Photographs by Frank

24 September 2020

Yesterday’s Photos

Filed under: architecture,Early Fall,Landscapes,Monadnock Region — Frank @ 10:00 PM

I left the house yesterday morning about ten on a mission. I first headed to Littleton, MA to meet my friend (and stalwart commenter here) Joe.

Joe’s car was loaded with cameras… roughly four dozen. A friend of Joe’s had decided to down-size his collection of antique cameras and I was glad to facilitate their donation to the Vermont Center for Photography.

After transferring the cameras to my truck I headed directly to Brattleboro (where the VCP is located) to deliver the goods.

One the way back home, I made a couple of stops at favorite places to photograph in Marlborough and Harrisville. The late afternoon light was nice and, at least in some directions, there were interesting clouds.

I pulled into the driveway at six on the dot. It ’twas a successful day.

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14 September 2020

A Hike to Trout Pond

Filed under: Early Fall,Forest Society Properties,Landscapes,Monadnock Region — Frank @ 7:30 PM

This morning Joan and I headed out for a hike on the Peirce Wildlife and Forest Reservation in Stoddard. Our goal was Trout Pond, a beautiful and completely undeveloped body of water. Of course, I took along my camera.

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2 October 2019

2019 Trip — Landscapes

Filed under: Early Fall,Landscapes,Road Trips — Frank @ 5:00 PM

This trip was mainly about the landscape and it did not disappoint.

As much as possible, we stuck to local roads and hugged the coast beginning with coastal US1 from Brunswick to Calais, Maine. We spent time at Acadia National Park, both on Mount Desert Island and on the Schoodic Peninsula.

At Calais, we crossed the border into New Brunswick and followed the north shore of the Bay of Fundy. We spent time at the Bay of Fundy National Park. Eventually, arriving in Nova Scotia, we hugged its western coast and spent time at Cape Brenton Highlands National Park.

Turning back towards home, we explored the northern shore of Bras d’Or Lake on Cape Brenton Island and the eastern shore of mainland Nova Scotia. We turned north towards Turo before we got into Halifax (we like to avoid cities) and then turned westward at Turo to follow the coast again. Heading back into New Brunswick, we retraced our outward bound route down the coast and home. We were gone two days short of three weeks.

We could have stopped to photograph at many more places than we did… we would still be on the road if we had!

One subject that we ignored this trip were the wonderful little churches found in almost every village and hamlet we passed through. Many are perched scenically on a high point of land. One could spend an entire trip just photographing churches. Maybe someday I will!

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1 October 2019

Close Encounters of the Avian Kind

Filed under: Birds,Early Fall,Monadnock Region,Wildlife — Frank @ 11:00 PM

This afternoon I took a break from editing the photos I made on our recent trip and took a walk up the un-maintained section of Brimstone Corner Road.

As I started down the hill towards the Hancock border, I flushed a red-tailed hawk from the middle of the road maybe twenty or thirty feet in front of me.

Initially, the bird flew up to a perch in a tree at the edge of the road where it paused for only ten or fifteen seconds — long enough for me to see the chipmunk in its talons — before flying out of sight in the woods.

It must have just caught the prey since, despite a careful look, I did not find any evidence of chipmunk “pieces” on the road; not even a tuft of fur/

No photos… I was not carrying my camera. Besides, it all happened too fast for framing a photograph. Sometimes it is best to just watch.

Close encounters with animals usually only seen at a distance are always special.

6 October 2017

2017 Road Trip — Landscapes

Filed under: Early Fall,Landscapes — Tags: — Frank @ 9:00 PM

When in Yellowstone one must make photographs of the geothermal features. Here are mine!

The microbial mats around the geothermal features are a source of constant fascination to this retired biochemist.

TAC polymerase which makes the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) possible was isolated from Thermus aquaticus, a bacterium that lives in hot springs.  Possibly, this fact is the source of my interest in these mats.

