The
New England Photography Guild was organized in early 2011 as a group of
photographers who focus on celebrating the
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| Bearskin Neck |
beauty of our unique corner of the
country. Since being establish by Jeff Folger, Butch Lombardi and Liz
Mackney the Guild has grown to include 12 talented photographers from
throughout New England. It has been my honor to be member since 2012.
As stated in its initial blog article, Jeff Folger described the Guild
as, “a place where some of the best photographers I've met will have a small
gallery representing their work” to bring “all the incredibly beautiful areas
of scenic New England in one location”.
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| Rockport Sunrise |
The
Guild started as a gallery to show amazing images of New England, but over the
years its focus has broadened. Primarily through our regular blog
articles, we have expanded our role to include a celebration of many of the
region’s most beautiful locations, and as a source for information about
photographic techniques and vision.
The Meeting, Finally!
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| New Hampshire Photography Guild |
Recently
we gathered in Rockport Massachusetts for a long overdue assessment of the
on-going goals of our group. We hadn’t met in several years, and it
was exciting that eleven of our current 12 members were in attendance. It
was a long meeting, including catching up with new and old members (I am one of
the OLD members), chatting and comparing our various activities and of course
planning how to keep the Guild relevant in the rapidly evolving world of
digital photography.
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| Lobster Shack Door |
We
decided on a long list of tasks and goals, which might be worthy of a future article.
I was especially excited by plans to highlight the list of classes and
workshops that many of our members organize throughout the year. We came
away with a fresh sense of connection and purpose, and a commitment to stay
closer in touch with each other and our community.
In
all, it was a productive and enjoyable meeting, but the other attraction of the
weekend was the chance to revisit the Gloucester and classic New England fishing village of
Rockport.
Back to Rocky Neck
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| Grounded |
I grew up spending my summers on our family's little boat on Rocky Neck in Gloucester. I explored every corner of the harbor in my own eight foot dinghy with its ferocious 3 HP motor, and we spent weeks cruising the coast from Block Island to Acadia. I wasn't surprised to find that Rocky Neck showed signs of development, but, for me, it still held the charm of many years ago.
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| Low Tide on Rocky Neck |
Rockport
Rockport
harbor is tucked away in a far corner of Cape Ann on the northern Massachusetts
coast. Despite its relative isolation, Rockport still attracts tourists
to its artist studios and unique shops especially along famous Bearskin Neck.
Photographers are drawn to its well protected harbor, which is almost
entirely populated with working lobster boats. Unlike so many harbors on
the New England coast, Rockport has not become overrun by pleasure craft.
The waterfront provides many opportunities to capture scenes of lobster
boats, weathered shacks, lobster pots. colorful buoys and coils of rope. 
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| Motif #1 |
Of
course, Rockport is most famous for the iconic red lobster shack “Motif Number
One”. Every photographer who has ever lived must get the classic shot of
the motif. It would be trite if the damn place wasn’t so ironically
iconic! The goal is to find a few fresh angles on the shack, but a “fresh
angle” means that it has been captured by perhaps 1,000 previous photographers.
Of
course, I bagged my Motif from several perspectives. I included lobster
boats, pots and skiffs. I shot evening and dawn light and mixed in a
little tone mapping. That should last me for a few years.
Dinner
and a Thacher Island Dawn
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| Sunrise Line |
Our
Guild meeting was scheduled for 9:30 Sunday morning, so Susan and I headed down
on Saturday afternoon and stayed at the friendly Tuck Inn. Saturday night
we joined Guild Members Liz Mackney and Jonathan Steele (with his partner
Jules) for dinner at a local fish restaurant. The food was great and
Jonathan, Liz and I got to consult the Photographer’s Ephemeris for the best
place to catch the sunrise over Thacher Island. Susan and Jules seemed happy to entertained themselves.
Sunday
morning, I met Jonathan before dawn on the rocks opposite Thacher Island, with
its twin lighthouses. Right on cue, the sun rose between the two lights.
It was a beautiful calm and clear morning, sadly entirely too clear!
The hope is always to have enough clouds in the sky to light up with the
gold of the rising sun, but this morning we had to contend with the “terrible
clears”.  |
| Blue Hour Gold |
Dealing
with the Terrible Clears
I
tried many of the approaches to a dull clear sky. Before the sunrise I
took advantage of the “blue hour” with its additional shades of red and yellow.
I caught the first slight crescent of the sun as it rose above the
island. For most of my sun shots, I accentuated the star burst appearance
by stopping down on the aperture to f16-f22. Unfortunately, the small
apertures also increased the prominence of flare, which required correction in
post-processing.
Another
approach to an uninteresting sky is to eliminate most of it. In one shot
I zoomed in on the South Lighthouse, reducing the sky and showing the sunlight
shining through the light and the tower windows. In another image, I
pulled back to show the foreground rocks and the light scintillating across the
water.
I
always enjoy finding excuses to travel to our New England seacoast. On
this occasion I got the opportunity to capture images around one of the coasts
most iconic little harbors while also renewing connects with some of our
regions best landscape photographers. What could be better?
Jeffrey
Newcomer
