Photographs by Frank

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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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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15 February 2013

A Day Off from Work

Filed under: Landscapes,Winter — Tags: , , , — Frank @ 5:00 PM

I had not planned on making photographs this past Tuesday. However, circumstances gave us some free time so Joan and I headed down to Sachuest NWR in Middletown, Rhode Island. We did not get quite that far. The nor’easter at the end of the previous week had washed out the road and knocked down the power lines along Sachuest Point Road. Thus the road was closed  about a mile or so before the refuge gate.

Instead, we parked at the small lot at the west end of Second Beach (along with all of the surfers) and had a nice walk down the beach. The wind was blowing steadily and the temperature was in the low 40s. The walk down the beach, with the wind at our backs, was slow and pleasant; we moved somewhat more rapidly on the return trip.

I had the  little camera* with me. There were some nice clouds and so I got some nice photographs. Actually, it was very hard to keep my focus on the dunes and the sky since there are always so many interesting “distractions” at one’s feet while walking a beach.

After our walk on the beach we had a late lunch and headed down to Sakonnet Point in Little Compton. Sachuest Point and Sakonnet Point are separated by roughly three miles (of water) as the crow flies. According to Google maps it is roughly 25 miles by road between the two spots… the RI coast is definitely convoluted!

The “orange door” photograph was made at Sakonnet Point; all of the others were made along Second Beach. The reflection in the window of the orange door is as I saw it; it was not “Photoshopped in”.

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*I am getting pretty good at remembering to take the Nikon 1 whenever I leave the house. I was certainly glad to have it with me last Tuesday! On the way back to Bridgewater from Little Compton we stopped at a Best Buy because our cordless phone in the house has been acting up. We found an adequate replacement and had already purchased it when, as we were headed towards the exit, Joan pointed out their display of the various Nikon 1 models… I ended up with the 30-110 mm lens for the Nikon 1 that I had been thinking about. I bet it will be a long time before Joan mentions a camera display to me again!!!!

20 January 2013

Beaver Swamp in Winter

Filed under: Landscapes,The "New" Yard & Environs,Winter — Tags: , — Frank @ 8:00 PM

I made this photograph about a week ago* at the end of our “January thaw”… a couple of days with high temperatures near 50o F and nights with above freezing temperatures.

The forecast called for a cold front to move through and an accumulation of four to six inches of snow overnight and the next morning. I was reading in the living room when I noticed the weather beginning to change.

Knowing that weather in flux often makes for good photographs, I pulled on my boots and headed out for a short walk to the beaver swamp at the back of our property. We live at the south end of this wetland. There are often nice skies at the north end during changeable weather.

I began by taking a few photos from the safety of the edge of wetland. However, I knew the best place to photograph this scene was from near the middle where I could use the channel of open water as a leading line and the view of the sky to the north would be best.

If one has never walked a wetland like this, you need to know that the grassy areas you see in the foreground are called a “wet meadow” for good reason. The clumps of grass one sees are sticking out of a boggy mess. My type of terrain!

The just ending  “January thaw”  meant that the ice in this wet meadow was likely to be thin. I had donned only my regular hiking boots rather than my green wellies. Heading out into the meadow, I calculated that the chance of wet socks was high but one accepts such things in pursuit of “art”.

About three-quarters of the way out, I felt the rush of ice water into my left boot. I must have reacted quickly since I did not feel any of the real squishiness that accompanies a fully flooded boot and it only took a few minutes for my body heat to warm the water so that I did not notice it!

I proceeded to make some photographs while watching the cold front move across the scene in front of me.  The diagonal line of heavy clouds starting at the tree line on the left and heading up and to the right is the front.

I hung around for maybe a half hour until there was no blue sky remaining in view and headed back to the house. I was about ninety percent of the way back to “dry land” when my right boot met the same fate as my left one!

Was the result worth the cold wet feet? I think so!

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*On Tuesday, the 15th at 1:59 PM to be exact; ain’t metadata wonderful!

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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22 December 2012

The Late December Landscape

Filed under: Landscapes,Monadnock Region,Winter — Tags: — Frank @ 11:59 PM

Here it is, late December, we have a bit of snow on the ground and the lake is starting to ice over in the shallow and sheltered spots. The landscape is slowly recovering from the blah grays of early winter.

I bought myself a Winter Solstice present, a Nikon 1 V1 with the zoom lens. I wanted a small “always with me” camera. I have only put a few dozen “clicks” on it since it came on Wednesday as I had much grading to finish. So far it seems to be working well… I just need to remember to take it with me each time I head out of the house!

All of the photographs shown here were taken with the new camera.

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24 November 2012

November Landscapes

Filed under: Landscapes,Monadnock Region,National Wildlife Refuges — Tags: , — Frank @ 1:00 PM

November is not the best month of the year for landscapes in New England.

Although we often have nice clear, crisp days… the cloudless skies and grey hillsides can conspire to make for somewhat bland photographs. None-the-less, I keep trying!

On Thursday (Thanksgiving) afternoon, Joan and I walked up the road to Brimstone Corner while the turkey was in the oven. Nick pulled up just as we arrived back at the house and we extended our stroll by heading down to the lake. I had not taken the camera along on the first part of the walk, but the sun was low enough to tempt me as we headed down to the lake.

Yesterday afternoon, the three of us  took a hike up North Pac Monadnock; the trail head in the Wapack NWR is about a 20 minute drive from the house. We finished the hike in the light of the mostly full moon.

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