 

Yellowstone NP

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We also spent a very cloudy drab afternoon in Grand Teton NP. The afternoon included a stop at the overlook where Ansel Adams’ well know photograph titled “The Tetons – Snake River” was made; the view has changed much since 1941-1942.

 

Grand Teton NP

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Other Black & White Landscapes

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2 September 2017

Stonewall Farm

Filed under: Early Fall,Landscapes,Monadnock Region,Summer — Tags: , — Frank @ 1:30 PM

Yesterday afternoon I spent some time at the Stonewall Farm an agricultural education center (among other things) in Keene, NH. I took a walk on their extensive trail network, but I found many things to photograph right near their buildings.

After leaving the farm, I meandered toward Brattleborough and discovered a new (to me) meetinghouse, the Park Hill Meetinghouse in Westmoreland, NH. I’ll certainly be heading back here in the light of November and hunting for the ‘perfect’ sky.

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16 August 2017

On the Road… Again*

Filed under: Early Fall,Monadnock Region,Summer — Frank @ 5:30 PM

Yesterday afternoon I turned right at the bottom of our driveway and headed down the unmaintained section of “our” road.

As I walked, I noticed small patches of color on the road. I began to photograph them.

As I made photographs, I began to think…

Journeys can be measured by distance or by time.

While I walked roughly two miles on my afternoon journey, the small patches of color on the road reminded me that autumn is almost upon us, yet again, and that the annual cycle by which we measure our lives marches on relentlessly.

This neither good nor bad… it just is.

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* Literally and with a modicum of  apologies to Messrs. Kerouac and… Nelson.

 

23 September 2016

Pack Monadnock Hawk Watch

Filed under: Birds,Early Fall,Monadnock Region,Wildlife — Tags: — Frank @ 11:00 AM

Yesterday, I finally made it up to the Pack Monadnock Hawk Watch… on day 22. And what a day it was, perfect weather and lots of hawks.

I arrived just before noon, the the show started shortly there after and continued until around three. I left about 4:30.

The total was about 2,800 birds, about 2,700 of which were broad-wings. Katrina’s official report can be found here.

The 10,000 birds for the season mark was reached and the traditional group photo around the tally board was made (with Katrina’s camera, but I am sure that it will appear at some point.)

While the bird watching was great, the conditions for photography were not ideal. The raptors were kettling pretty far away; only a few appeared close to the summit. The resident turkey vultures made fairly close approaches at times and I was able to make a few mediocre photos.

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21 September 2016

Two from Today

Filed under: Birds,Early Fall,Monadnock Region,Odontates,Wildlife — Tags: , , — Frank @ 9:30 PM

Today was a glorious day weather-wise.  The temperature was in the high 70s F, the humidity was low and the skies mostly clear.

While we ate lunch on the deck, we were entertained by the birds at the feeder and by a couple of male autumn meadowhawks perching on the dead flowers nearby. After watching the odes for some time, I finally gave in and got the camera.

Later in the afternoon, Joan headed out for a kayak ride. She called from the beach parking lot to say that there were “brown headed ducks” down by the bridge but that she did not have her binoculars with her so that she did not get a good look at them. I stashed Big Bertha in the passenger seat, threw the tripod in the bed of the truck and headed down the road the mile to the bridge.

Those “brown-headed”ducks turned out to be a family of mallards. I watched and photographed them for about an hour.

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19 September 2016

A Short Road Trip in Vermont

Filed under: Early Fall,Landscapes — Tags: , , — Frank @ 11:30 PM

Yesterday (Sunday, 18 Sep) I had engagements in Brattleboro mid-morning and mid-afternoon. I filled the interval between engagements by taking a short drive to photograph.

Heading north from Brattleboro on Route 5, I stopped in Bellows Falls for lunch.

After lunch, I headed west on Route 121 towards Grafton. In Grafton I turned south towards Townshend; there Route 30 took me back to Brattleboro via Newfane and Dummerstown.

The ride was scenic and covered territory that was mostly new to me. I stopped three or four times to make photographs.

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