The snow is almost gone now, thanks to New Jersey's perpetual indecision over whether it wants to be Summer, Spring, Fall or Winter. But when it chose to be winter a week ago, it broke the knob off the panel. It was winter as shit. 

There’s a hackneyed phrase in the photography world that buying gear won’t make you more fulfilled as a photographer. By and large, I agree with that. Passion for photography  takes more than a selection of fast lenses and exotic lighting gear. Every now and then, though, a piece of kit comes along that very nearly challenges that adage. The Sigma 35mm is just that – barring some annoying foibles, this lens is nothing short of inspirational. 

So, let's get right to it -- 28 divided by 52 is .5384615. So I ended up completing 54% of my 52 Week Project in the allotted time. Disheartening? Hardly. 

It was a weird Christmas. I'm likely preaching to the choir about this, but it was just about 65 degrees on Christmas day, and the days around it for that matter. In March of last year, I was ecstatic that the snow began to melt and fade away -- now I officially miss it. Nonetheless, I had balmy conditions to test my latest acquisition -- the incredible Nikon 24-70 f2.8 lens. It was a strange Christmas, but a good one! 

Alright, back to ACTUAL photography this time around! I visited my alma mater (man, do I feel old saying that), Fairleigh Dickinson University, for a show put on by the Professors. They're aptly named: many of the band members are, well, professors. I've photographed them before, but this was by far the most extensively-produced show from them that I've seen. As you'll see, the lighting was pretty freaking great.

Towards the beginning of the year, I whipped out the virtual camera within the video game Grand Theft Auto 5. The results were startlingly great, considering I was taking photos inside of a world programmed entirely by game developers. A few weeks ago, I was blown away yet again with the photography mode in an otherwise mediocre racing game: Driveclub.

The first thing to note about being inside a derelict Pennhurst State School building is the silence. Despite a whipping wind outside, the very interior of the two buildings I photographed were thickly quiet, punctuated only by the clicks of distant cameras. It almost felt a little sacrilegious to break the atmosphere, and it was even stranger when a noise surfaced that didn't sound like another explorer.

Sometimes, I start these posts with long-winded exposition before coming to a thesis statement about the week's photos. Not this time.

I FREAKING LOVE SHOOTING CARS WITH THE WESTCOTT ICELIGHT.

Perhaps the most intimidating aspect of the Cold War is how insidious it was. While daily life was largely unchanged throughout the 1940s to the 1990s, the lingering threat of nuclear conflict lured like hissing static (at times, it was significantly more than that). As such, the Cold War gave birth to countless armaments in a show of "mine is bigger" on a global scale, many of which have been simply left to be reclaimed by nature. Case in point: the Nike Missile batteries which are peppered throughout New Jersey, including one only a few towns over from me.

I'm not a people photographer. But I enjoy it. Before I contradict myself any further like a teenager writing lyrics on Tumblr, here's some photographs of people. Specifically, it's me and a friend Scott, a regular in this year's 52 Week Project. And my mother.

I won't beat around the bush. I'm about to unleash four 52 Week projects in one week, to help make up for the mountainous deficit of weekly projects I'm under. And fear not; for the first project, creativity abounds! I lit my previous phone - an iPhone 6 Plus - entirely with light from an iPad. Yeah. This brain gets used occasionally.

I always thought my first visit to Scranton, Pennsylvania would be for a tour of locations referenced in The Office. I'd grab a slice of pizza at Alfredo's Pizza Cafe, or maybe a pint of Lionshead at Poor Richard's Pub. Instead, I found myself walking straight into the slowly decaying remains of the Scranton Lace Company complex, outfitted with a respirator, Timberland boots (both of which ended up being severely uncomfortable), and camera gear.

Ah, right, photography -- that thing I do a lot, except not recently. 

Well, the perfect opportunity came yesterday. For the second year running, Festival 22 was held in the expansive backyard of - someone's house. There was art, food, free beer, and a friend's band - the Reelin' Tones - were on the lineup. That sealed up my Saturday nicely!

Well, it finally happened. I went to a motorsports event and I took some pictures. I've been a racing fan for about five years now; in that time, I've largely enjoyed it via the comforts of my television, gaming seat, and a beer by my side. Well this time, I drove to Maine and stood mere meters from some beautiful racing machines being flogged by some seriously ballsy (read: skilled) drivers. Seeing as it was my first motorsports photography adventure, I kept maybe 150 shots of out 1,300. Even though I have plenty of room to improve, I completely enjoyed my time in upper (VERY UPPER) New England; shooting motorsports is something that I'll be doing a lot more of.

A whirlwind of a quick vacation in Maine left me tired but happy as I drove home this past Monday. Quickly, however, the wind was knocked out of me with news that Jules Bianchi, a Formula 1 driver who had been comatose since a violent crash last year, had died. He was about to turn 26. While the Formula 1 world held out the highest hopes for the Frenchman, the possibility of any recovery grew smaller and smaller as time passed. 

...because OF COURSE that's what this week's project would be. July 4th came and went as it usually does, but I managed to snag a timelapse and some neat firework shots before the night was out.

If you read my blog post from earlier this month, you'll know that a fantastic old building is being knocked down, and I'm pissed off about it. This week, I've decided to document what I could, from a distance, of what's left of Greystone Park Psychiatric Hospital (Kirkbride Building). In all likelihood, more has come down since I took these shots on Sunday.

New Jersey is a place where baffling decisions are often made by those in power. I suppose that's true of most places, but one such decision is tough, if not impossible, for me to see any shred of logic in. Last year, the state voted to demolish Greystone Park Psychiatric Hospital, a long-abandoned structure in the middle of Morris County. As a fan of urban exploration and abandoned places, I was naturally dismayed at such news; anger, however, soon followed.