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Thursday, October 10, 2024

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Saying Goodbye to Summer Courtesy of an Old Point-and-Shoot

Collin Hall
Two people fishing off the jetty at Reeds Beach.

Text and photos by Collin Hall

The Herald is a labor of love, and sometimes that means scraping by with a 10-year-old point-and-shoot when the budget won’t allow for something fancier. The weapon of choice: a Lumix ZS-100, which was way cheaper when I originally acquired it. That puppy is a $600 eBay buy now; Zoomers are snapping up easy-to-use cameras that can free them from the confines of a high-tech iPhone.

All that to say: Summer is officially over. It was a big one for the Herald team: We relaunched our summertime magazine, Do the Shore, into a full-fledged editorial publication that can stand side by side with our flagship product, the Cape May County Herald.

Most of the photos in the magazine – many of the cover shots, photos for feature stories, photos in the introduction – were taken by me on a beat-up Lumix ZS-100. Zoom is its biggest challenge, and the display sometimes glitches out and turns off right when I’m gonna nail a shot.

It’s important to me that our magazine be filled with beautiful images. I’m no photographer, but the task fell on me. I think I became a better shot as the summer crawled by. Displayed are what I consider among my best shots. Take a look!

The summer kicked off with an “Unlocking the Ocean” ceremony in Wildwood. The “Wildwood Seasquatch” showed up uninvited and caused chaos. It was a fun photo op.
An abandoned home at the end of High’s Beach Road off Route 47 in Middle Township, right on the bay.
Emily Hadorn, keeping it “Jersey Fresh” in Villas. More rain this summer than last meant verdant greens across the Cape.”
Birds hanging out right off Reed’s Beach in Middle Township. If you can identify them, email chall@cmcherald!
Sunny the Seagull got an America-themed makeover this year. He was winnable via boardwalk games at Morey’s Piers. My column about “What’s new at the boardwalk” was one of the best-read Herald articles of the summer. Dang!
The burnt-out lights at the famous Coke sign on the Wildwood boardwalk were replaced this summer… AFTER I took this photo. Go figure.
Emily Hadorn lookin’ cool on the Wildwood Crest beach.
Zoo photos were a highlight this summer. Lots of great shots – I got to go behind the scenes with zookeepers for Do the Shore’s “Do the Zoo” feature series. Pictured is the zoo’s toco toucan.
Mork, a North American river otter, was a slippery subject to capture at the zoo. But I got the shot!
Ed Runyon, parks director for the county, said that the zoo’s eagle, Foles, has an “obvious name inspiration.” I had no clue what he meant … Sorry, Eagles fans. I figured it out later.
This eight-year-old kid, Taj, is an Ocean City local who already has a skate sponsorship with Quicksilver. He is pictured at Ocean City Skate Park.
I love the way the colors all came together in this establishing shot for a feature story about Cold Spring Brewery. It’s hard to capture good photos of buildings!
I didn’t notice that the “OPEN” flag at Coffee Talk in Stone Harbor, which had a cover story in the Downtown & Shopping edition of Do the Shore, was backward until the photo hit newsstands.
I had a tough time getting interesting photos for the barnyard-themed edition of Do the Zoo. This action shot came together at the last minute. Thanks, Jilly the cow.

Contact the reporter, Collin Hall, at chall@cmcherald.com or 609-886-8600, ext. 156.

Content Marketing Coordinator / Reporter

Collin Hall grew up in Cape May County and works as a content manager for Do The Shore, as well as a reporter. He currently lives in Villas.

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