Today was the first day in several weeks that we have had significant sunshine. Late morning, I noticed the partly cloudy skies and decided that some photography was in order.
I made the rounds of some of my favorite spots in the northeast corner of the Monadnock region (Antrim, Hancock, Harrisville and Nelson).
By half-past three, the clouds were growing heavier and the sun was getting lower in the sky. I headed home.
Back at Christmastime we had about fourteen inches of snow on the ground. Then it warmed up and several periods of rain washed most of it away. Early January was just dry… no snow, no rain. Then, over the last roughly two weeks, we have had three snow storms. The first ‘event’ dropped about a foot of sticky snow. Several days later we got another seven or eight inches of similarly sticky snow. Two days ago we got another two inches of snow followed by heavy rain.
The good news is that the last storm finally cleared the snow off our solar panels. The bad news is that all of that heavy, water-laden snow from the front of the house landed in our driveway! Snow with traits similar to concrete cannot be moved with the snowblower. Thus, I had to use our Snow Bull, a walk behind snow plow we bought a couple of winters ago just for times such as this. The problem was where to put all of the snow. Let’s just say that there is quite a pile towards the end of our driveway and that we won’t be getting the camper out of the driveway early this spring!
Anyway, after the second storm, I took a short walk around the ‘neighborhood’ and tried to find interesting patterns amongst the snow covered trees.
Last Monday after lunch, I headed out to photograph Mount Monadnock from Leadmine Road in Nelson. The weather was promising… scattered clouds and nice light.
On the drive over, I decided to head to another favorite Monadnock viewpoint in Marlboro before continuing on to Nelson. I never made it to Nelson. The constantly changing clouds kept me busy for well over an hour and by that time the light was beginning to fade, so I headed home.
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Most of the time I take a camera with me when I leave the house. One never knows when one will come across something interesting to photograph. However, my trip to the grocery store a couple of weeks ago was one of those times when I went camera-less… much to my chagrin.
On my way home at dusk, we were treated with a spectacular sunset. As I was driving by this riverside farm field covered in frozen flood waters, I was ruing the fact that I lacked a camera. I was well past the field when I remembered that I did, in fact, have a camera with me… my cell phone! I turned around and made the photograph you see below. It came out okay for a phone photo.
The second photo (below) was made a few days ago while standing on the stone arch bridge on Beard Road. We have had a lot of rain along with bit of snow recently. Thus, the brook was raging. I really wanted a much lower viewpoint, but upon noting the ice and snow covered rocks along the shore I opted for the safer spot; old age does that to you!
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On Friday, I headed out to Leadmine Road hoping to make a photo of Mount Monadnock/Silver Lake before the current warm spell removes all of the snow. The skies were okay but the light was miserable. I think that the sun is just too far south this time of year to nicely illuminate the north face of the mountain. I did not make any exposures of the grand view but I’ll keep trying.
I did, however, make a few photos of the rock outcropping near where I like to stand for the distant view and a few of the woods road near where I park the truck. On the way home, I stopped by this hilltop barn in Harrisville that I recently discovered.
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I had a meeting this afternoon at the Vermont Center for Photography. Leaving the house just before eleven, I took a very (and I mean very) indirect route* to Brattleboro. I did not make many photos but I did stop in Newbury, NH and photographed the snowy/rime-y peak of Mount Sunapee. I stopped in Chester, VT for a late lunch. After lunch, I made some photographs in the center of Chester before heading to Brattleboro. I was only a half hour late for my meeting!
One nice thing about photographing on the winter solstice is that the light comes in at a nice low angle… all day long. All of these photos were made between noon and 3 PM. Try that at the summer solstice and you are likely to make yucky photos.
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* Take a quick look at a map if you want to see just how indirect!
This afternoon, after lunch, I headed out to see if I could make another photograph of Mount Monadnock from Leadmine Road in Nelson. It was mostly cloudy but the skies were not solid gray. I was hopeful.
I spent about a half hour at this ‘usual’ spot and then decided to see if I could find other views of Mount Monadnock from down near Silver Lake. My search was for naught. Looking at a topo map when I got home, I now realize that the road along the lake shore that I explored was oriented poorly. However, a few minutes with the map provided me with a number of ideas for further expeditions the next time the weather cooperates.
On the way to Silver Lake, I make a brief stop to make photos at Childs Bog. I have passed this view of Mount Mondnock many time but had never stopped because there is no good place to pull of the road. Today, I risked a brief stop and made a few exposures with the camera obscura in the rapid fading light.
Ever the optomist, after my drive along the west side of Silver Lake, I headed to a favorite Monadnock view in Marlborough. However, I did not even bother to get out of the truck as the light was gone.
I turned around and headed home. As I passed by the Chesham train station, I found another tattered flag. I have been collecting photos of flags for a number of years… a long term project, that I have not fully ‘put together’ yet. This flag/barn is not new to me, I photographed it back in 2018. The flag was in perfect condition then.
Arrrgh…. $#&*!$## computers! I just previewed this post and discovered that something as broken in the mechanism for displaying programs. Sorry about that! I’ll try to figure out a fix at soon as I can.
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March is an ‘interesting’ month here in New Hampshire… is it the last hurrah of winter or the onset of spring? The answer to that question depends on the day.
Since my last post (about two weeks ago) the ground has been completely covered again with snow (two or three inches) on two separate occasions. The snow is mostly gone again. Only pockets of the winter’s accumulation remain in the coolest, shadiest spots. The standing water (beaver ponds, forest pools and the lake) is still mostly frozen but there are bits of open water beginning to show.
Last Thursday was a late winter day; the temperature was in the low forties and it was overcast; there were brief periods of light rain. Mid-afternoon brought an interesting “ground” fog. I put “ground” in quotes because the heaviest fog was actually over the still mostly frozen lake. There were thick rivers of fog about 20 feet high in multiple spots.
Friday was the complete opposite of Thursday; an early spring day. The temperature was in the low sixties and it was partly sunny. I took advantage of the nice weather and went for a walk up Hattie Brown Road. I made it as far as the old farmstead before deciding that it was time to head home for lunch.
There is not much left of the Hattie Brown farm… just a cellar hole and much metallic debris scattered about.
The pockets of snow that remain this time of year are littered with the winter’s detritus… beech leaves, hemlock cones and various small sticks and twigs.
Beech leaves are how we will know that spring has truly arrived. Last year’s leaves are still tenaciously hanging on to branches in the under story. They will drop only as this year’s leaves begin to bud out. Then, we can declare that spring is here to stay.
The first four photos below were made on Thursday; the remainder are from my walk on Friday.
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The middle of the winter is always a slow time for my photography but I usually take a camera with me when I leave the house just in case. The six photos shown here were made during the past three weeks while “out and about”.
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This afternoon, I made a visit to the Vermont Center for Photography in Brattleboro to see the members exhibition. I have two prints in the show.
After I finished taking in the exhibit, I took a walk around downtown with camera in hand.
There were few people around even though it was quite mild. The temperature was right around freezing. I’m not much of a “people photographer anyway. However, I found plenty of other things to photograph.
This is probably not the impression of Brattleboro that the Chamber of Commerce would like one to have… but here it is!
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Once I warmed up my visual sensibility, as I often do, I saw interesting details everywhere.
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The alley way that runs behind the buildings on the east (river) side of Main Street is, most definitely, not what most visitors see of Brattleboro. It is interesting none-the-less.
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