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John's Happenings > May 2021 Snapshot -- Our First Year and a 25% Discount to Celebrate!
May 2021 Snapshot -- Our First Year and a 25% Discount to Celebrate!
May 03, 2021
LET'S CELEBRATE OUR FIRST YEAR!
So a year ago we launched a website to bring my photography and my story to all of you...many of you have been here since day one! My photography, my narratives and quotes are seen and shared everyday by a growing Facebook and Instagram audience; please join me there! Let's take a look at what that year has looked like from their view...see what inspired them to follow along each day as we journey back in time over the last twelve months.
Each of the images below are hyperlinked for easy shopping!
May 1, 2020 - J. Morris 683 Photography website went live! Celebrate with savings using Coupon Code "Thankyou25" at checkout! Sale ends May 9th.
In a crowded and highly competitive art market I have been truly blessed and humbled as so many of you have chosen my work over this past year...and I'd like to thank each and every one of you, whether you have bought my work, or are still trying to narrow it down to a favorite piece to bring into your home, office or business. Please use coupon code "Thankyou25" at checkout and receive a 25% discount on your entire order!
April 2021
There Lies the New Day - Waking this morning...the new day ahead...a cup of coffee...and a destination yet unsaid. With some pink in the still dark sky, I had an idea...though it didn't come together as the clouds moved through, extinguishing the pink tones lighting the sky. as the morning grew lighter, the clouds pushing through, they seemed to open the door and light the path forward...towards the new day. How do we choose our path...do we choose the easy route, or do we open our eyes and our heart...to a better path...a better future?
"When we decide to be happy we accept the responsibility to bring happiness to someone else. Some decide that happiness and glee are the same thing, they are not. When we choose happiness we accept the responsibility to lighten the load of someone else and to be a light on the path to another who may be walking in darkness." ~ Maya Angelou
Port Aransas, TexasApril 26, 2021
March 2021
Layers - With a listless start to the morning, I thought back to a morning a few weeks back...hopeful that we would again start seeing consistent day starters. Each morning, regardless of how it starts offers layers of hope for us...as individuals, as families, for friendships, and our communities and beyond. As we collectively emerge from the past year let us renew our hope, our faith, and our commitment to things that truly matter.
"Where there is discord may we bring harmony. Where there is error, may we bring truth. Where there is doubt, may we bring faith. Where there is despair, may we bring hope."~ Francis of Assisi
Port Aransas, Texas
March 19, 2021 (photo date 3/3/2021)
Winter 2021-2020
A 2020 Goodbye and 2021 Greeting - It's been a long year, no way to sum it up in words, though the last and first photos of the old and new year should remind us that there is beauty, and that there is a reason for hope as we go into this new year. Though yesterday morning began cold, windy, gray and rainy...it ended beautifully...albeit cold and windy. This morning, the first day of the new year began cold and colorful, and all I could feel...was hopeful. As I stood on the beach, there seemed to be a renewed sense of energy, an enthusiasm not only for the new day, but for the new year that lies ahead. The year ahead is an unknown, but let's try to embrace it, knowing that we will once again be able to embrace each other. Happy New Year 2021
"Hope is not pretending that troubles don't exist. It is the trust that they will not last forever, that hurts will be healed and difficulties overcome. It is faith that a source of strength and renewal lies within to lead us through the dark into the sunshine."~ Liz Chase
Port Aransas, Texas
January 1, 2021
Sunset Buffet - I went for a drive this afternoon as it was looking like a good sunset might be in the offing...though my strategy didn't work as planned...but it worked...differently. Starting at the Birding Center, but decided I had enough White Pelican shots...so off to the beach. As I was waiting to see what would develop, these Sanderlings were running up and down the golden beach buffet line so snapped off a few shots. As I watched the sunset seem to fizzle, I decided it was time for dinner...and 10 minutes later from inside I watched the sky light up...oh well...dinner was good!
"Precious jewel, you glow, you shine, reflecting all the good things in the world. Just look at yourself." ~ Maya Angelou
Port Aransas, Texas
February 2, 2021
January 2021
Almost Heaven – Yesterday morning broke foggy and breezy in Port Aransas, Texas…a sunrise outing was not in the cards; though not easily discouraged, off I went hoping to find something. With no clear path before me, I opted for a beach drive…covering the few miles between my house and the jetty in pea-soup fog lacking much in the way of inspiration. Seeking the next possible path, I made my way to the marina…hoping to find a moody shot in the fog. I aimlessly walked the docks and ended up at a sailboat that I had not previously noticed, aptly christened as the “Almost Heaven” …hailing from where else but Port Aransas, Texas! Having called Port Aransas home for ten years, I could not agree more…so many amazing sunrises and sunsets, a birding paradise, bountiful inshore and offshore waters, a fun and welcoming sense of community…the name sure seems to fit!
