Winter « Photographs by Frank

19 January 2021

Farm Trees

Filed under: Landscapes,Monadnock Region,Winter — Tags: trees — Frank @ 6:00 PM

That is “Farm Trees” not “Tree Farms”! Signs, bearing the latter being a common sight in this neck of the woods.

I had been eyeing the two apple trees near the house at the Bass Farm for some time. They are situated at the cusp of a rise in the field. In my mind, I envisioned a photo of the bare branches against the sky made with my camera obscura.

Late yesterday morning, I headed out to see if I could create what I had in mind. The skies were mostly cloudy, but I was hoping for just enough sun to make things interesting. While I was there, I explored similar photos of a number of other trees on the grounds.

After I finished at the Bass Farm, I headed to a farm field in Hancock with an interesting old (dead) elm in the middle. It is too far away from the field’s edge to use the camera obscura and the field is surrounded by an electric fence precluding a closer approach*. Thus, I made a photograph (the last one in this series) using a short telephoto on my ‘normal’ camera.

Bass Farm Tree #1

Bass Farm Tree #2

Bass Farm Tree #3

Bass Farm Tree #4

Bass Farm Tree #5

Bass Farm Tree #6

Dead Elm (Hancock)

* I am contemplating approaching the owners of this field/tree to see if I can get permission enter the field so I can get close enough to use the camera obscura. If that happens, you’ll see the result here… I promise!

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5 January 2021

Mid-day Visitor

Filed under: Monadnock Region,Wildlife,Winter — Tags: porcupine — Frank @ 12:28 PM

Late this morning Joan was talking to her cousin on the phone when she began to wildly gesticulate in the direction of the French doors to our deck. I meander over to see what was up and observed this porcupine climbing a small beech tree.

It took me a few minutes to find the tripod, put Big Bertha (my 600 mm lens) on the camera and mount both to said tripod. I made my first exposure at 11:51 AM and made eighteen exposures total before heading back inside. There just is not a lot of action when a porcupine decides to “have a sit” up a tree!

Here it is 12:20 as I write this. I’ll be pushing the “publish” button shortly. Thirty minutes from start to finish… ain’t technology wonderful!!!

As I learned from an old newspaper photographer, always give them a horizontal and a vertical), so here are two photos.

Porcupine (hor.)

Porcupine (vert.)

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28 December 2020

Failure / Ice Abstracts

Filed under: Landscapes,Monadnock Region,Winter — Frank @ 10:00 PM

This morning I took the new camera on my walk down the road to the lake with the following results.

The new camera is so small and light one barely knows it is there. Having a fairly wide and fixed lens is going to be an adjustment!

The experiment continues…

Failure (Holiday Bud)

Failure (Power, Averted)

Failure (Maple)

Failure (Postal)

Failure (Santa)

Ice Abstract #1

Ice Abstract #2

Ice Abstract #3

Ice Abstract #4

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First Photos

Filed under: Landscapes,Monadnock Region,Winter — Frank @ 9:45 PM

I bought myself a new camera* as an experiment in creativity. It works very differently from the cameras I am used to and is probably best suited for street photography, a genre that I have not really explored.

It is going to be interesting to see where this camera leads.

On Saturday afternoon I made the rounds of some of my favorite nearby “photo spots”and made photos more to familiarize myself with the camera than anything else.

The results are not at all different from my usual photographs… not yet, at least!

Gregg Lake - Winter

Riverine Field in Flood

Farm Pond

Church #1 (Hillsborough Center)

Church #2 (Hillsborough Center)

* Photographer talk ahead, proceed at your own risk! The new camera is a Fujifilm X100F and is very different from the dSLR s I have been using for the past sixteen years. The X100F is styled like and works similarly to an old-fashioned rangefinder film camera. Its an interesting mix of old (with actual dials for shutter speed, aperture and ISO) and new (it has menus galore and all of the bells and whistles that Fuijfilm cameras are know for). It also has a fixed (i.e. unchangeable) wide angle lens. The camera is small, unobtrusive and light… an ideal street photography camera.

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26 February 2020

Potter Place

Filed under: Landscapes,Winter — Frank @ 10:00 PM

Potter Place is the site of an old railroad depot and village in the town of Andover, New Hampshire. The depot building and a general store across the road are used as a museum by the Andover Historical Society.

This afternoon, I spent an hour or so poking around Potter Place.

It is interesting enough that I have put it on my mental list of places to return to at some point in the future. Sometime when when the weather is better and the buildings are open for exploration,

Potter Place Depot #1

Potter Place Depot #3

Still Life with Luggage #1

Birds On A Wire

Still Life with Luggage #2

Semaphore Signal

Drink Coca-Cola

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4 February 2020

Chichester & Canterbury

Filed under: architecture,Landscapes,Winter — Frank @ 12:05 PM

A few weeks ago, I passed through Chichester. At the time, I was not able to stop but I added it to my the list of places to explore photographically. Yesterday, I returned specifically to make some photographs.

I had a quick sandwich for lunch at the Chichester Country Store and successfully resisted the cider donuts which they are apparently famous for. After lunch, I headed towards Canterbury.

In the many years I have lived in New Hampshire, I have never visited either of the Shaker Villages in NH (Canterbury and Enfield). That changed yesterday.

