2017 Retrospective 2

Portland Head and ram Island Lighhouses

Christmas Day 2017, Grayson, Abby and Susan

Visiting the photographic highlights of 2017 is lovely way to get through the cold dark months of winter.  It is also a ready source of blog material as I’m preoccupied with my current Introduction to Lightroom course and trying to prepare for this spring’s Introduction to digital Photography course, and the Spring Waterfall Workshop (tentatively scheduled for May 18-20).  With that necessary apology, here are five more adventures from 2017, a year made possible in no small part by my fully-function artificial left hip.

Porcupine Falls

Porcupine Falls

I thought I had the region thoroughly covered, and so it was exciting, and a little annoying, when, this year, I discovered a new waterfall to explore.

Porcupine Falls is part of the 355 acre John and Rosemarie Calhoun Family Forest in Gilsum New Hampshire.  The forest is now managed by the Monadnock Conservancy and is a peaceful woodland with a well maintained trail leading to the interesting chutes and cascades of Porcupine Falls.  

The site includes a sturdy wood bridge which spans White Brook just below the falls and above a lovely pool.  

Porcupine Falls is a beautiful and easily accessible addition to my growing list of my regions waterfalls.

Conservation Photography

California Brook Clean-Up

The Monadnock Conservancy is a strong local advocate for conservation.  As a land trust, the Conservancy “works with communities and landowners to conserve the natural resources, wild and working lands, rural character and scenic beauty of the Monadnock region”.  This year the conservancy staff and board ask me to give a presentation about conservation photography.  Sitting around my dining room table, we discussed how photography can help celebrate the special natural beauty of

Friedsam Town Forest 

our region and to illustrate the important the work that is done by the conservancy and other conservation organizations to protect these priceless resources for generations to come.  We also covered a broad range of their general questions about photographic techniques and best practices for the recording, storing, archiving, transmitting and printing of digital images.  This coming year I plan to dedicate my 2019 New England Reflections Calendar to support the work of the Monadnock Conservancy.

Shows

Prime Roast, Keene NH

“Show the Work” has always been my moto and goal to promote my photography, especially throughout my home region.  Again in 2017, I have taken every opportunity to display my photography in a range of venues, from galleries and windows along the street, to restaurant, cafes and the walls of local businesses.  Where-ever there is an open wall, my pictures have been visible.

Bellows Walpole Inn

Art in the Park

Showing the Work and then Some

• Bellows Walpole Inn
• Brewbaker’s Café
• Art in the Park
• Keene Art Walk
• Keene Family YMCA
• Syd’s Carpet and Snooze Room
• Prime Roast Café

Savings Bank of Walpole

In addition to periodic shows my work continues to be visible as permanent instillations in various businesses around town.  My favorite remains the SavingsBank of Walpole which has chosen to use my images to highlight their focus on the local community

Six Lighthouses of Portland

Portland Head Lighthouse

Portland Maine is famous for the magnificent Portland Head Lighthouse.  Built in upon the orders of President George Washington, it was completed in 1791 and is widely considered to be the most beautiful lighthouse on the Maine coast.    For me, Portland Head light is a must visit anytime I get to the area, but it is not the only lighthouse guarding Portland’s rocky coast.

Spring Point Ledge Light

There are five other lighthouses ranging from the isolated and abandoned Rear Range Tower of the Twin Lights, to little Bog Light at the head of the channel to Portland Harbor.

Bug Light

On a trip to the Maine coast this summer, I decided to spend an afternoon cruising the seven miles of coastline, south to north, visiting each of the six lighthouses.  Some like the Twin Lights are not easily approachable, but five of the six are still operational. It was a great exploration and all the details, including the and GPS locations are detailed in my New Hampshire Photography Guild article, and my Getting it Right in the Digital Camera supplemental blog.

Ram Island Light

Holiday Lights

Radio City Bulbs

The End of the year always provide the opportunity to rediscover the magical beauty of holiday lights.  This year I was called on to refocus my attention on the opportunities and challenges of night photography when I was asked to discuss these topics for the South Shore Camera Club in Quincy Massachusetts.  Given the time of year the group was particularly interested in the technical aspects of capturing holiday lighting.  It was a great excuse to get out and shoot, especially in late November, when I was visiting my son Jeremy in New York City, and had the chance to photograph the amazing illuminations.  

Central Square Keene

Closer to home, this year’s Christmas tree in Keene’s Central Square was one of the fullest in many years.  The tree was missing its peak, but otherwise I was able to capture a perfect “Winter Wonderland” image of the square.

• Photography of Holiday Lights
• Pictures of the Holidays

I’m having such a great time reviewing my 2017 highlights I will continue this self-indulgent exercise for at least one week longer.  There are more adventures to review and, of course, I haven’t even mentioned our amazing family trip to Italy!

Jeff Newcomer, NEPG

www.partridgebrookreflections.com
603-363-8338

2017 Autumn Gallery

Riverside Trail, Keene NH

Golden Wall, Newfane Vt

Given all the recent wind and rain, we have definitely drifted into stick season.  It is time to work my way through all the brilliant fall foliage pictures.  This year the task is sadly reduced, first because the foliage was spotty and dull, and secondly because I missed the first half of the season exploring the beauty of Italy. Again, it would be inappropriate for me to complain.  Our tour was fabulous, and I returned with plenty of “foreign” images to work through, but I did feel the need to get out as much as possible to catch the remaining autumn color of New England’s unique season.  Especially up north on Lake Como, near the Swiss border, we saw a smattering of color, but kept people asking whether the foliage in New England really was as spectacular as it appeared.  What could I Say: “Il fogliame è magico”.

