Photographs by Frank

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!!!!

3 February 2013

“Sky Farm” and Gregg Lake Ice

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

Friday was a sunny and  mild-for-January day; the temperature was in the mid-20’s. There were enough clouds to make good landscape photographs possible*.

Thus, after lunch, Joan and I made the twenty minute drive to the Forest Society‘s High Five Reservation** in Deering. Making the short climb from the road to the top of the hill , we were rewarded with the usual spectacular views of the Contoocook valley. We headed back to the car by meandering through the essentially snow-less woods instead of taking the road directly back.

Saturday afternoon found us out for another hike on Gregg Lake. The thaw and rain early last week melted most of the snow on the lake which, upon refreezing resulted in a relatively smooth and hard ice surface.  There were many spots where the ice contained countless small bubbles. The patterns in and on the ices were fascinating. We were left wondering and postulating how the various defects in the ice came to be.

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Looking Northwest from Sky Farm #2 (a three frame panorama)

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*Skies make or break many landscapes. If you are going to include the sky in the frame it ought to be “interesting”.

**Located on Sky Farm Road, we seem to eschew the official name and call this wonderful spot “Sky Farm”.


	


	







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!



	


	









	 
A Meander on the Lake

	
Filed under: Landscapes,Winter —  Frank @ 6:00 PM 


	

		
Yesterday afternoon Joan and I donned our “crampons” and went for a hike on Gregg Lake. Bob houses appeared out on the lake on Saturday so we figured the ice was safe for walking on. We meandered down to our camp and around the lake basically used the “drunken sailor” approach to navigation. We ended up at the boat ramp and headed back home via the road; 4.8 miles all told according to the GPS.


I am not sure what small mammal made the tracks but they were quite common in “our” cove and heading over towards the Byron Caughey Memorial Scout Camp.


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The photograph below is a two frame panorama… probably more like one and a half. I was not intending to stitch these two frames together when I tripped the shutter and thus did not think at all about “overlap”. However, when I reviewed the images on the computer joining them together seemed right.


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Winter Lake Shore



	


	







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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6 January 2013



	 
Snowshoe Jaunts

	
Filed under: Landscapes,Winter — Tags: ,  —  Frank @ 12:00 PM 


	

		
Just after lunch on the past two days, we headed out on our snowshoes. Rather than heading down the driveway and deciding which way to turn on Brimstone Corner, we headed “down back” into the woods.


Our goal, on both days, were the beaver “swamps” that lie between our house and Willard Pond. These wetlands are more properly called  “wet meadows” according to the book* on wetlands I have been reading.


There are two, roughly parallel  beaver-made wetlands between our house and Willard Pond. A small fraction of the closest one occupies the back of our property and extends roughly half a mile to the north.  The second, lies farther to the west. There is a low ridge and a quarter mile separating the two.


It has been about a week since we have had any new snow and it is quite amazing to see the number of moose and dear tracks crisscrossing the woods. There are also, of course, numerous tracks made by smaller animals.


On Friday, our route followed the edge of “our” beaver meadow and there were a number of places right at the margin of the wet land with dozens of moose prints; spots where they were browsing.  On Saturday, we found a site where a deer had clearly bedded down for a night.


None of these these things make for artistic photos but it is fun seeing them.


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* Swampwalker's Journal: A Wetlands Year by David M. Carroll. Highly recommended!



	


	







4 January 2013



	 
Brimstone Corner (Road)

	
Filed under: Landscapes,The "New" Yard & Environs —  Frank @ 12:00 PM 


	

		
Brimstone Corner (Road*) is an old prototypical New England road… no pavement, lined with old sugar maples and stone walls. Many of the maples are reaching the end of their natural lives and some are literally falling (or have fallen) apart.  The stone walls are, however, in pretty good shape!


I think about Brimstone Corner in three segments. The road begins at the bridge across Gregg Lake and continues for a mile and a bit to the Price Farm. (We live in the house just before the Price Farm.) The second section is not maintained and is getting rough in spots. This section goes for another mile and a quarter or so; one passes from Antrim into Hancock along this stretch. The third section, in Hancock, is much like the first.


Thus, when we head out for a walk we must pause at the end of our driveway and ask the question “Left or right?  Left, down the “civilized” section towards the bridge? Or right, into the “wilderness”?


Either way we can get in a nice two mile walk.


More often than not we turn right, but this time of year that decision requires more planning and forethought as snowshoes are needed.


On New Year’s Day we turned left and walked down to the bridge and lake.


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*Most of the folks who live here call our avenue "Brimstone Corner Road". 
 However, the Postal Service insists that it is simply "Brimstone Corner". 
 Why? I have no idea!



	


	







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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