The buildings are closed for the winter but I walked the grounds making photographs with my camera obscura. The place was deserted except for a young fellow, Dan, who had set up his easel and was making a small oil painting. We chatted briefly, but the light was beginning to fade and he needed to finish his painting so I did not dally. Dan said that this lovely spot is his go to place when he needs peace and quiet. I can see why!

I’ve put Canterbury on my list of places to return to and I think that I will try to get to Enfield in the near future.

Chichester Barn #1

Chichester Church

Chichester Barn #2

Chichester Barn #3

Chichester Barn #4

Chichester Barn #5

Canterbury Shaker Village Firehouse

Canterbury Shaker Village Cow Barn Foundation

Canterbury Shaker Village Ministry Shop

Canterbury Shaker Village Dwelling House and Tree

Canterbury Shaker Village Orchard Shed

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9 March 2019

A Walk on the Lake, Part 1: Bob House Details

Filed under: architecture,Monadnock Region,Winter — Frank @ 7:00 PM

Yesterday afternoon was warm (just about freezing) and sunny, perfect for a walk on the lake. There are about half a dozen bob houses out on the lake (and a couple more on the shore by the boat ramp).

To my eye, the structures per se do not make particularly interesting photographs, particularly in the harsh late winter sun. However, there were many details that caught my eye.

Icicles #1

Icicles #2

Icicles #3

Stove Pipe #1

Stove Pipe #2

Stove Pipe #3

Stove Pipe #4

Untitled #1

Truth in Advertising?

Untitled #2

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5 March 2019

A Day on the Lake

Filed under: Landscapes,Monadnock Region,Winter — Frank @ 10:00 PM

Last Friday (1 March) , we spent most of the day on the lake… literally. The ice is about twenty inches thick.

We headed out before 11 AM and did not get back to the house until almost 4:30. We, there was a group of five of us, spent the day laying out guides and pulling a ground penetrating radar (GPR) apparatus across the ice in order to map the geology of the lake bottom. This was our second GPR session and a third is planned for this coming Thursday.

Of course, I carried my camera and made a few photographs while out and about.

Here they are:

GPR Rig In Action

Lake Shore (two frame pano)

Lake Shore

Lake Shore Detail

Untitled #1

Untitled #2

Untitled #3

Bob House #1

Bob House #2

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10 February 2019

Harsh February Light

Filed under: Landscapes,Monadnock Region,Winter — Frank @ 9:59 PM

In some ways we have had typical New Hampshire winter weather… periods of dull drab days and periods of bright, cloudless blue skies. What has not been typical are the multiple periods of warm weather. In the “old days” we would get a January thaw. These days we seem to get a thaw every few weeks.

The latest thaw was a couple of days in the middle of last week. The mud in the road was deep and spring-like. The road crew worked hard to keep it passable.

The last few days have been more typical of February, highs in the mid- to upper 20s F and lows in the low teens. The days have been bright and sunny… good for production by our new solar panels but challenging for photography. I have persisted none-the-less.

The first three photos were made in the last week, with a regular lens. The last six photos were made yesterday using a $20 “Holga lens” that I recently bought on an impulse. This 60 mm lens is all plastic and has a fixed aperture (f/8). Focusing is all manual and rather crude; there are small pictographs along the focus ring to indicate the distance. The resulting photos, all made in harsh February light, have “character”.

Church Detail (Salisbury, NH)

Bend in the Road

Stone Wall Detail

Barn Roof

Stone Wall

Birches and Stone Wall

Mill (Harrisville, NH)

Chesham Depot (long inactive)

Barn and Flag

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18 August 2018

White Clapboard — Winter Light

Filed under: Landscapes,Winter — Tags: Ebooks — Frank @ 7:00 PM

Recently. I have been working on a physical book the idea for which has been rolling around in my cranium for some time.

Back in the winter of 2016/2017 I spent some time photographing meeting houses and churches in the general “neighborhood”. I ended up with almost one hundred processed, finished photographs.

My first thought was to put together a press printed book, containing three or four dozen photos total. However, the project stalled at the photo editing stage. I simply could not cull the set of photographs down from one hundred to forty-ish. Every time I tried, I ended up with a different subset. I put prints in a folder and put the project aside in frustration.

A month or so ago, one of my photo friends* suggested that selecting a smaller number of photos and making a shorter book might actually be easier. Lo-and-behold, she was right!

I ended up with a dozen photos that I have sequenced and printed four to a 13″x19″ sheet. I have printed four set of folios on some very nice two-sided matte paper. Now all I have to do is decide on the covers and sew the covers and folios together. The decision is always harder than the sewing!

This morning, as an experiment, I spent a bit of time putting together an ebook version (as a pdf file) of this project. Here is a link to the book which is titled “White Clapboard — Winter Light“.

The ebook is best viewed by downloading the pdf file and opening it in Acrobat Viewer rather than just clicking on the link and viewing it in your browser.**

What do you think?

* We are a group of about ten photographers who meet on an irregular basis to discuss “projects and objects”… that is, our creative processes and the prints that result.

** Opening the file in most browsers will display the book one page at a time. This is OK. However, Adobe’s Acrobat Viewer will display the book as two page spreads, as I designed it.

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