Requiem in Orange

 
I come, not to bury the Keene Pumpkin Festival, but to praise it.
(With apology to W. Shakespeare)


On April 2nd the Keene New Hampshire city counsel voted 13-1 to refuse to issue a permit for the 2015 Keene Pumpkin Festival. The future of the event, or something like it, is not clear, but the decision was not a surprise. The festival started as a relaxed community harvest gathering to celebrate the beauty of our New England autumn. Almost incidentally it also became a reason to amass the jack-o-lanterns that are the symbol of the season's signature event, Halloween. In recent years the festival, had become a costly and barely manageable mega event that, while drawing tens of thousands of participants from all over the country, had chased many of the locals to the safety and calm of their homes.



At the first festival, nearly 25 years ago, the community gathered a total of 600 Pumpkins and by the next year garnered their first "World Record" with only 1,628. It seemed like a lot at the time, but as, our harvest celebration morphed into the "Pumpkin Festival", the numbers and the people soared. In 2013 Keene claimed its ninth world record with 30,581 orange gourds. Last fall we fell a bit short with "only" 21,912 Pumpkins, but the 2014 festival will not be remembered for that number, but for the rampage of a few alcohol addled early post pubescent hoodlums whose mindless rioting appears, at least for the time being, to have killed the festival and provided Keene with

Campus Peace Before the Storm

a dose of undeserved negative notoriety. It is little appreciated that, when the violence of a few Keene State College students and other young visitors broke out, the Keene Police and and many regional emergency personal did a remarkable job containing the mayhem to a few streets around the campus. The rioters were not permitted to assault the actual Festival and thankfully, the thousands of families who were enjoying the pumpkins had no idea about the island of the chaos that was broiling just a few blocks away. No one was seriously hurt, the rioting was contained, and a few traffic signs were dislodged, but the serious damage had been done. The danger of a greater tragedy and the cost of maintaining security had become too high, making the city counsel's decision to pull the plug reasonable and responsible.


Over the years I have greatly enjoyed the Pumpkin Festivals. As a photographer it has provided a unique opportunity to capture a

Checking In

special part of the great beauty and the culture of our autumn season, but in the last few years I had come to believe that the event had gone WAY over the top and needed a substantial restructuring towards a more relaxed, community oriented celebration. Although it may be seen as traitorous, I found myself rooting for another city to grab the record with some obscenely large number of pumpkins. Perhaps one
hundred thousand would force us to throw in the towel and concentrate on celebrating all the varied aspects that make our

Pumpkin Run

New England fall so
special. The outrageous colors in the trees, the refreshing nip in the air and the wide range of harvest produce, even including pumpkins. I hate the fact that it may be that a bunch of brainless thugs forced us to make a change, but, in the end, it may be all for the good. Maybe we should thank them, but, please, don't raise a monument with a bronze statue of a kid heaving a beer bottle.

The Amazing Pumpkin Festival

Ok. That's enough about the last unfortunate year. My real intention is to celebrate a great run. For many years the Pumpkin Festival has been a defining piece of autumn in the Monadnock region and I have enjoyed it immensely. The challenge of collecting, carving and lighting the thousands of pumpkins has united our community and Susan and I have volunteered in various aspects of that effort. When our children were young (and here!) we helped them savagely gut and carve numerous sacrificial pumpkins. Before the crowds became overwhelming, it was great fun walking Keene's Main Street and watching the kids faces as they marveled at the rows and rows of glittering, candle lite faces, always searching for their own contributions to the show. It really was a multi-sensory event and, for me, the biggest treat was to experience our downtown smelling pungently like fresh pumpkin pie. In later years Susan and I volunteered primarily as Pumpkin lighters. On windy evenings we had to continuously light AND relight the gourds. One year, after a torrential rain storm, we had to empty each Pumpkin and the candles were so wet that I needed to walk along the street with a flaming blow-torch. My goal was to either lite the candles or cause the damn Pumpkins to burst into flames.






Getting the Shots

The Crowd
 

The Crowd

My Photographic approach to the festival evolved over time. The two primary subjects of the festivals were the mass of pumpkins
and the hordes of people, and timing was everything. Amongst the throngs it was difficult to get a sense of the numbers of pumpkins. In fact, at its busiest, the crowds were

Above the Crowd

packed so tightly that it was difficult to move, let alone step back for an unobstructed view. I could only hold my camera high above my head and pray that if I stopped for a moment I wouldn't be stampeded. On one occasion Susan arranged for me to go up several stories in a Cherry picker to get an elevated view of the fully engulfed Main Street. The packed crowds were truly amazing, but my primary interest was the Pumpkins and the people were most often only a annoying obstruction between me and the orange stuff.

Orange Everywhere 
I had various approaches to capturing the Pumpkins through the crowds. The first was to elevate. For long views, I would often look for a chair or bench which might be stable enough to stand on and then hold my camera above my head. I still would have to hope that, of the thousands who fired their totally futile flashes, none would do so as I hit the shutter.

 

The other approach was to get close, concentrating on individual pumpkins or small groups. The groups were especially dramatic when illuminated at night, but I had to keep a constant watch for people who might stumble over my tripod.








 

Festival Morning

For many years, my best approach to avoiding obstructing crowds was to go there when the people weren't around. I typically arrived on Central Square at 7 AM and wandered among the pumpkins largely by myself. It was the only time that the immense scale of the effort could be fully appreciated. Of course, in the early morning, I missed the twinkling candles, but the warm glow of the sunrise light provided its own special magic to the scene. The early morning was also the time to watch all the enthusiastic participants in the Great Pumpkin Run, triumphantly running, jogging and limping up and down Main Street.




