Sunday, February 07, 2010

Walpole, New Hampshire

Last stop on my tour of New Hampshire, visiting with Peter Roos, an excellent painter and photographer that I met on my Iceland trip last summer.  We got up early this morning and made a quick stop at Burdicks for the world’s best pan au chocolate and a cup of coffee before heading up the ridge to explore.  We happened to pass by Ken Burns’ house on the way up and just beyond that found a nice open field overlooking the Connecticut River valley below.  I especially like the contrast of the white barked birch tree to the other trees as an interesting foreground element to the view across the valley.  It was really a nice morning of exploring and shooting and I treasure the time that I got to spend with Peter.

Thursday, February 04, 2010

Castle in the Clouds, New Hampshire

Visiting with my wife’s cousin near Lake Winnipesaukee and we decided to take a hike up to the Castle in the Clouds.  It was an absolutely gorgeous day for a hike, clear blue sky and plenty of shelter in the trees from the slight wind, though the temperature was still in the low 20’s.  As we wound through the forest on the way up to the castle we crossed a bridge that afforded us a nice view of the ice formations in the stream below.  I thought it was interesting how the ice seems to outline the shapes of all the rocks in the stream, a stunning scene as we climbed on up the hill.

Wednesday, February 03, 2010

Kancamagus Highway, New Hampshire

I continued driving through the White Mountains and ended up on the Kancamagus Highway, a gorgeous road with a high pass and lush valleys on either side.  I pulled over numerous times to shoot pictures of the various scenes, the birch trees mostly catching my eyes.  As I descended the far side of the pass I was struck by the icicles formed by the seeps from the fractures along this granite face, especially in contrast to the bare trees in front.  I love the contrast of the verticality of the ice to the horizontality of the rock, a classic composition.

White Mountains, New Hampshire

After a very nice visit with a long-time family friend in White River Junction, Vermont, I drove across the White Mountain National Forest and had a wonderful day.  The weather out here has been a little unusual in that there has not been that much snow, but there was a 3-inch rainstorm a couple of weeks back.  This had the effect of damming up some of the rivers and creeks with ice and causing wonderful formations of ice along the banks.  This scene caught my eye as I was driving along a very roller-coastery frost-heaved road (that’s a whole other story!) and luckily there was a pull off just next to it that I could park at.  The weather was rather blustery, at least for a Colorado wimp like me, an overcast and breezy 23 degrees, and it definitely felt like winter.  As I walked down to the river bank I noticed that the river was choked down into a narrow spot by some granite boulders.  The greenish river was running under the ice that had piled up on the shore closest to me.  I thought the angular granite boulders were a nice contrast to the softer curves of the water winding its way through the ice.

Friday, January 15, 2010

Infrared South Platte River, Colorado

Camped out in the van next to the river the last couple of nights and it was incredible.  The temperature obviously dropped overnight and the windows were all frozen from the moisture in my breath condensing on the windows.  It was about 20 degrees both morninga and it took a while for the propane heater to warm the place up enough for me to want to get out of my sleeping bag.  I didn’t see much color in the sunrise either morning anyway, so I didn’t feel like I was missing anything anyway.  As always, it was nice to get a little extra sleep as well.

Shot a lot of pictures with my Infrared DSLR today, first chance to really play around with it and I like it!  I think that the river bottom is a perfect place for this camera, the way that it responds to vegetation and the blue sky creates intriguing contrast and colors in the image.  The sky goes very dark and coppery while the vegetation is lighter with a bluish hue to it, very interesting.  You’ll see more from this camera in the future, that’s for sure.