New Jersey | Virtually Gina

My Umpteenth New York Visit

February 7, 2017 by Gina Marie

Before we delve into the New York pics, let’s start with this: “Always maintain only a joyful mind.” This is one of the 59 Lojong slogans taught to students on a path of meditation in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition. These slogans are traditionally used to help meditation students tame the mind. Even in the face of distractions and suffering, the idea here is to maintain a sense of joy that you are on a path of awakening. That being said, […]

Categories: America, Meditation, New Jersey, New York, New York City, Nikon, NYC, Photo Essay, Photo Journal, Photography, Recovery, Spooky, Travel, Winter • Tags: Lojong Slogans, New York, New York City, Recovery, Travel, Urban

Technicolor Staycation

July 7, 2016 by Gina Marie

As of today (Thursday) I’ve had one week off: no work, limited responsibility, and beautiful weather here on the shore. And my “staycation” is not over yet! I have three days left before a month-long trip to Minneapolis, wherein I’ll be participating in an intensive yoga teacher training. This trip will be the capstone of a year full of personal transformation on a physical, emotional, and spiritual level. For me, the theme of the past 365 days has been “making […]

Categories: Beaches, Boxers, Color, Dogs, Earth, Jersey Shore, Life, Moon, New Jersey, Nikon, Ocean, Photo Journal, Photography • Tags: Beaches, Colorful, Jersey Shore, Moon, New Jersey, ocean, Photography, Sunset

Beachy Morning on the Shore

June 19, 2016 by Gina Marie

Life is just beachy. As of this week, I’ve lived on the Jersey Shore for precisely one year . . . and when I say “on the shore,” I mean we are literally steps away from the beach. The curious thing is, I’ve only brought my good camera out there two or three times! I generally just bring my camera phone because it’s easier. To be fair, I have caught some great photos that way, as well. However, there’s nothing quite like a […]

Categories: America, Beaches, Bicycles, Birds, Jersey Shore, Life, Light, New Jersey, Nikon, Ocean, Photo Essay, Photo Journal, Photography • Tags: Beaches, Jersey Shore, New Jersey, ocean, Photography, summer

Prospero Año y Felicidad

December 29, 2015 by Gina Marie

On Christmas Eve Day, I took my dog for a stroll along the beach. The weather was unseasonably warm — almost 70 degrees. After a mile or so, we came upon this message in the sand, and I snapped a pic using my camera phone. Using the BeFunky app on my phone, I combined the image above with a photo of the full moon taken last summer. The final result, displayed below, made for a muy feliz navidad. In the words of Jose Feliciano: […]

Categories: Beaches, Christmas, Collage, Holidays, Moon, New Jersey, Photo Journal, Photography, The Artistic Process • Tags: Feliz Navidad, New Year

Summertime By The Sea

July 27, 2015 by Gina Marie

Yesterday, I wandered a two block stretch of Sea Bright, one of the many seaside boroughs in Monmouth County, New Jersey. On this occasion, I challenged myself to take photos using solely manual settings on my Nikon D3100. After capturing these shots, I hopped into the car — taking a deep breath and inhaling the delightfully minty aroma of my new car freshener shaped like a flip-flop to complete the coastal experience. La dee dah . . . bumper-to-bumper traffic is to be expected along […]

Categories: Beaches, Jersey Shore, Manual Settings, New Jersey, Nikon, Photography • Tags: Beaches, Jersey Shore, Manual Settings, New Jersey, Nikon, Photo Journal, Photography

The Princeton 15

July 10, 2015 by Gina Marie

Is it possible to fall in love with a university campus? If so, then Princeton has won my heart. I hope my sweetie Jeff doesn’t get too jealous. I drove 45 minutes west from my new hometown on the Shore, and lo and behold, found myself on the campus of one of America’s most prestigious institutions of higher education. I brought my camera and preserved 99 images on my trusty Nikon, of which I’ve whittled down to the following 15 for your pure […]

Categories: Architecture, Bucolic, New Jersey, Photo Essay, Photo Journal, Photography, Princeton, Sculpture, Travel, Urban • Tags: Architecture, Bucolic, New Jersey, Photo Essay, Photo Journal, Photography, Princeton, Sculpture, Travel, Urban

Up Before The Dawn

June 26, 2015 by Gina Marie

“It was an early morning yesterday I was up before the dawn And I really have enjoyed my stay But I must be moving on.” -Supertramp I recently closed the door on the Philadelphia chapter of my life. As I type these words, I’m in our new place a block from Long Branch Beach. I’m now officially a resident of this beachside town, but in so many ways I feel like a traveler just passing through. At the very least, my new environs provide […]

Categories: Jersey Shore, New Jersey, Ocean, Photography, Sunrise • Tags: Jersey Shore, New Jersey, ocean, Photography, Sunrise

The Not-So-Barren Desolateness of City Streets

April 27, 2013 by Gina Marie

The title of this post is adapted from a 1929 magazine article, “Paint and Powder,” wherein Zelda Fitzgerald writes: “If our women gave up decorating themselves we would have to turn sad eyes on the bleak telegraph wires, the office buildings, like homes of trained fleas, the barren desolateness of city streets at dusk, and realize too late that almost the only beauty in this busy, careless land, whose every acre is littered with the waste of day before yesterday, […]

Categories: Architecture, Art, Camden, Mural, New Jersey, Philadelphia, Photo Essay, Photography, Travel, Urban • Tags: Architecture, Art, Camden, Mural, New Jersey, Philadelphia, Photo Essay, Photography, Travel, Urban

For the Birds

September 1, 2012 by Gina Marie

This post is dedicated to our lovely feathered friends, who are truly quite stunning creatures, when you really stop to think about it. The first photo in this series was captured last weekend in Ocean City, New Jersey, where the seagulls practically outnumber the beachgoers. The following photo features a seagull soaring over an uprooted tree awash in the murky waters of the Mississippi River, just south of Saint Anthony Falls in Minneapolis, Minnesota. This little guy (or girl) is […]

Categories: Animals, Art, Birds, Budapest, Minneapolis, Mural, New Jersey, New York City, Philadelphia, Photography, Zoos • Tags: Animals, Art, Birds, Budapest, Minneapolis, Mural, New Jersey, New York City, Philadelphia, Photography, Zoos