





I left the house yesterday morning about ten on a mission. I first headed to Littleton, MA to meet my friend (and stalwart commenter here) Joe.
Joe’s car was loaded with cameras… roughly four dozen. A friend of Joe’s had decided to down-size his collection of antique cameras and I was glad to facilitate their donation to the Vermont Center for Photography.
After transferring the cameras to my truck I headed directly to Brattleboro (where the VCP is located) to deliver the goods.
One the way back home, I made a couple of stops at favorite places to photograph in Marlborough and Harrisville. The late afternoon light was nice and, at least in some directions, there were interesting clouds.
I pulled into the driveway at six on the dot. It ’twas a successful day.
Yesterday morning, one of the photo groups I belong to met (in Brattleboro) for the first time since March. We met outdoors in a park, wearing masks, etc.
I got up early and left the house before seven hoping to catch some good light and make some photographs. My first stop, as I headed west on Route 9 was “the truck”. This derelict truck sitting in a roadside field in Stoddard has been a favorite subject since it appeared a few years ago.
The light was just perfect and I spent fifteen or twenty minutes photographing “the truck” and its neighbor. I just discovered “the neighbor”, a second derelict truck maybe fifty feet from “the truck” and hidden from the road by some trees. I have no idea how long “the neighbor” has been there. I’ll be going back as the light on “the neighbor” will be best late in the day.
After breakfast at the diner in Keene (with outdoor seating) my next stop was the Stonewall Farm in western Keene. I took a short stroll around the farm and found lots to photograph.
My original plan was to make a third stop at the Chesterfield Gorge. However, I looked at the time and decided I did not have time. This was the correct decision as I made it Brattleboro with about twenty minutes to spare before our 10 AM get together.
This week is town meeting week. Elections for town offices were held today and the town meeting is Thursday evening.
“Meeting” is one of the three “M words” associated with March in northern New England. The other two are “mud” and “maple”. Mud season has been unexciting this year. Judging from the great plumes of steam emanating from local sugar shacks, the sap is running well.
After I voted this morning, I meandered, with cameras in tow, through Hillsborough and Deering with short traverses through “corners” of Hennicker and Francestown. I stopped at a favorite farm on Bear Hill Road in Hillsborough and discovered a new (to me) church in East Deering.
By the time I got to East Deering the interesting skies had turned smooth gray and it had begun to drizzle. I’ll be returning to East Deering when the conditions (light and skies) are better.
Today, I made a return visit to Canterbury Shaker Village. After my first visit I felt that there were more photographs to be made. I still think that this is true even after a second visit. We’ll see.
The large majority of the photographs I make with the camera obscura are intended to be black and white. In my mind monochrome is just part of the “feel” of these images.
However, every once in a while, an image just begs to be left as a color photograph. This was the case today. The yellow of the Ministry Shop in contrast with the blue sky was just too much to lose!
Anyway, here are a few of the photos I made today. The last one was made in Canterbury Center; a few miles from the Shaker Village.
Today, I headed up to the Enfield Shaker Village. It is very different from its partner in Canterbury. Not nearly as bucolic and photogenic.
Many of the buildings are used for commercial purposes and the site is not at all secluded. The two main buildings, a church (which is not a Shaker structure) and the “Great Stone Dwelling” (the main residential building) are imposing stone edifices.
The many roof top ornaments in the neighborhood caught my eye on this mostly sunny day; any clouds around were high and thin.
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.
After my last visit to Harrisville, I had the nagging suspicion that I had missed something… that there were more photos to be had. Thus, this afternoon, I headed back… just to see what else I could find.
When I arrived, I parked next to a red Subaru with adornments one could only find in Harrisville (see the last two photos)!
I made a few more photographs, but I think that I got most of the interesting photos that could be made with the camera obscura the first time.
Joan and I left on our more-or-less annual fall trip on the 9th of September and arrived back home last Friday evening (the 25th). As usual, we towed our teardrop camper and stayed mainly in parks; filling in with nights in commercial campgrounds when necessary.
This year we headed east and north… to Maine, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. We visited Acadia National Park, the Bay of Fundy National Park, Cape Brenton Highlands National Park and many points in between. As is our habit, we stayed off the highways and traveled mainly on the local roads, hugging the coast on this trip.
Thinking that this trip would be mostly about the landscape (and not about wildlife), I brought along my camera obscura in addition to my regular camera gear. This thought turned out to be true. Although we did spend time watching birds in a number of places and whales from shore at the Head Harbor Light on Campobello Island, NB the opportunities to make good wildlife photographs were few.
If one is going to photograph the landscape in this part of the world, one will eventually point your lens towards a lighthouse… or two… or three… or more! I certainly did!
My favorite lighthouse — not for its architecture, but for the people — was the Cape d’Or light in Advocate Harbor, NS. Cape d’Or is located at the head of the Bay of Fundy right where the bay splits into two “forks”. We arrived at this lighthouse one foggy morning shortly after breaking camp and parked at the end of the road.
Getting out of the car, the first thing we noticed was the noise of moving water. My thought was “this is going to be a good place to photograph crashing waves”. Heading steeply down the drive to the lighthouse proper, the noise of the water got louder but there was no surf to be found! The noise was caused by the Dory Rips, roiling currents caused by the tidal movement of water around the point. We had timed our visit perfectly to observe this phenomenon. By the time we left, a couple of hours later, the waters were quiet.
In addition to the lighthouse, we were pleasantly surprised to find that the keepers house was now a guesthouse and restaurant. When we arrived at the light, I began photographing mainly with the camera obscura. We seemed to be the only souls around although there was music gently wafting from the restaurant. After a few minutes, a fellow poked his head out of the door and shouted out to me asking if I was so-and-so. I said that I was not and continued to photograph.
When I was done, I headed into the restaurant to introduce myself. The fellow who shouted out was Darcy, the chef/proprietor. He said that there is a guy who looks like me (scary!) and sometimes photographs at Cape d’Or with a large format camera. Darcy was in the process of cleaning up after breakfast — the overnight guests had left shortly before we had arrived — and he offered us coffee and the last of the four-berry crisp leftover from the previous evening. We gladly accepted and spent some time chatting with Darcy and his girlfriend (whose name I don’t know but who is a medical student at the Univ. of Rochester).
As we went to leave, Darcy would accept no payment for the “leftovers” as he put it. (I’ll be sending him a few photographs!). On our way back up the hill to the parking lot, we met another couple on the way down. They would get no berry crisp… timing is everything!!!
This afternoon, despite the rain, I headed out to Tenney’s , our local farm stand. I was in need of a real local** strawberry fix; the first of the all-to-short season.
Of course, I took along my (current) favorite optical tool… the camera obscura. After the strawberries were safely stowed behind the seats in my truck, I decided that the rain was light enough for some photography and thus went on a short drive.
* The fourth post today. I think that that is a record!
** We have been subsisting on those inferior substitutes — the grocery store variety — for some weeks now. They are better than nothing, but not by much.
Yesterday afternoon our friend Diane asked me to makes a few photos of the Peace Bridge in Memorial Park. The bridge is scheduled for replacement in the very near future.
Last evening, the sky and light were pretty nice so I took a drive to town to see if I could make the photos Diane asked for. While I was downtown, I made photos of a couple of other landmarks that were bathed in the evening light.
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