Photographs by Frank

27 September 2014

Autumnal Abstracts

Filed under: Autumn,Landscapes — Tags: , , — Frank @ 3:00 PM

Thursday afternoon, I went for a walk hoping that the clouds would break near sunset and I would have interesting skies and “good light” on the landscape.

This was not to be.

While waiting for the “good light”, I entertained myself in the drab gray light by playing with long exposures (10-20 seconds) and deliberate camera movements as I am wont to do on occasions such as this*.

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*Warning photographer talk ahead! Dull, low light makes long exposures easier although I still needed a neutral density filter for these photographs.

 

25 September 2014

Margins Redux

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

One of the peculiarities of landscape photography is that even though parts of the landscape are seemingly constant, other parts (e.g. the light and the weather) are constantly changing.

These facts have two consequences for photography:

#1 — Keep revisiting the same landscape; your photos will always be different.

#2 — If you see an interesting landscape in good light, stop and make a photograph right then and there; second chances on great conditions are rarely granted. Of course, in order to do this you always have a camera with you!

Thus, yesterday morning while out running errands, I could not (once again) resist the combination of puffy white clouds, blue sky and red swamp maples.

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24 September 2014

Margins

Filed under: Early Fall,Landscapes,Monadnock Region — Tags: , — Frank @ 2:00 PM

Ecologically, the transitions between different environments (forest and field or water and land, for example) are very important areas. These transitions often provide shelter for animals on one side and hunting grounds on the other side.

In the early autumn many of these margins (especially those involving water) are often highlighted in the red of early-changing swamp maple foliage.

On days with puffy autumn clouds and deep blue skies one can make wonderful photographs of the landscape.

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16 July 2014

Monday Reflections

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

Monday afternoon I stopped by a local beaver pond. While I was getting out of the truck I clearly heard the sounds of a beaver near the dam. As I walked to the waters edge, I saw him/her dive quietly. I set up the camera and tripod and waited for the beaver to reappear. I waited more than a half hour and had only two quick glimpses of a nose poking out of the water.

I entertained myself by photographing the reflections on the dead-calm water. I am a sucker for the abstractions of reflections!

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29 June 2014

Coastal Maine Trip, Part II (Hog Island Landscapes)

Filed under: Landscapes — Tags: — Frank @ 11:00 PM

Part I of this story is here.

After settling into our room on Hog Island, we wandered the grounds of the camp and began to make the acquaintance of some of our fellow campers. We discovered that the Arts & Birding group of adults would be sharing the camp with a delightful group of teenagers participating in the Bird Studies for Teens session. Dinner was served at 6 PM and was followed by an introductory session in the “Fish House”.

Both Monday and Tuesday, we set the alarm for 4:15 AM… in time to be ready to photograph the sunrise on some of the longest days of the year.  It was well worth the effort!

Early morning bird walks were also scheduled for both mornings, however, I decided to spend the time until a 7 AM breakfast roaming and photographing by myself instead of with a group.

After breakfast on Monday morning half of the adult group headed out on a boat ride into Muscongus Bay along with the teens. The teens were dropped off on Eastern Egg Island, home to Project Puffin. The adults had to be content to view the activity there from the boat. The adults did get to spend time ashore at Harbor Island before returning to Camp in the midafternoon. The remainder of the adult group, including Joan and I, spent the morning in small groups with the various instructors*. The remainder of the afternoon was spent working on various art projects.

After dinner, Kristin Mosher and Bill Wallauer, the photography instructors for the week, gave a great presentation on their work photographing the chimpanzees of Gombe National Park in association with Jane Goodall.

Tuesday morning after breakfast, the adult groups switched activities and Joan and I, among others, got our chance to see Eastern Egg Island and Harbor Island. The delightful evening presentation on Tuesday was by Steve Kress the founder of Project Puffin.

Rather than divide up the photographs I made while on Hog Island on a strict chronological basis, I have, instead, divided them up by genre.

Here are the landscapes:

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Part III is here.

Coastal Maine Trip, Part I (Acadia)

Filed under: Landscapes,wildflowers — Tags: , — Frank @ 10:00 PM

Last week (Friday to Friday), Joan and I took a trip up the Maine coast. We left the house on the morning of the 20th and pulled into our campsite at the Seawall Campground in Acadia National Park about 4 PM. We spent the late afternoon and early evening exploring the less traveled side of the park near the campground.  After dark, we had lobster rolls for dinner at Thurston’s Lobster Pound in Bernard, ME. Highly recommended!

