Photographs by Frank

17 May 2013

Early Green

Filed under: Early Spring,Landscapes,Monadnock Region — Tags: — Frank @ 1:00 PM

Photography, for me, gets placed on the back burner in early May as this is a busy time for me.  Lots of end-of-the-semester assignments and exams to be graded, course grades to be assigned, etc.

I finished all of that yesterday around noon… for the last time… ever!

Thus, I finally had time to process two batches of photos… one made about a week ago as I headed to the transfer station with the trash and one made yesterday evening as I headed to the monthly camera club meeting. I usually try to leave a bit of extra time when I head out from the house… one never knows when there will be good photographs to be made at the lake!

The first three photos are from last week and the last two from yesterday.

Yes, I know that two of the “early greens” are in black and white!  I could not help myself… I am just a sucker for skies done in black and white!

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15 April 2013

Early Spring – A Cruel Time for Nature Photographers

Filed under: Early Spring,Landscapes,Monadnock Region — Tags: — Frank @ 12:00 PM

In case you hadn’t noticed, it has been almost a month since my last post. This is because, in New England, March is a lousy time to be a nature photographer. Winter hangs on tenaciously… well in to April this year… and the landscape is dreary and drab. Motivation to photograph is low, but yesterday I headed out “down back” of the house hoping to find a few good photographs.

The snow is the woods is patchy… lots of bare ground but many surprisingly deep pockets. When you step on a snowy spot you are never sure if you are going to sink in an inch or a foot… makes life interesting.

At one point I was standing on a patch of snow for some time when suddenly the snow under my right foot gave way. I found myself knee deep in the snow (on that side only) and, at the bottom of the hole, I felt my boot flooding with ice water! My first thought was to head directly home, but after a couple of minutes my boot was only wet and squishy so I continued to explore and photograph. It was only when I realized, some tens of minutes later, that the toes of my right foot were numb that I called it a day and headed back up the hill.

The last two photos in this set were taken at a local nursery. I accompanied Joan there on Saturday… methinks that gardeners have feelings about March similar to those of photographers!

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17 March 2013

Mid-March, A Time of Change

Filed under: Early Spring,Landscapes,Monadnock Region — Tags: — Frank @ 6:00 PM

There are many changes afoot during mid-March in New Hampshire.

Ice fishing season comes to an end.

Maple sugaring season has begun.

The first (and very faint) traces of spring are perceptible… i.e. maybe we get three or four nights in a row when the temperature stays above freezing.

Joan and I took a walk down Brimstone Corner Road late yesterday afternoon. At the end of the driveway we turned left and headed towards “civilization”; it is about a mile to the bridge across the narrow spot in the lake.

Most of the bob houses which were, until recently, spread out across the lake are sitting at the boat launch waiting to be hauled away for storage until next winter.

Folks have tapped the sugar maples along the road near the Girl Scout Camp. One side of the road has old fashioned taps and buckets. The other side has the modern tubing and tank system. The latter is not particularly photogenic!

The weather was in flux as well (usual?!). When we first arrived at the lake, the sky above the north end was a bold brilliant blue with only a few clouds around (see the fifth photo of this set). Twenty minutes later (the sixth photo), the same area of sky was filled with clouds. By the time we returned home it was completely overcast.

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14 March 2013

Powdermill Pond

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

Yesterday, I made the short (five or six miles?) drive from our house to the west shore of Powdermill Pond in Hancock.  This “pond” is actually a dammed section of the Contoocook River.  The dams (there are three) hold water for use by the Monadnock Paper Mill in Bennington. The upper two dams may also be (or have been) used for power.

I was hoping to catch the light of the setting sun on the eastern (i.e. the west-facing) side of the pond with Crotched Mountain in the background.

The third photo was taken on the drive back home. It is a view facing west across a hay field that was, until recently, owned by one of Joan’s cousins.

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Four frame panorama of Powder Mill Pond; it would print almost four feet wide (by ten inches high):

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11 March 2013

What a Difference a Day Makes!

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

Last weekend brought two days of beautiful late winter/early spring weather. The temperature was in the high forties. Joan and I headed out on snow shoes in the late afternoon both days.

Saturday was bright and clear, not a cloud in the sky. The light was harsh and the sky was completely uninteresting… I made few photos and none are worth showing.

Sunday afternoon brought a front moving through in the late afternoon. The light was “nice” and the sky was interesting… the photos below are the result.

