An April Day of Winter

Often after a season ends I will do a retrospective blog article celebrating some of the best images of the season. As I think back on this last winter, I realized that, for me at least, it was a one day season, and that one day was in April.




A Christmas Stroll

My recollections of winter 2015-16 include walking about the village in shirt-sleeves on Christmas Day, and then various dustings of snow and variable periods of cold. I admit I was gloriously absent from New England in late January, for a two week tour throughout Costa Rica, but I don't believe the region suffered any major blizzards in my absence. Sadly, for this year, my usual collection of crystal brilliant winter scenes is largely empty.





Window on the Storm

 It isn't that we totally lacked frozen precipitation. This winter, weather records show that we had about two feet less snow than average, but that was only about 30% less than usual. The problem was that the snow came in scattered dustings that seldom accumulated to a depth which could be characterized as a photographic "Winter Wonderland". 
 




Roads End Wall

By early April I had abandoned hope and switched to Spring anticipation mode, but then on April 4th a storm blew through and gave me my one brief taste of winter. It was just for a few hours and by the end only about 3-4 inches had accumulated, but I was able to get out and grab a few precious images of my only real winter storm of the season.

　














Tree in the Storm

Knowing that the blowing precipitation would only last a short time I headed out to my favorite nearby locations. I cruised the high pastures along Route 63 as it passes through Chesterfield Village, and struggled through the brush to capture the lone border tree nearly lost in the blowing snow. I moved along the pasture's edge to include the leading line of the wire fence. Falling snow always offers opportunities to highlight depth such as in the image looking down the tree-lined path to the distant barn. And of course I had to swing by my favorite local farm, Roads End.

 





　





Pointillism Barn

I love the way differences in shutter speed can affect the feel of images of falling snow and have discussed the topic in a previous article. During this surprise April storm I had plenty of opportunities to sample the various moods of the falling snow. Images with a longer shutter highlighted the angry blowing streaks of snow, while shorter shutter speeds froze the flakes creating a softer feel suggesting the pointillism of Georges Seurat.



Spring Storm

　




Main Street Storm

I was only out for a couple of hours before the snow faded away, but it was amazing how many different impressions were possible with just a spin of the camera dial. And then it was over. The warm April sun dissolved the scant cover in a couple of days and, although I never captured my "Winter Wonderland" shot, I'm still happy that I salvaged this one day before the "winter that wasn't" melted to a merciful end.

　



Now the buds are beginning to pop and I'm ready for spring.



Woodpile Spring, Hubner Farm, Chesterfield, NH

Jeffrey Newcomer
partridgebrookreflections.com

October Therapy : Autumn Glory, Part 2

Will winter EVER come!

Tall Yellow, Dummerston, Vt

It seems like it was about this time last year that I complained about our snow less December and wondered whether we would be forced to look at barren stick all winter. Of course we then we proceeded to have one of the snowiest winter on record. Accordingly I am a bit reluctant to start whining once again, but I am running low on autumn images to process and a little snow would be nice. New England weather has a definite mind of its own and in the meantime I will share some of my favorite images from the glorious second half of October. 

Wind Vane, Chesterfield NH

This week it is my turn to produce another article for the New England Photography Guild blog and happily there are plenty of fall foliage pictures to go around. In my Guild article I collected ten of my favorite images from the entire season. It was an impossible task, to be so limited, but I don't have the same restrictions within my personal Getting it Right in the Digital Camera blog" and gush forth with even more of the great color from this year's season.

Holding On, Guilford NH

It is wonderful that, in retirement, I don't have to restrict my shoots to a few weekends and the brief snatches of color in the fleeting evening hours, but there are still demands which competed with my shooting. These included the preparation around my Digital Photography course, the assembly of a show at Brewbakers in Keene NH, work on a number of different projects including for the Savings Bank of Walpole and a office display for Deep Roots Massage in Keene and a number of special order fine art prints for the holidays. Over several days toward the end of the month we had a lovely trip to Newport RI and a visit with our son in New York City. The distractions were may, but fortunately the color and the weather was great and I got a reasonable dose of autumn therapy. 

River Mist, Connecticut River, Chesterfield NH

Pauchaug Brook, Northfield Ma.

The pictures here come from the second half of October, but are only a sampling and primarily from two day-long shoots. For more you can check out my NEPG Blog or my more expansive Autumn 2016 Gallery on my web site. It is all a bit overwhelming, don't worry, by the time you become thoroughly sick of the oranges and golds, everything will be blanketed in the crystal pure monotones of our glorious winter.


