaded by Jeffrey Dean H..

This is big pimpin' to the max. This big brown Caddy is from the 50's era and pictured here fully restored, cleaned up and showing it's hot curves off as part of the Homecoming celebrations at MU. The only bummer about this one is the reflection of the minivan. Oh well. Still a cool car.

Pink lily

Pink lily
Originally uploaded by Jeffrey Dean H..

Yesterday was Mother's Day and a lot of flowers were passed around. These are "Easter Flowers" but I think they still fit with the whole give flowers to your mom because she likes them theme. Shot these in my backyard a couple weeks ago.

Joe plays Grassfest

Jenkinsons and Grassfest (57)
Originally uploaded by Jeffrey Dean H..

I like to switch things up on this photo blog, if you haven't noticed. Like it says at the top: I try to keep things suspenseful.
Last night while uploading photos onto Flickr I looked at a lot of older pics from college that I hadn't seen in a while. Oh nostalgia! This one happened to be taken on one of my favorite days I ever had in college. And what's weird is that it was taken exactly one year ago today on May 11, 2005. I didn't realize that until just now. I could lie and say that I did that on purpose, but we're going for honesty here.
Anyway, we'd been drinking in the sun down in Pt. Pleasant at a senior week event and then I decided we needed a keg for our miniature front yard. Joe busted out the acoustic. What a fantastic day. One year ago.

Boston corner

Boston (13)
Originally uploaded by Jeffrey Dean H..

In November of 2004 I went on a weekend trip to Boston and had a great time in an awesome city. I took a lot of pictures and this is one of my favorites for some reason. I think it's the angles and the blue sky that really do it for me. We'd just walked through this big outdoor market along the harbor and we re-grouping on this corner so I pulled out my Coolpix and shot this.

Smooth landing

These little, old Cessna planes are the only way to get to and from the small cabins on the lakes up in Canada where Caesars Outfitters provides fishing and hunting trips. We fish for northern pike and walleye. I've gone on these week-long excursions three times now and each year I appreciate the quiet time away from civilization more and more. Last August it was basically six of us alone on a lake for a week miles and miles away from anyone/thing. Really a fantastic trip. Not cheap, of course.
This is one of the best pictures I shot on the entire trip, I think. I love the way the water looks. He was coming to pick us up at the end of our week and the propeller was off; he was gliding in to dock this baby. We are always sad to leave.
More Canada pictures to come soon.

Faux ghost town?

Asbury Park used to be a vibrant hub of fun and excitement at the Jersey shore. Now it's a run down crap hole of abandoned buildings and poor people. I believe corruption was the cause for the demise of this once wonderful summertime getaway between New York and Atlantic City. The Garden State Parkway is also to blame, so I've heard. Folks traveling from the north down to places such as AC would have to pass through Asbury, so why not make a day (and night) out of it. There was a big boardwalk, a casino, restaurants, bars, amusement parks, carnival games etc. Not to mention, a pretty great beach. The Parkway allowed people to bypass all of it, apparently. Best road ever, huh? Ha!
I like this photo. It's the old abandoned casino towards the south end of this Jersey shore lost treasure. I shot it on a warm May afternoon. There might have been two or three other people on the boardwalk. Eerie in a way. It's like time stands still here; a ghost town of sorts.