What a difference a day makes!

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Three frames stitched together:

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3 March 2013

Beaver Swamp in Late Winter

Filed under: Landscapes,Monadnock Region,Winter — Frank @ 12:00 PM

Yesterday afternoon, Joan and I strapped on the snowshoes and headed “down back” to the beaver swamp. We had not trekked that way for a few weeks.

There is enough snow on the ground to cover most of the grasses and other low vegetation in the swamp, leaving only the shrubs and snags standing tall. The snow was well aged and crunchy, but easy to walk on… not icy.

It is always interesting to walk on the frozen swamp. One gets views from angles that are more-or-less inaccessible at other times of the year.

The sun was as low as it can be and still illuminate the bottom lands. The light was very variable as the sun kept peaking out of the clouds and then disappearing again.  Thus, the light was good for photos, at least at the onset of our walk.

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3 February 2013

“Sky Farm” and Gregg Lake Ice

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

Friday was a sunny and  mild-for-January day; the temperature was in the mid-20’s. There were enough clouds to make good landscape photographs possible*.

Thus, after lunch, Joan and I made the twenty minute drive to the Forest Society‘s High Five Reservation** in Deering. Making the short climb from the road to the top of the hill , we were rewarded with the usual spectacular views of the Contoocook valley. We headed back to the car by meandering through the essentially snow-less woods instead of taking the road directly back.

Saturday afternoon found us out for another hike on Gregg Lake. The thaw and rain early last week melted most of the snow on the lake which, upon refreezing resulted in a relatively smooth and hard ice surface.  There were many spots where the ice contained countless small bubbles. The patterns in and on the ices were fascinating. We were left wondering and postulating how the various defects in the ice came to be.

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Looking Northwest from Sky Farm #2 (a three frame panorama)

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*Skies make or break many landscapes. If you are going to include the sky in the frame it ought to be “interesting”.

**Located on Sky Farm Road, we seem to eschew the official name and call this wonderful spot “Sky Farm”.


	


	







14 January 2013



	 
A Foggy Saturday

	
Filed under: Landscapes,Monadnock Region,Winter — Tags: ,  —  Frank @ 3:00 PM 


	

		
‘Twas a foggy day on Saturday.


I headed out late morning to make the rounds of my “good in fog” places to photograph… Meetinghouse Hill, the North Branch River and several wetlands.


By early afternoon and fog had lifted considerably and I headed back home in time for a late lunch. Eventually, I settled in to edit the photographs I had made. Some time later, I noticed dense fog swirling around trees I can see from my second floor “studio” window.


I felt compelled to grab the camera again and headed down to the bridge and public beach on Gregg Lake. There are a number of subjects here that “require” dense fog in order to isolate them from rather busy, distracting backgrounds.


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Two from Thursday

	
Filed under: Landscapes,Monadnock Region,Winter — Tags: ,  —  Frank @ 12:00 PM 


	

		
Thursday was a warm, for January, day (the high temperature was around  40 degrees ) with some sun. In the middle of the afternoon, Joan and I headed out on snowshoes with no particular goal in mind.


We made a right at the end of the driveway and headed up Brimstone Corner Road.  Eventually, we turned down Boutman Road; at the low point (where the stream crosses the road), we headed off into the woods and looped back up to Brimstone Corner.


As the afternoon progressed, the light got  really nice… soft yet directional.


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1 January 2013



	 
Winter Wonderland

	
Filed under: Landscapes,Monadnock Region,Winter — Tags: ,  —  Frank @ 12:00 PM 


	

		
Snow fell twice the week between the holidays… about a foot Wednesday night and Thursday and another  four inches or so on Friday night into Saturday.


Joan and I have been out on the snowshoes twice thus far. We have seen many tracks in the snow… moose, dear and many smaller animals.


The winter woods tend to be very quite, especially if the wind is not blowing. Perhaps, the most common sound is that of woodpeckers hard at work high up in the trees. However, on our first outing, we also heard coyotes nearby.


I have carried the new camera on both trips. I am slowly getting better about remembering to take the new camera with me when I leave the house but there is definitely an element of  “old dogs and new tricks” in this!


The new camera is nice and light… easy to carry and stow. Having only a wide to “normal” lens for the V1 has made me realize how much normally I use a telephoto lens. It forces me to think (and look) in new ways… and that’s not bad!


All of these photos were taken between the 28th and the 31st.


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