On Saturday, we spent most of the day driving the Park’s loop road stopping at many of the sights there are to see. In the late afternoon, we ended up at the Pinnacle Trail  parking lot watching the not-quite-fledged Peregrine Falcon chicks through the spotting scope (i.e. way too far away for photographs). The only other person at the parking lot when we arrived was a die-hard birder named Steve, from Port Washington, NY of all places! (I grew up in “Port”.) Even stranger… Steve had just finished a week volunteering at the Audubon Camp in Maine on Hog Island in Bremen. Our next stop after Acadia was to be Hog Island for the Arts & Birding session!!! Talk about “small world”! Eventually we made it back to Thurston’s for lobster rolls again… they were that good!

Sunday morning we packed up the camper and headed southish/westish… towards Bremen and Hog Island. We arrived mid-afternoon, right in time to get the second boat from the mainland to the island.

Stay tuned… there is more to follow.*

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* I have divided the weeks photos into five galleries. Thus, I expect that this will mean five posts; some may be light on the text!

22 May 2014

Isles of Shoals Landscapes

Filed under: Landscapes — Tags: — Frank @ 4:00 PM

While the main focus of last weekends trip was birds, I did manage to make a few landscapes while visiting Star Island.

As is often the case when visiting someplace for a short time, the conditions were not ideal for landscape photography. Two of the “golden hours” (Friday evening and Saturday morning) were washed out by heavy rain. The other two (Saturday evening and Sunday morning) had uninteresting skies. I did the best that I could.

Six of these nine photos were made using the 600 mm f/4 lens… not your typical landscape lens!

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9 May 2014

Mackerel Skies & Spring Birds

Filed under: Amphibians,Birds,Early Spring,Landscapes,Monadnock Region — Tags: , , , — Frank @ 11:00 AM

About 9:30 yesterday morning, I headed out to run some errands. When I got to the lake, I noticed the mackerel skies over the north end of the lake and the nice, soft light. I stopped to make a photograph or two.

As I walked back to the boat launch where the truck was parked, I noticed the birds in the trees along the road and the turtles basking in the sun.

The section of road that runs along the beach and up to the bridge seems to attract many insect-eating birds. Later in the season there will be many swifts and swallows present, but yesterday I saw mainly Eastern Kingbirds.

There were also  red-winged blackbirds and grackles present. The male red-winged blackbirds were very vocal singing their distinctive “conk-la-ree” song repeatedly.

When I got back to the truck, I decided that the errands could wait. Switching from landscape mode and wide angle lens to wildlife mode and “Big Bertha” , I  headed back towards the bridge photographing all the way.

An osprey also appeared briefly. It hovered near the bridge looking for prey and made one, unsuccessful plunge into the water before heading off. A couple of days ago, Joan and I observed an osprey exhibit  the same hovering behavior by the bridge. I guess that I’ll have to plan to spend some time  down there just to watch for ospreys!

About 11:30, I headed back to the truck and my errands.

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8 May 2014

White Mountain Landscapes

Filed under: Early Spring,Landscapes,the White Mountains — Tags: — Frank @ 7:00 AM

Last Saturday, I arose early and headed north. The impetus for the trip was the annual meeting of the NH Society of Photographic Artists. This weekend-long event was held at the AMC’s Highland Center in Crawford Notch.

I got a little distracted making photographs on the way north, but I did make it to the afternoon session of the meeting. The meeting was held in a room which contains a collection of spectacular photographs by Bradford Washburn, a well-known mountain photographer. One of the speakers was Tony Decaneas, an associate of Washburn’s who printed many of his later prints. Tony told some wonderful stories about Washburn.

The  NHSPA is a lively and welcoming group. This was my first encounter with them since joining a couple of moths ago and I had nice chants with a number of  members.

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22 April 2014

Woodland Streams

Filed under: Early Spring,Landscapes,Monadnock Region — Tags: — Frank @ 10:00 PM

Yesterday, I took a walk in the woods with camera, tripod and neutral density filter* in hand. My goal was some of the local woodland streams that are at their peak flow this time of year.

Here are the results:

*Warning, photo talk ahead… one uses a neutral density filter to block light, in general, from getting to the lens. This allows one to use a slower shutter speed that would otherwise be possible. The slow shutter speed (between one and three seconds in these photos) gives the silky texture to the flowing water and necessitates using a tripod.

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