Yesterday afternoon looked good for photography… there were high clouds which softened the light and this time of year the sun gets low enough for nice directional light by mid-afternoon. I spent a couple of hours (roughly 2 – 4 PM) making a circuit of favorite places to photograph.
My first stop was an old barn which I recently learned is scheduled to be demolished at some point in the not too distant future. Thus I am feeling a sense of urgency in making photos of this barns last ‘gasp’ as it were.
This sense of urgency was heightened later in my drive when I passed an old house in East Washington that I have photographed in the past; it is now in the process of being dismantled.
My second stop was Hillsborough Center. I have photographed the church there a number of times. Yesterday, I looked for other subjects there.
My last stop was the Washington (NH) commons.
I have photographed here many times and was hoping to make some photographs using my camera obscura. However, this was not in the cards for yesterday. There was a police vehicle parked next to the school house (which now serves as the police station) and there were other vehicles near the town hall. Plan B was to make photographs “looking up”… i.e. of various roof lines.
I recently discovered that the subject of Paul Strand‘s famous photograph usually titled “Town Hall, NH” is, in fact, the Washington, NH town hall. The exterior of building is unchanged since Strand took his photo in 1946. However, the flag pole has been replaced (and moved).
By four, the light was pretty much gone (even on the hilltop site of the common) so I packed up and headed home.
