Landscapes « Photographs by Frank

30 May 2019

Contoocook & North Branch Rivers

Filed under: Landscapes,Monadnock Region — Tags: landscapes — Frank @ 11:30 PM

Inspired by a discussion at yesterday’s conservation commission meeting, I took a drive along our local rivers this afternoon .

The Contoocook River runs roughly seventy miles, from Jaffery (south of Antrim) to Pennacook (north of Concord) where it joins the mighty Merrimack. It forms the eastern border of Antrim.

The North Branch (of the Contoocook) River runs about seventeen miles, from Stoddard to its confluence with the Contoocook in Hillsborough. Most of its run is through the north part of Antrim.

I took both my “normal” camera and my camera obscura with me on the drive but I was moved to use only latter.

I am mulling beginning a larger project involving photographing along the entire length of each river. We’ll have to see how this pans out. Watch this space for future developments!

Iron Bridge Over the Contoocook River between Bennington and Antrim, NH

Contoocook River Near the Iron Bridge between Bennington and Antrim, NH

Riverine Field Near the Contoocook River, Deering, NH

Riverine Field Near the Contoocook River,Antrim, NH and Hedgehog Mountain, Deering, NH

Contoocook River from the Second NH Turnpike Bridge (Antrim and Deering, NH)

North Branch River Near River Rd., Antrim, NH

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15 May 2019

Springtime in New England

Filed under: Garden Flowers,Landscapes — Frank @ 12:00 PM

Ahhh… springtime in New England!

How come that statement never conjures up visions of warm sunny weather?!

Yesterday, we awoke to snow on the ground. Not much… just enough to cover the bare ground in the garden and coat the vehicles. But it is the middle of May!

The snow was gone by mid-morning.

After lunch, I headed out on some errands. I wanted to get materials for building an electric fence. I want to try to keep the bears out of the bird feeders. Additionally, the paper for the Limrik had to get from the mill to the printers and for some reason they don’t make it with legs!

While I was out and about, I stopped and made two photographs.

Springtime Barn

Springtime Bench

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5 May 2019

Foggy Morning

Filed under: Landscapes,Monadnock Region,Spring — Frank @ 10:45 PM

This morning dawned cool and damp… par for the course around here these days.

I had a couple of hours to spare this morning so I headed out, cameras in tow, to see if I could find something to photograph.

Here are the results:

Meetinghouse Hill #1

Meetinghouse Hill #2

Meetinghouse Hill #3

Meetinghouse Hill #4

Havoline

Animals

Church, Hillsborough Center

Yellow

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22 April 2019

Pavement

Filed under: Landscapes — Frank @ 11:15 PM

We live on a dirt road. I spend a lot of the time walking on our road, or in the woods, or on the ice of the lake. Pavement is, to me, quite exotic!

There is plenty of pavement where my mother lives.

Pavement #1

Pavement #2

Pavement #3

Pavement #4

Pavement #5

Pavement #6

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Springtide in Maryland

Filed under: Landscapes,Spring — Frank @ 11:00 PM

Joan and I spent the past week in Maryland tending to my Mom after her second cataract operation. We left NH still in the grips of that drab in between season with ice still on the lake. Maryland, on the other hand, was to our eyes brilliant green with spring. We were about a week late for the cherry blossoms but the redbud trees were putting on a show which made up for the cherries.

Vernal Tree #1

Vernal Tree #2

Sycamore #1

Pasture in Spring

Vernal Tree #3

Redbuds

Vernal Foliage

Sycamore #2

Made with the camera obscura.

Redbud #1

Clubhouse

Redbud #2

Forsythia

Stable

Redbuds

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10 April 2019

A Foggy April Day

Filed under: architecture,Landscapes,Monadnock Region — Frank @ 12:30 PM

What is the difference between the first day of spring and the first spring day?

The answer, at least here in northern New England … “Six weeks!!!”

Over the past few days we have had periods of sleet. Just a thin coating accumulated on things and most of this disappeared pretty quickly. However, it has been cold enough and cloudy enough that that, even more than a day after it fell, traces of sleet were still hanging on in some spots.

Yesterday dawned foggy and stayed that way most of the day. After lunch I headed out for a walk to see if I could capture the “feeling” of our lovely spring day; the temperature was 33 degrees F.

About half way back on the return leg of my walk it began to rain lightly. About a half-hour after I got back inside, it began to snow. The snow lasted roughly an hour. When it stopped we had an inch or so on the ground.

Ahhh… Springtime in New England!

I ended up with two series of photographs from my walk.

Jane’s Barn:

Jane's Barn #1

Jane's Barn #2

Windmill

Barn Board

Untitled

Bran Door Window

Along a Foggy Woods Road:

Foggy Woods Road #1

Foggy Woods Road #2

Foggy Woods Road #3

Foggy Woods Road #4

Foggy Woods Road #5

Foggy Woods Road #6

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16 March 2019

The M’s of March

Filed under: Landscapes,March,Monadnock Region — Frank @ 12:30 PM

Most folks associate March with “Madness”. For me, March is associated with three other “M words”… Maple, Mud and Meeting. Maple as in maple sap/syrup. Mud as in mud season. Meeting as in Town Meeting. This past week we have had all three of these “M words”.

Yesterday afternoon, I went for a walk. At the end of our driveway, I had a choice… left and the mud of the “civilized” section of the road or right and the slush of the un-maintained section of our road. I opted for the slush.

Of course, I took my camera with me.

Stone Wall Detail #1

Birch Emerging from the Snow

Granite and Ice

Stone Wall Detail #2

Jane's Barn

Untitled

Living and Dead #1

Living and Dead #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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8 January 2019

Images – Williamstown, MA

Filed under: architecture,Landscapes,Uncategorized — Frank @ 6:27 PM

Last Sunday morning (6 Jan 2019), we left the house shortly after seven in the morning and headed for Williamstown, MA; about a two hour drive. Joan was to attend a ukulele workshop organized by our friend, singer-songwriter, Bernice Lewis. I went along to see what I could find to photograph (I was not disappointed) and to attend the afternoon concert associated with the workshop. We also had an enjoyable visit and dinner with Jeff and Robin, friends from our Grand Canyon raft trip before heading home in the evening.

Williamstown is located in the most extreme northwest corner of Massachusetts (it abuts both New York and Vermont) and is the home of Williams College. Having spent a career in academia, I have visited more than my fair share of college towns. Walking around the campus/town for a few hours, I was struck by the complete merger of town and gown. To this casual observer the line between college and town here is virtually nonexistent. I spent about three hours wandering about the campus on a gray Sunday morning and found much to photograph.

The last photograph of this series is of a sculpture “Double L Eccentric Gyratory II” by George Rickey. The morning was quite calm and I did not notice any movement as I approached the piece and raised my camera to my eye. As I began to photograph the sculpture, I had one of those strange moments that sometimes occur as one goes about life. While I concentrated on the angles, the background and the edges of the frame a very slight breeze arose causing the sculpture began to move very slowly and subtly. It took my brain quite a few seconds to realize that this was a kinetic sculpture and that my mind was not out of whack!!