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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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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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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A few weeks back I discovered Leadmine Road in Nelson and Sullivan and the view of Mount Mondanock from there.
On Saturday morning, I went back with my camera but the weather did not cooperate. When I left the house there were nice scattered clouds about, but by the time I got to Nelson the skies were solid overcast. The trip was not for naught as I had a chance to chat with Jeff whose family owns the field across which lies access to the best views. Jeff is glad to allow folks to walk to the back of his field with its spectacular view. (He even has posted a sign on a tree inviting folks to email him with comments.)
Yesterday evening I checked the weather and the forecast looked good (scattered clouds) for the early this morning. I awoke before sunrise this morning and was out the door before 6:30, headed again for Nelson. The temperature was 22 deg. F.
Alas, as the sun rose, I could see that the skies were mostly clear with only a few thin clouds present. Such is the life of a landscape photographer!
I persisted none-the-less. I figured that I could, at least, see how the sun lay on the land at this hour.
When I got to the field, I donned my blaze orange (it’s deer season after all), grabbed both my regular camera and my camera obscura*, and headed out across the field. I made my first exposure just after 7:00 and spent a little bit less than an hour photographing. The temperature was 28 degrees when I returned to the truck and headed towards Harrisville for breakfast at the General Store.
When the light is poor for making photographs (as it was this morning), I find that the camera obscura often gives more interesting images than a regular camera. This was true this morning. Most often, I present my camera obscura photos in black and white. However, this morning, I was struck by the nice contrast between the cool blue skies and the warm brown grass of the field. Thus, I present these as color images.
These photos are, I doubt, “definitive”. I’ll be watching the weather and making further trips to Nelson over the coming weeks and months. Having such an interesting scene at a relatively short distance from one’s house is a boon. Great photos often come when one has the luxury of repeated visits.
The distant mountain in #1 and #3 is Mount Monadnock; the body of water is Silver Lake. The barn is Jeff’s.
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* For new readers, the camera obscura is a primitive optical device invented in antiquity. It consists of a box, a lens (or sometimes a pinhole), a mirror and a ground glass upon which the image is projected. I have added a shroud and bracket to my camera obscura that allows me to photograph the ground glass with a small digital camera. As one can see here, these images have a unique look.
It has been three weeks since my last post. I figured that I ought to post something… anything. So here goes!!!
November is often a slow month for me photographically. The landscape is dreary gray and brown. The odes are done for the season. However, I have made exposures on four days since my last post. I just hadn’t found time to write here.
One of the ‘distractions’ has been some more cuprotype experiments. However, a couple of days ago, I decided that it is time to stop doing experiments and, instead, to make some ‘art’.
Yesterday evening I printed two negatives using exposures I made about a week ago. This morning I printed these negatives as cuprotypes. My intent was to tone both prints with the iron (II/III) toner that yields an interesting blue-black print. However, I decided that I liked the cemetery gate image as the native brick-red. Thus, I did not tone this print further. One need to be flexible when making art!
These images are both 6×7.5 inches on 8×10 inch paper. The gravestones are on Legion Lenox 100 paper and the gate is on Rives Heavyweight paper.
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Foliage season is winding down here in southwestern New Hampshire… it has been a good one.
Autumn foliage is always tempting to photographer and I am no exception. This time of year the camera goes with me whenever I leave the house. I don’t always make photos, but when the light is right and the scene attractive, I pause to admire the beauty and make a few exposures.
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These last two photographs are panoramas made by merging three frames in the computer. Displaying panoramas in the blog is always a bit wonky; right click on the images and open them it a new tab/window to see them best. (Printing them is tough too… they will easily print about three feet long.)
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I have not had much time for photography over the past several weeks. We have been doing major maintenance (replacing flooring and other carpentry projects) at our cabin on Gregg Lake. These days, I am not much good for anything else, including photography, after five or six hours of hard physical labor.
I did, however, steal a few hours on Sunday and Monday evenings to make some cuprotypes. I coated paper on Sunday and made the exposures yesterday.
The pear image is the first image I conceived as a cuprotype from before I triggered the shutter. The scan doesn’t do the actual object justice, which is not as grainy as seen here.
The Antrim Grange is the oldest building in town. It is currently sites at the foot of Meetinghouse Hill. It was originally built (in 1785) as the town’s first meetinghouse at the top of Meetinghouse Hill and moved to its current location when the Grange purchased the building in 1894. The building is currently undergoing some much needed maintenance.
On a different note, I have agreed to teach a two-day workshop on cuprotype at the Vermont Center for Photography (VCP) in November, details here. Additionally, I will also be teaching a class titled “Lightroom for Beginners” at the VCP (three weekly sessions) at the end of November and early December, again details here.
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It is tomato season and blueberry season at our house. We have tomatoes ranging in size from softballs to marbles and all sizes and colors in between. We also have blueberries… large, cultivated ones from the two bushes in our yard and small, wild ones picked on Pitcher Mountain. Additionally, the corn is in at the Tenney Farm.
Life is good!
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