"The way you get meaning into your life is to devote yourself to loving others, devote yourself to your community around you, and devote yourself to creating something that gives you purpose and meaning." ~ Mitch Albom
Port Aransas, Texas
January 23, 2021
December 2020
The Light From Within - It's been a while since I visited, but this morning the crossover beckoned...no particular reason...I pulled out and without any conscious thought made my way there...in answer to that inexplicable nudge. Amazing where life will take us...if we just listen and feel, following that light, that silent cue.
"Perhaps that is what life is all about—the search for such a connection. The search for magic. The search for the inexplicable. Not in order to explain it, or contain it. Simply in order to feel it. Because in that recognition of the sublime, we see for a moment the entire universe in the palm of our hand. And in that moment, we touch the face of God." ~ Garth Stein
Port Aransas, Texas
December 15, 2020
Fall 2020
No doubt my favorite time of the year, the heat and humidity of the summer begins to moderate, and we wait anxiously for the first strong cold front of the year...signaling the unofficial end of the hurricane season. In a normal year the crowds begin to become lighter; though this year...the year of the "Rona", people flocked to the coast...seeking an escape from the confines of home...who can blame them...as the walls grew closer, the call of the coast called louder.
November 2020
November Chill - I was drawn to the pier this morning, thinking that it would be an early shot in the blue light that would capture the cold dawn. As I began shooting, something else started to come together on a nearly empty beach, the cold wind convincing all but the most hearty or foolish to remain tucked in a warm bed. As the blue light receded, a band of low-lying clouds quickly brightening in just the right place interceded; accenting the pier and wind swept surf with a backdrop of intense fall colors. Once again my morning plan was overcome by events surely out of my control, and instead offered up more than I could hope for...
"Every trial endured and weathered in the right spirit makes a soul nobler and stronger than it was before." ~ James Buckham Kennedy
Port Aransas, Texas
November 30, 2020
October 2020
Autumn Dunes - This morning had me again following the "nudge" south...what was I going to find, and how would I know I had arrived as I drove on down the beach in the dark? As I pondered that question, I glimpsed a lightly used trail cutting up through the dunes...pulling over a ways down from it I walked back, flashlight in hand, thinking the small path might be the only way up, as the dunes were still showing the unsurmountable vertical faces left over from several brushes with passing tropical weather events this summer. Still nearly dark I walked up the trail, looking for a good sight line, and saw that the entire backside of the dune was in bloom with golden flowers, lending an autumnal feel to the slowly unfolding scene, as a subtle pastel slowly began to highlight the clouds down the beach. Are our searches really a conscious effort, or are we guided at a subconscious level towards what we need…not what we want?"Train yourself to be in awe of the subtle, and you will live in a world of beauty and ease." ~ Rodney YeePort Aransas, TexasOctober 26, 2020
September 2020
What an amazing morning this was, two of my personal favorites shots in 2020! I started the morning wondering if I could find any color, with clouds rolling through and blotting out the still dark sky...it looked doubtful. But then a subtle change began as I was leaving the house around 6:20, with a nice line of thunderheads lining up, that just might be a nice backdrop for a dramatic start to the day. Listening to those nudges I often talk about, I left the house and was drawn to one of my favorite spots, a dune crossing that has produced some shots that exude calmness and tranquility...some may remember "Soft Beginnings".
Port Aransas, Texas
September 9, 2020
Pink Delight - Through this year we have had some challenges to say the least, for many, this year has been a test of our faith on many levels. My photographic journey has offered me respite from much of it as I start most mornings on the beach, where I can silence all of the other noise and distractions. Through the last six months for a an hour or two each morning I focus on one thing, capturing the beauty that is offered up to us each day. What I never expected was that my work would resonate so strongly with so many, and through a virtual visit they too would find the solace and a respite from the noise that I enjoy.
This shot was taken 26 minutes earlier than "Follow your Path", and was a delight to watch unfold down the beach. Just a minute earlier my center of focus was up the beach towards the brightening sky to the east, a chance glimpse behind me opened my eyes to a more subtle beginning...that of "Pink Delight". If we simply open our eyes and our hearts, and broaden our focus away from the obvious, maybe we can rejoice in the more subtle beauty that life offers us each day.