Barn at Sunset, Walpole, NH

Deep Red, Spofford NH

Early November Color, Chesterfield NH

Sweet Harvest, Townsend, Vt

I got a quick start.  Just a day after my arduous thirty-hour trip home, I had to start my second annual Fall Foliage Workshop.  I had a great group of people, whose enthusiasm helped to jolt me out of my jet-lagged funk.  I have already shared some of the images from the workshop weekend, but here I wanted to hang a bunch of my other foliage pictures.  

River Red, Hinsdale NH

Hot Corner, Chesterfield, NH

Ashuelot Edge, Keene NH

Autumn Bale, Keene, NH

More Classes

October Harras, Chesterfield NH

Immediately after my workshop, I had to start preparing for my Introduction to Digital Photography course at Keene Community Education.  After so many times, you would think that the prep would be easier, but every year I try to improve and update the classes.  My first goal is always to find a way to simplify by eliminating some of my slide, but I always seem to add more.

Autumn Burst, Keene NH

Autumn Afternoon, Dummerston Vt.

Empire Bunch, Putney Vt.

Autumn Contrast, Chesterfield NH

It has become a annual tradition for me to use a blog article to splash a little color onto the our bleak November grays.  So here, without much fanfare or expostulation, is a few of my favorites for this year’s autumn gold.  It turned out that, if you looked hard enough the color was out there.

Thank you for looking with me.

Late Red, Spofford NH

October Crossing, Keene NH

Ashuelot Pool, Keene NH

Autumn Grass, Surry NH

Jeffrey Newcomer

wwwpartridgebrookreflections.com

2017 New England Reflections Calendar

2017 Calendar Cover & October

The Crush is On

May : Reflected Spire, Park Hill, Westmoreland NH

This has been my calendar week.  As usually I am a couple of weeks behind in getting my 2017 New England Reflections Calendar off to the printer and, this week,  I have finally accepted that all my other, "critically late", tasks must take a back seat to getting the material together for the 2017 edition.






 

A Good Cause

November : Mill Falls, Weston Vt

As always, all proceeds from the 2017 New England Reflections Calendar will support Pulmonary Rehabilitation patients at Cheshire Medical Center/Dartmouth Hitchcock Keene in need of financial assistance and fund their participation in Breathe New Hampshire.

Breathing Free - Costs Money

2004 Pulmonary Rehabilitation Team
Cheshire Medical Center, Keene NH

Pulmonary Rehabilitation helps individuals with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), emphysema, chronic bronchitis, asthma, pulmonary fibrosis and other chronic lung diseases.  Cheshire Medical Center/Dartmouth Hitchcock Keene provides a comprehensive outpatient program.  A multidisciplinary team tailors individualized education and exercise programs to help patients understand and cope with their disease and function with greater comfort and independence.

November 2016 Calendar

 Who Uses a Calendar Anymore?

I have been publishing the calendar for close to 15 years and I worry that today, with everyone depending on their smart phones, the interest in a wall calendar may be fading.  Perhaps I could come up with an alternative promotional device to gather the needed funds.  Coffee mugs, t-shirts or perhaps tote bags decorated with my images might work, but I wouldn’t be able to compete with Hew Hampshire Public Radio.  Besides, this time of year everyone I meet is asking, “When is the calendar coming out?”.  It has become part of my summer tradition and I realize that, at this point, I wouldn’t know how NOT to produce a New England Reflections Calendar.

March : Mist on the Hill, Dummerston Vt

So I have gone through the agony of picking my 12 pictures for next year, I’ve found banner images to compliment the large monthly photos and selected thumbnails to scatter through the empty date boxes.  I’ve decided on the important dates and holidays to include but, once again, “Belly Laugh Day” (January 24th) has failed to make the cut.  I have added the dates for the new and full moons and added the traditional names given to each full moon.  In 2017 the October full moon is closest to the Autumnal Equinox and therefore it is the "Harvest Moon".  September, which more often claims this honor, will have to be content with the "Corn Moon".

August : Morning Lamp, New Castle, NH
Always one image from the coast.

I used Microsoft Publisher to create the basic layout of the calendar.  I hate to surrender any part of the process, but in recent years I have come to appreciate that the refinements provided by a talented graphic designer and professional printing can provide a finished look to the final result.

The Nervous Time

November : Mill Falls, Weston Vt

This is an exciting and anxious time as I prepare to release my creation to the final processes of design and printing.   My work is largely done.  I have asked a number of folks to review the text for the inevitable errors and omissions.  The pictures have all been rendered in their appropriate sizes. Next week the calendar goes to the printers and then, in a couple of weeks, the hectic process of distribution will begin.  In the meantime, I’ll try to take advantage of the lull and catch up on some of my other overdue projects, including preparing for the upcoming "Art in the Park" and my fall educational programs.

July: Black-eyed Bee, Spofford NH

Old Saybrook Super Moon
My only chance to use a portrait oriented image.

In this article, I have included a few of the featured images from the 2017 New England Reflections Calendar.  Your feedback would be appreciated.  

 Of course the greatest help come when you support our pulmonary patients by buying lots of calendars!  Remember any errors in the calendar are NOT their fault.

A more complete collection of calendar images can be reviewed on my web site at:

Calendar2017 Gallery

Jeff Newcomer

partridgebrookreflections.com

603-363-8338