And then, by 9am, I was able to escape well before the true craziness began.

As much as I have enjoyed the Pumpkin Festival over the years I recognize that change needs to come. I'm hoping that there will be a replacement that reflects the region in which I live. Many would like to see that include a return of the Pumpkin orgy. Perhaps, but there is so much more in the autumn season which speaks to the warmth and closeness of our community, and knowing how the Monadnock Region works together, I am fully confident that we can craft a fall celebration in the future that will reflect that wonderful feeling.

Check out my Pumpkin Festival Gallery on my web site.


Jeffrey Newcomer
Partridgebrookreflections.com

Photographing all of the New England Autumn

Keene Pumpkin Festival 2012, Disappearing Crowd, Long Exposure

 Don't Let the Leaves Get in the Way

Beginning in mid September through the early portions of November the New England climate goes through its most rapid transformation. It is our brief Mardi Gras before the long dark Lent of winter hibernation. The air becomes cool and crisp with cold nights often contrasting with surprising warm and sunny days still clinging to summer. The whole effect is to make us more aware and appreciative of our changing environment. New Englanders get

Forest Harvest

uncomfortable if the weather stays perfect for too long. It is the contrasts that keep us bright and energized. We are always excited about the first chilly nights that gives us an excuse to fire up the wood stove in the kitchen. For photographers, autumn in New England is a time of breathless pursuit of the spectacular colors that burn across our hills and valleys. It all goes so quickly that I find myself feeling guilty if I miss a moment of the amazing show, but the New England Autumn is about much more than the crazy brilliance of our trees. Visitors and natives alike miss most of the best features of the New England autumn by focusing only on the foliage. The season is also defined by the activities that are unique to our harvest time, the sounds and smells as well as the sites of this dramatic, fleeting time of climatic transition. Most of all, the fall is a time to enjoy the people of New England. We are often a quiet, guarded lot, but something about the nip in the air, and the impending winter, can bring out personal interactions that are, almost, cordial.

As photographers, it is our challenge to somehow capture all of this remarkable season into our visual medium. Let me suggest a few places to look for the a broader sense of the New England Autumn. 

Take a Hike

New Trail from Chesterfield to Keene, NH

First get out of your car and experience the trees on a personal level. You can even hung a Sugar Maple, if no one is looking. As the morning frosts sweep the pesky summer insects from the air, hikes in the forest become much more relaxed and enjoyable. It is the best time of the year to explore and photograph our trails. From within the forest the photographic perspective is much more about individual trees or small clusters, a viewpoint that I find much more interesting than when the color is smeared across broad hillsides. Also, the leaf covered trails provide strong compositional elements to draw the eye into the scenes. It is easy to find trail information and maps on the Internet or you can ask for suggestions at the ubiquitous local General Stores. If you are in my town of Chesterfield, New Hampshire, you can come to our Conservation Commission web site to the discover the mile of trails that we struggle to maintain. When you have finished your hike you will be ready for the next attraction, food. 

 Eat

Petes Stand, Walpole, NH

Autumn is also harvest time in New England and the many festivals, farmer's markets and road-side farm stands provide great photographic opportunities as well as wonderful produce. I often take advantage of overcast days to capture the varied colors and patterns found in the markets of our area. Soft diffused illumination allows the colors of the fruits and vegetables to shine through, without being washed away by bright reflected light. I look for interesting arrangements of produce to place in the foreground while guarding against distracting background elements. My fast macro lens is especially helpful to keep the background muted in a soft bokeh, while focusing in on the interesting detail. The attraction of farmer's markets is as much about the people as the produce. These folks are justifiably proud of what they have drawn from the earth and it shows in their faces. Some of my favorite market photographs are those that highlight the character and strength of local farmers. 




Maple Death

Nila's Pride

Dozens of Chutney Flavors

Harvest Festivals

Morning Glow, No People!

Of all the regional harvest festivals, none can compare to the Annual Pumpkin Festival in Keene, New Hampshire. The attraction of the Festival is not just the incredible number of lit pumpkins (29,381 last weekend), but it is all those Pumpkins in a perfectly classic New England setting. The combination makes our festival a uniquely wonderful
 harvest celebration. The crowds can be daunting, but there is nothing to compare with an entire New England Main Street smelling like Pumpkin Pie. To avoid the mobs I always go downtown early in

Scaffold at Dusk

 the morning. There is almost no one there between seven and eight AM and, although the candles are not lit, the Pumpkins are often illuminated by the warm morning sun. The best time to capture the massive
Central Square Pumpkin Scaffold is at dusk when there is still a hint of light to provide a deep blue background to the complimentary orange and gold. The trick is to avoid the crowd by getting your camera as high as it will go on the tripod, while monitoring the distracted multitude as they attempt to stumble over the tripod legs. The scaffold is impressive, but don't miss shots of individual Pumpkins or small groups. Given the mass of people in the evening, you could wait for hours to get a clear shot at an attractive composition, but the crowd can be reduced by taking long exposures making passersby magically disappear. 

As October draws to a close and the last leaves surrender to the inevitable, we photographers get to extend the season as we work our way through the piles of autumn images waiting to be processed. The color was good this year, but I find that it is the other attractions of harvest time in New England, the soft light, the rich smells and the wonderful people, that linger to warm the long dark winter.