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| lenticular Sky |
Tis the
season, and is always true of this time of year, I am overwhelmed. In addition to the last-minute holiday
orders, I am also trying to find time to get ready for my winter Lightroom CCClassic course. Lightroom is such an amazingly
capable course that it is always a challenge to cover all the essential
features of the program, and this year, as always, I must catch up with the new
tools that have been recently added.
I have a lot
of work to do and complicating my efforts is the requirement to come up every
week with a fresh blog article. This
week I will try to simplify by devoting my blog to a gallery of images from our
recent week in New Hampshire’s White Mountains.
Bob's 70th
Last weekend
a group of our friends gathered in a house in Glen New Hampshire to celebrate Bob’s
70th birthday. Bob is not the
oldest member of our group, but he is DEFINITELY
older than me, at least for a little longer.
It seemed like a great excuse for a trip.
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| John studying the Manual |
The house was great, with plenty of room for
5 couples, including my daughter Abigail and her husband Grayson. We had wonderful views of the mountains, including
a glimpse of Mount Washington. Given the
culinary talents of this group, we didn’t need to go out to get great
food. There was plenty to eat and, of
course, because we were celebrating Bob, the desserts had to be amazing.
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| Mt Adams Birches |
The weather
was sunny and not terribly cold. Glen is
north of North Conway and Jackson on the eastern side of the White Mountains. Everyone had a broad range of choices for
winter activities, including cross country skiing, snow shoeing and
hiking. Of course, I also found some
time for photography. On Saturday Susan and I drove up Route 16 enjoying
incredible views of the mountains. I
hoped to hike in to capture images of winter waterfalls, but Glen Ellis Falls
was snowed in.
Tuckerman
Ravine Trail
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| Abby and Grayson |
We hiked up the Tuckerman Ravine Trail to see the Crystal Cascade, but the flow was largely
frozen over. The best part of the hike
was the social interactions. On the way up,
we ran into Abigail and Grayson as they were coming back from a much longer
hike to the base of the Ravine.
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| Frozen Crystal Cascade |
On the way down we saw Larry Davis. Larry is a Mount Monadnock legend, who is featured prominently
in our up-coming documentary on the Mountain.
He holds the
record for most consecutive days climbing Monadnock - 2,850 consecutive days
between 1990 and 2000. Recently, Larry moved to Gorham New Hampshire and has
now shifted his allegiances to the White Mountains, where he is a steward for
several miles of wilderness trails.
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| Abby and Grayson |
Larry Davis and Susan, Tuckerman Ravine Trail
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| Sunrise Light on Mt Washington |
Sunrise Light
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| Parish Light |
Sunday morning, I got out for a sunrise from the Mount Washington overlook
just north of the center of North Conway.
Although Washington was shrouded in fog, the light had a wonderful rosy hue
that reminded me of the magic quality of light in many Maxfield Parish
paintings. Later, we returned to Jackson,
famous for its cross-country skiing facilities.
We explored some old favorite locations such as Black Mountain, the
Christmas Farm Inn and Jackson’s “Honeymoon” Covered Bridge.
Honeymoon Bridge
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Ellis River Cascade : Jackson
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Sunday afternoon, we traveled across the Spectacular Kancamagus Highway. The weather varied from sunny to overcast and,
at the higher altitudes, the mountains were covered with clouds.
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| Jackson Barn |
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| Kancanagus Highway |
It was a great weekend, delicious food, wonderful scenery and good
company. I must thank Bob for his
advanced age that provided the excuse for this lovely gathering.
Jeff Newcomer
www.partridgebrookreflections.com
Tis the
season, and is always true of this time of year, I am overwhelmed. In addition to the last-minute holiday
orders, I am also trying to find time to get ready for my winter Lightroom CCClassic course. Lightroom is such an amazingly
capable course that it is always a challenge to cover all the essential
features of the program, and this year, as always, I must catch up with the new
tools that have been recently added. 
Last weekend
a group of our friends gathered in a house in Glen New Hampshire to celebrate Bob’s
70th birthday. Bob is not the
oldest member of our group, but he is DEFINITELY
older than me, at least for a little longer.
It seemed like a great excuse for a trip. 
Larry Davis and Susan, Tuckerman Ravine Trail
Honeymoon Bridge
The people involved with collecting material
for the time capsule requested that I submit a few prints and then assemble a much
larger collection of regional images to be recorded on a DVD. The survival of electronic media will be
questionable. The biggest issue is
whether people in 2070 will have equipment that can read a DVD, and translate
ancient JPG or Tiff file formats. 
We can
only hope that an old DVD player will be available somewhere on whatever
replaces eBay. DVD disks have a finite
life-span, but we will be using archival disks which are predicted to last for
decades, especially when left untouched.
We can only hope. Perhaps our
future viewers will learn most about the sadly inadequate technology of the
early 21st century. That is where the prints may be most important. 
Using
archival ink and acid free paper, the giclee prints should stand up reasonably
well in a dark box for 80 years or more.
I have old prints that have lasted for more than 150 years, but I will
only be able to squeeze a few prints in the small box.
How did I
choose which images to include in my collections? I was given broad discretion. I started with images from our region. I tried to think of what folks fifty years
from now might find interesting; identifiable locations and structures, events,
activities and occupations. Of course, I
am primarily a landscape photographer, images showing the natural attractions
of the region had to be shown. I can
only hope that, when the box is opened, the beauty will not seem part of a lost
era. 
For the
digital images, the task of selection was not difficult. I can fit several thousand medium sized JPGs
on a DVD. I used my standard web format,
with a maximum dimension of 950 pixels and file size around 400kb. The images are organized into separate files
for each season and include over 2000 pictures.
I was excited to be asked to contribute to the library time capsule. For a project such as this, the choices that
we make, teach us more about our own time and place.
I enjoyed the process of selecting images with future generations in mind,
and arriving at the best solutions for optimal archival storage was an
interesting challenge. Finally, given
the fragility of electronic media, I realize that, in fifty years, the contents
of the capsule may be the only existing substantial collection of my work. Now I must start on another time capsule to
preserve next year’s images.
On
Tuesday morning, with the temperature above freezing, I knew that the snow
would soon be falling from the branches. It wasn’t the most beautiful
storm, but I thought it would be a good opportunity to contrast winter
wonderland with the ordinary bare branch aftermath.
I
knew that I didn’t have much time, so I headed out toward Westmoreland among
the pastures that lie below Spofford Village. The snow was already
dropping, but I was able to capture a bit of the “wonderland” along Partridge
Brook. Further downstream, I used an old pasture bridge and snow bound
farm equipment as foregrounds. One of my favorite barns was also nearby.
I wanted to return to the locations later in the day, so I stomped rough
markers in to the snow and then headed home for breakfast.
I
was back just a couple of hours later. The winter wonderland was gone,
and I set about grabbing my comparison images. My views weren’t perfectly
matched, but I think the point was made. It is amazing how just a few
hours can change the feel of a scene.
