I'd been meaning to get back here since the first time I explored this little swatch of conservation land. It contains the middle branch of the Piscataquog river and has some interesting aspects to it like a pond and some defunct bridges. Unfortunately the light wasn't overly cooperative and when the sun came out I... Continue Reading →
Wahoo! Another beauty photographed. Never have I shot these before, but while out doing some river work (my favorite, the Piscataquog, and I'll post about that soon) I found some near a pond's runoff streams. This flower has become quite rare in some areas due to people picking and digging it up a lot. I... Continue Reading →
Are you dead from the suspense yet? Sorry about that. Here is some more from my latest dawn trek to the bog. The wider views are all done with my regular 12-60mm lens, but I spent some time finding some landscape slices which was pretty rewarding. It's a fun way to see things that is... Continue Reading →
Serendipity. Isn't that a great word? Almost as good as propinquity. But I digress. I say serendipity because a couple days ago I was thinking about wildflowers and how much I'd like to discover some wood lily in my travels. My parents had one growing in the front yard when I was a kid, and... Continue Reading →
So is the title Nancy Drew-ish or Sherlock Holmsian? Either way, it was an incident to be sure. I decided to head up to Loverens Mill Cedar Swamp Preserve on Tuesday. I was after some solitude and afternoon light. Little did I know that they were logging the surrounding forest. But, being the trooper that... Continue Reading →
Ah Monty Python, what a bunch of mad freaks you were. If you have no idea what I'm talking about, check this out - Part 2. You really have to like MP to find it funny, but I always think of it when anyone mentions lupines. And the other day when I shot some, I... Continue Reading →
Yesterday on the return leg of a hike up some small mountains in southern NH, I spied this beauty on a striped maple. It's a rare and wondrous luna moth and the backlight was a bonus. Judging by the bushy and feathery antennae, it's probably a male. It had newly emerged from the cocoon and... Continue Reading →
Before I head out today in quest for more wildflowers, I'll share a couple more favorite spots. First is Senter Falls on Cold Brook. Why the heck they're called that, I don't know. I suspect my friend Mike made it up. It's a relatively popular location for local photographers and I've shot it several times.... Continue Reading →
The Piscataquog is my favorite river. I know, weird, huh? It's an important waterway not only for people, but for many animals and plants that thrive in the ancient glacial habitats along its course. It has 3 branches (north, middle and south), runs for 57 miles with little interruption and its name translates from a... Continue Reading →
Do you remember me stalking a plant that wasn't blooming and me not knowing what it was? Well today was my lucky day and I finally found it blooming. It's columbine! Yay!! Another one I'd never shot before. I don't remember even seeing it outside of books. Sa-weet. The light was really spectacular, but... Continue Reading →
My photographic journey with this flower has been an interesting one. Despite the long hours I spend in the woods and my quest for wildflowers to photograph, I'd never seen these beauties except in the photographs of others. A photographer acquaintance of mine even refused to disclose the location of the flowers a couple years... Continue Reading →
How they're longing for some color. Even more than usual for this time of year. See, we've basically had a snowless winter. It hasn't snowed with accumulation since Halloween. The extended brown stick season has sapped my enthusiasm and induced the need for color in a big way. So, without further ado - See what... Continue Reading →
Do you fuel your fire or let it go out? Today I went with a friend to shoot the sunrise. I know this lake fairly well and know how few places there are with compelling or even just plain usable foreground elements. It's always a tough shoot unless you have a lot of time or... Continue Reading →
Winter is a great time for showing us things we might ordinarily not see at all. I have no idea how many times I've passed this house, but I'm sure it's dozens. Finally the other day I noticed it. I had to laugh though because it's about 50 feet from the edge of a pretty... Continue Reading →
There's a little spot of geography about 40 minutes west of my house that has created a whole bunch of waterfalls. If you've been following the blog, you've seen them - Tucker Falls, Lower Purgatory Falls, Senter Falls and Garwin Falls most recently. I think I've said that Purgatory brook has three sets of falls... Continue Reading →
Even though it's hunting season up here, I still get into the woods. I feel a bit funny being so conspicuous in my blaze orange though. So many times I've gone completely unnoticed by other folks. Not when I'm on the trail or right next to it, but if I go off trail and am... Continue Reading →
In the course of a day I look at hundreds of photographs. By participating in Google+, forums, flickr, 500px and other photo communities it's easy to do. One thing that has been getting my attention is that people don't seem to understand white balance and its importance. Mainly I notice it when there is water... Continue Reading →
If you didn't know before, you know now -
Here's some early shots from the last week or so. I don't know w hat got into me. Adams pond and the whole world lit up pink the other day, it was so peaceful and fresh. I could smell the apples from the orchard nearby, too. and less than an hour later it looked like... Continue Reading →
I'm not going to get all wordy with these posts. I'm shooting like mad, but can't process efficiently because this old laptop of mine is just not enough for the new technology. Luckily a new one should arrive today. In the mean time, here's a couple more from recent outings -
This year I set myself a goal. A mini-project if you will. Borne out of the fact that I hadn't been able to take a decent picture of indian pipes. Seriously. I tried. I'd see some next to the trail and set up. Everything sucked. I even shot some in winter and those are passable,... Continue Reading →
Up until recently, I've been a catch-as-catch-can type of photographer. If I was going somewhere, I took my camera and tried for photos as I went. Rarely did I return to a location to do better or capture a different aspect of the place. Now though, I understand what scouting a location can do. Remember... Continue Reading →
Phew. Our most recent heatwave is over and I can probably get back outside. I say probably because it's horse and deer fly season and those just make me miserable. They're relentless and will bite you to death if given half a chance. Lately I've been playing a bit more deliberately with bokeh and its... Continue Reading →
Late last year I visited a nearby Nature Conservancy property called The Cedar Swamp Preserve. Yeah, real romantic sounding place, right? Well it's got two great things going for it - Atlantic White Cedars and Great Laurel or Giant Rhododendron as it's sometimes called. This is a small preserve jammed between huge condo developments, some... Continue Reading →
So after the relatively bug-free California environment I get back up here and am basically in a cloud of mosquitoes every time I set foot out of the house. This time of year being a woodland photographer really sucks. Literally. Between the mosquitoes and the ticks I'm down a pint. No. Not really. But they... Continue Reading →