 Roads End Farm
I always run by my favorite farm, Roads End Farm in Chesterfield, New Hampshire for varied foliage and majestic horses:


 

 


 


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Neighbors to the East
A tour through Marlborough, Dublin and Jaffrey New Hampshire started overcast and ended sunny.  Both conditions offered unique opportunities. 

Sheridan Remembered, Jaffrey NH

 



















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Ok.  It's time to put autumn to rest.

Town Meeting, Groton, Mass.

Jeffrey Newcomer
Partridgebrookreflections.com

Autumn Album , September

Last Light, Ashuelot River Falls

 


November is here and although there is still some rusty gold color in the Oaks and Beeches, I'm settling into my usual late fall torpor. Through October I have been splashing selective examples of this year's color, but as always I have a pile of images to work through before I become distracted by the first snows. A quick review of my September and October archives shows that I have collected nearly 5000 images. Even at my usual ratio of 3-5 images per scene that leaves a lot of editing to do. 

 Matured Pasture

Many of the foliage images that I have published so far were those attached to specific blog articles and my traditional autumn postings have been reduced by two productive trips to the southern New England coast in the middle of the peak color. I'll eventually get back to the surf and lighthouses, but it is time that I got down to the serious and time consuming business of editing my "pile of leaves". There is a lot of work to be done, but, as a start, I will focus this week's blog on a collection of some of my favorite autumn images, beginning with the earliest signs of the season from September.









September's Promise  


As usual middle to late September provided signs of the coming autumn color. The images usually all about transitions with patches of color seen in range of light from brilliant sunshine a cool mists. September is also a time of living change with the arrival of the years produce and the livestock greedily gobbling up the last of the pasture greens.

 

 



Apple Picking

Abigail & Grayson, NOT Picking

We made our usual trips to the Green Mountain Orchards in Dummerston Vermont. The apple harvest was abundant this year, but our first two attempts were blocked by the arrival of impressive rain and thunderstorms. Our persistence was finally rewarded on our third trip with a beautiful warm sunny day, and the delay allowed us to convince our daughter Abigail and her boyfriend Grayson to join us in the picking. As usual we loaded up with more apples than we could possibly consume, but the nice folks at the orchard agree to sell my calendar in their farm store. Much of the harvest will be destined for the apple sauce that will get us through the winter.  

Perfect Macouns

Walker Farm Produce

Green Mountain Orchard Dummerston Vermont




My  Ugly but Delicious Macouns

We also had a good crop from my small collection of apple trees.  Since I don't spray, the apples weren't pretty, but underneath the skin they were excellent.  We had an especially abundant yield from my Macoun.  These apples seem to hold their taste and texture longer than many of my other varieties.








On the Farm 

The Roads End Farm is part of my photographic routine in every season. Early in September I circled by to capture some of their 60+ horses in the morning mist. This is quite possibly my favorite weather and two images from this shoot were recognized as Photo of the Day on the popular Photofocus Web Site.















 

Peek-A-Boo, Roads End Farm

In the Classroom

Field trip to Ashuelot River Park

A significant part of this September was devoted to preparing for my first full Digital Photography Course at Keene Community Education. Over the years I have presented many lectures on photography, but assembling a coherent and comprehensive program to fill eight hours of classroom time was a real challenge. Thank goodness I was able supplement my droning presentations with two shoots and the subsequent delicate critiques. It was great fun with a wonderful group of dedicated students. I plan to do more teaching in the coming year, especially since the slides for my Basic Digital Photography Course are safely "in the can".  I'm thinking of doing my next class of a Introduction to Lightroom for Photographers, just because I know so little about the subject.

River Park Falls

Ashuelot River Color

2015 Art in the Park

Among the various pleasant distractions of September was another lost weekend for the Art in the Park Show at the Ashuelot River Park in Keene New Hampshire.  This is the only time each year that I pull out my tent.  It is a lot of work but worth while to see all the local artists and art lovers.


 




Wandering About September
 



The course consumed an inordinate amount of time in September, but I did get out for occasional glimpses of the growing color. By the end of the month the autumn show was looking promising. The October color blitz was well on its way, and I'll be working on getting those images ready for their "close-up" in a couple of weeks.

Hubner Farmhouse

When it comes to displaying the imagery, autumn's abundance of visual  treasures can be frustrating.  More of this year's autumn images can be found in a Gallery on my Web site.



Jeffrey Newcomer
Partridgebrookreflections.com