"Train yourself to be in awe of the subtle, and you will live in a world of beauty and ease." ~ Rodney Yee
Follow Your Path - As I pulled up, instead of setting up on the crossover, my plans were altered for the next 10 or 15 minutes as I worked from the tide line, ultimately capturing several really nice shots looking both up and down the beach. It was a morning of mostly understated and subtle beauty, as I pivoted back and forth as the colors and clouds continually changed. But as I wrapped up, very happy with the morning, I watched a rainbow form and it looked like it might intersect with the path through the dune. Sure enough, as I followed the path back to the base of the dune crossover, the rainbow arrived right where I'd hoped it might.
"If you follow your bliss you will find a path laid out before you that has been waiting for you all along and you will begin to live the life you ought to be living."~ Joseph Campbell
Summer2020
Summer 2020 So much going on...the crowds are here enjoying our little piece of paradise, it's Hurricane Season, the spring winds have backed off, shrimp boats are bringing in the bounty of the sea, the morning sunrises can be amazing, tropical storms, even those that pose no direct threat bring needed rain. Though it matters not what season it is, for me my days always begin and end at the beach or the bay front...there are sunrises and sunsets to chase! "When anxious, uneasy and bad thoughts come, I go to the sea, and the sea drowns them out with its great wide sounds, cleanses me with its noise, and imposes a rhythm upon everything in me that is bewildered and confused." ~ Rainer Maria Rilke
August 2020
Sunrise on the Shore - As I got up this morning, I actually considered taking a break from the camera to go fishing, though for my style of fishing I like a little less breeze...so a sunrise hunting I would go instead. Many of my sunrise shots include the well known and oft photographed Horace Caldwell Pier, as it adds some interest to the image; though today the star of the show was a gentle shore break swell and the vivid colors reflecting on the surface...just 10' feet from the pier. Often times we miss opportunity that is right in front of us, seeking the comfort of the known, instead of stretching our boundaries...even if only by a little.
"Not everything you do is going to be a masterpiece, but you get art there and you try and sometimes it really happens. The other times you’re just stretching your soul." ~ Maya Angelou
Port Aransas, Texas
August 6, 2020
July 2020
Season Opener - Shrimp season is reopening, with a local boat the "Peggy Ann" scheduled for dockside sales beginning on Friday morning. Like so many good things in life, sometimes we have to wait for them to arrive. In life, unlike shrimp season, that arrival is an unknown, we don't know exactly when it will happen, or what it will look like...but when it happens we will know. This morning, that arrival was some really soft light that allowed the two Peggy Ann's to softly reflect in the calm waters, hopefully heralding a bountiful season!
"Your perspective is vital to your happiness. Some, blind to the bountiful opportunities around them, live lives of sadness and despair with brief moments of joy. Be alive to the abundant potential that surrounds you so that you live a life of peace and happiness with periods of challenging growth." ~Richard G. Scott
Port Aransas, Texas
July 15, 2020
June 2020
The Test of Time - This ancient cypress drew me back again this morning for another attempt to capture the beauty, strength, and timelessness of it's existence. One can only guess at the onslaughts it has endured both natural and manmade. If you arrive there early, you can easily imagine you are the first person to see it, to hear the sound of the water, to smell the clean air, and to experience the stillness...
"Of time you would make a stream upon whose bank you would sit and watch its flowing. Yet the timeless in you is aware of life's timelessness, And knows that 'yesterday is but today's memory and tomorrow is today's dream." ~ Khalil Gibran
Canyon Lake Texas, Canyon Lake, Texas
June 10, 2020
May2020
Soft Beginnings - With a nice cloud positioned offshore, I knew right where to begin the morning. As the sun began it's slow rise to the east, this cloud picked up the dawning pink tones, the flat gulf lay tranquil along the beach, and the freshening of the dune grasses were sure to please as the day began anew.
"This day is all that is good and fair. It is too dear, with its hopes and invitations, to waste a moment on the yesterdays."
Port Aransas, Texas
May 30, 2020
If you haven't heard the news, I am writing a book...the "52" The Story Behind the Lens - that will chronicle a year-long journey along the Coastal Bend as seen in my photographs and words, highlighting each of the fifty-two weeks of a year along the coast. My primary goal is that every photo that I take captures the mood at that moment in time; a mood that changes just like the seasons, the light, the tides, the time of day…ever-changing. You will find a carefully crafted narrative combining my words and an appropriate quote that seeks to tell the story of how the image came about, and what it meant to me at that moment in time. It is my sincere hope that my work will serve to inspire, offer solace in troubling times, evoke memories of times spent on the coast, and bring you closer to the powers that provides us with such beauty.
"Let your mind start a journey through a strange new world. Leave all thoughts of the world you knew before. Let your soul take you where you long to be. Close your eyes, let your spirit start to soar, and you’ll live as you’ve never lived before." ~ Erich Fromm
If you are interested in updates, and ultimately purchasing this special book, please contact me HERE and let me know that you are interested in the book!
