VERIFIED AMAZON REVIEWS:

  • 5.0 out of 5 stars Stunning Photos

    Reviewed in the United States on September 20, 2025

    Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase

    “This book perfectly captures the experience of being in the Adirondacks. The photographs are stunning and the attention to detail in the layout and visual storytelling is unrivaled. Highly recommend as a gift or for a moment of zen when thinking about the adirondacks!”

    _______________________________________________________________

    5.0 out of 5 stars Well named, beautiful book

    Reviewed in the United States on October 10, 2025

    Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase

    “What a beautiful and thoughtful book”

    _______________________________________________________________

    5.0 out of 5 stars Showcases the beautiful scenery and dramatic seasons

    Reviewed in the United States on November 22, 2025

    Format: Hardcover

    “As a born and raised New Yorker who had to move away, this book has been on our coffee table since we got it as a reminder of how stunning NY is and how dramatic the seasons are. Beautiful photographs and a well made book!”

    _______________________________________________________________

    5.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful book

    Reviewed in the United States on November 22, 2025

    Format: Hardcover

    “Beautiful book, loved flipping through this and imagining myself in the mountains! Great gift for any outdoor lover, makes a great coffee table book”

    _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

WHERE TO FIND IT AROUND THE ADIRONDACKS:

PLATTSBURGH:

• Jackson & Callie Gifts (Boynton & Beekman, near the hospital)

• HairForce Salon (Tom Miller Rd, same plaza as Lenny’s)

LAKE PLACID:

• Bookstore Plus

SARANAC LAKE:

• The Book Nook

OLD FORGE:

• Old Forge Hardware/General Store

TUPPER LAKE:

• Tupper Arts

ESSEX:

• Whitcomb's Arts

WESTPORT:

• Snowfort Books

LONG LAKE:

• Hoss’ Country Store

BLUE MOUNTAIN LAKE:

• Adirondack Experience Museum

BOLTON LANDING:

• Trees Adirondack Gifts & Books

SPECULATOR

• Charlie John’s

INLET:

• ADK Reflections

NORTHVILLE:

• Adirondack Country Store

ALBANY:

• Barnes & Noble

ONLINE (for those who don't live locally):

• Amazon (at the following link): https://a.co/d/a5YzkqD

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Author’s Statement/Bio

 

“Solitude” is the word I used for the title of this book because it captures the feeling I seek when I’m traveling the trails, and waterways, and roads of the Adirondack Park.

 

Solitude is hard to find these days; and harder, still, to capture in an image.  But there’s no better place to discover it than the Adirondacks. It’s the feeling of being on top of a mountain before sunrise and watching the light change over landscapes of unbroken wilderness that can stretch as far as vision allows. It’s the serenity of drifting across a misty lake in my kayak and hearing a loon’s echoing call in the distance. It’s even the chorus of enveloping rain striking the forest leaves during a sudden thunderstorm - and the symphony of peepers along the shore as I lie in my tent later that evening. And it’s the vicarious feeling I share when I see someone pushing off from a weathered dock to fish a hidden cove; or when I see someone slowly paddling across a shrouded lake in the fog; or when I see a lone figure staring off towards a horizon of overlapping peaks from a rocky outcrop at the end of a hard climb.

 

I first became fascinated with trying to capture the Adirondacks in photographs when I was about seven years old. My family was coming home from my grandfather’s camp on Lake Champlain and my parents bought me a book of Adirondack postcards. I spent much of the drive re-living our time in the Adirondacks through those images. When I got my first Kodak Brownie camera, I started trying to capture some of those scenes myself.

 

As I grew up in proximity to the Adirondacks, I came back as often as I could. In addition to our trips to my grandfather’s place, I spent two weeks each year at a wilderness-oriented summer camp near Tupper Lake. Then, when applying to medical school, my first choice was Albany, New York because of it’s proximity to the Adirondacks. After residency I came back to the Adirondack region for the rest of my career.

During more than thirty years working in the chaos and stress of a busy emergency department, I often sought the solitude of the mountains and waterways to ease the lingering tension. As my career was winding down I spent more time honing my photographic technique and exploring the park - paddling and backpacking every secluded sanctuary I could find.

It was about this time that I got even more serious about photography. I spent fifteen years as a cooperative member of a couple of different Adirondack art galleries - and I found success entering juried art shows. Getting accepted into these shows, sharing my prints with gallery customers, and getting published in various Adirondack magazines pushed me towards constant improvement. Now, since I’ve retired, I’ve continued this quest and find I have a portfolio of photos that I’m excited to share with others.

In this book I’ve tried to balance between the big and the small; the grand view and the hidden details. I love the mountains at dawn. My favorite moments are when the stars are still visible and the slightest pink appears in the eastern sky. I’m just sitting on a ledge, waiting for the early light to sweep across the valleys. It’s a profoundly spiritual moment before I have to think about exposure or shutter speed or other technical adjustments. I feel like I’m just a small part of the larger world and I don’t have a thought in my head except the sounds around me and the feel of the wind on my face.

But as much as I’m drawn to the mountaintops with their grand views, I find a similar feeling while watching a loon fish under the still waters of a wilderness pond - or seeing an eagle dive for breakfast from it’s perch on a dead tree along the shore. Sometimes the same feeling comes from just watching the morning mist drift like an apparition across a still lake. I love the quality of light in the early morning.

Capturing images of wildlife often requires setting up my tripod and camera the night before, then quietly crawling up to it in the dark before sunrise so I’m not noticed. Or it requires paddling to a point upstream and then drifting silently with the current as the forest grows accustomed to my presence.

You can’t rush. It takes hours.  But the time isn’t wasted. It’s a stealth born of reverence as my own thoughts settle like the silt in a lake bottom. Things that were previously hidden are revealed and the wilderness carries on as if you aren’t there. The prize is seeing a fox trot through the undergrowth; or noticing the early sunlight illuminating a deer drinking at the lake edge; or noticing the narrow slip of moon before it’s overtaken by the brightness of the sun.

When I go exploring I often have a particular image in mind, but frequently my favorite images emerge in moments of serendipity when I least expect them. So I’ve learned that, no matter what my expectations are, I need to leave myself open. So I'll paddle or hike to a favorite spot and just see what happens.

I process my digital negatives with the intent of creating a photo that looks just the way the scene appeared when I shot it. I will often combine three exposures, taken in rapid succession (using luminance masking) so that there is good, noise-free detail in the highlights, mid-tones and shadows. And I continue to explore and hunt for those images that capture a fleeting moment in time, or a scene that might otherwise be missed.

 

But the most important ingredient for me, when capturing that elusive quality of landscape and light, is the centeredness and resonance I feel when I can just sit … and empty myself of everything … and find the balance that comes from stillness and solitude. That’s when my mental chatter dissipates and my vision seems to expand.

 

I hope I have succeeded in capturing these scenes in such a way that it strikes the same chord when you see them, as I felt when I shot them. 

 

 

_______________________________________

Here is a short dramatic & humorous video made with the help of my friend’s young daughter. A truly unbiased reviewer!