JULY/AUGUST 2018 ISSUE
SPOTLIGHT
All artwork featured in the SPOTLIGHT © copyright the respective artist. All rights reserved.
DELAWARE
Photography and Text By Douglas Schwartz
Delaware may be a small state…second smallest after Rhode Island…but it is extremely rich in history and natural splendor.
I know this first hand having lived here for over fifty years.

If you recall your elementary school history class, you should know that Delaware was the first state to ratify the United States
Constitution
. Thus, one of it's nicknames…The First State. Delaware is also known as The Diamond State, a nickname given by
Thomas Jefferson
as a way to describe Delaware as a jewel among states because of its strategic location along the Eastern
Seaboard. These, and many other facts, demonstrate the historical importance of Delaware. Being a nature photographer, my
career has been influenced much more by the diverse natural beauty that the State of Delaware offers, rather than by it's history.
Because of Delaware's relatively compact size, I can be photographing forests and rivers among the rolling hills of the northern part
of the state in the morning and, by mid-afternoon, find myself standing on the sandy beaches of southern Delaware's Atlantic
coast…or beside bald cypress trees farther inland. In between these two geographic regions are miles of open fields, marshes,
creeks and ponds. Delaware is indeed a cornucopia of natural subject matter for visual artists!
Delaware's residents and tourists are fortunate to have access to many local, state, and federally protected pockets of nature in the
form of parks, preserves and refuges. Brandywine Creek State Park, Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge and Cape Henlopen
State Park
are some of these popular destinations for lovers of nature, including myself.

In addition to the places I just named, there are several state and local parks within a half-hour drive from my home that I visit
frequently…namely, White Clay Creek State Park, Iron Hill New Castle County Park, Rittenhouse City of Newark Park and Lums
Pond State Park
. Having this much natural opportunity so close by is both convenient and important to the whims of an artist.
I never know when my creative urge or the fleeting atmospheric conditions may cause me to grab my camera and head out on yet
another quest to create that next "great image."
I see this journey in my incarnation as an artist…specifically, that of a nature photographer…to be exactly in tune with what the artist
and naturalist, Henry David Thoreau, expressed in his classic book, Walden. "I went to the woods because I wished to live
deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die,
discover that I had not lived
.

Thoreau's talent as an artist created the arrangement of those words as a result of his living in a small cabin that he built with his
own hands at Walden Pond in Concord, Massachusetts.

I also went to the woods…as well as the streams and ponds and Atlantic coast of the small State of Delaware…in order to learn
what it had to teach. It is here where I created the majority of my photographs over the course of my career as an artist. I know that
my life has been immensely enriched by the journey.

Rittenhouse City of Newark Park

Cape Henlopen State Park

Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge

Brandywine Creek State Park

White Clay Creek State Park

Trap Pond State Park

Iron Hill New Castle County Park

Lums Pond State Park
While Thoreau and I lived in different times, I believe that we both came to understand the following…and it is this. While financial
wealth beats the hell out of poverty, being rich in other ways is far more important in the final analysis. The wealth and knowledge
that one acquires by studying the rhythms and patterns of nature are unsurpassed. Attempting to understand, even partly, the
incredible and infinitesimal wonders of nature, are why we are here.

While Delaware may be small, I urge you to partake of its vast natural resources. You might just discover some of the natural
wealth that Delaware has to offer.

White Clay Creek State Park
Besides the close proximity of diverse natural environments, Delaware is also a state that receives the influences of all four seasons.
For me, this means being able to photograph snow during the winter months, wildflowers in the spring, the greens of summer, and
the colorful display of fall foliage…all at various settings, including the seashore. How many other states, regardless of their much
larger size, offer this much potential?

Having all of this natural opportunity so near is an enormous benefit to any artist…such as I…not born with a silver camera,
paintbrush or pen in hand. While I have traveled to and photographed many beautiful locations throughout America on camping
trips over the years, flying off to exotic, far-off locales in the world is not practical. Living in Delaware and being able to partake
of so much visual diversity more than makes up for this. And, rather than waiting in long lines at airports, I can be creating
photographs that portray the incredible wonders of nature…all within a short drive from my home!
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