Fall Foliage Weekend Workshop (finally)

 

I have always enjoyed teaching digital photography and especially sharing the unique photographic opportunities to be found in my special corner of New England.  This has included conventional courses such as a broad Introduction to Digital Photography as well as the many RAW photo editing features found in Adobe’s Lightroom.  I have also enjoyed exploring our region through a couple of annual photography workshops.  My weekend workshops have included an exploration of our peak fall foliage and the spring waterfall season.

Over the last many months Covid has made teaching difficult.  I have been able to hold conventional classes through Zoom, but it has not been as satisfying as when I could gauge the response of students in an actual classroom.  Over the last year and one half, the pandemic has prevented me from offering any of my in-person weekend workshops.  I couldn’t ask people to expose themselves to the virus around photographic locations and especially not in cars as we moved from place to place.  For me, it has been a prolonged period of frustration.  I have struggled with how to run workshops while maintaining an acceptable level of safety.  It is my hope now that, with the use of masking and social distancing along with the critical value of full vaccination, that an interactive workshop can be possible.

My plan is to offer my Fall Foliage Workshop on October 15^th – 17^th - as usual for the Weekend after the Columbus Day holiday,   With the strange weather this year, it is hard to predict autumn color, but in past years this has been a great time to go out leaf peeping in the Monadnock region and southern Vermont.  The schedule will be similar to previous workshops with a few modifications for safety.

First our group will be limited to no more than 8 participants and, for everyone’s safety, I will require that everyone be fully vaccinated. Friday evening will be devoted to getting to know each and to a discussion of key aspect of fall foliage photography.  During this session we will make plans for Saturday’s tour of the color based on the local conditions. This year, we will be gathering through Zoom, a safer option but, sadly, without the opportunity to enjoy my wonderful snacks.

Saturday morning, we will meet at a convenient location before heading out on our exploration.  Cars will be a challenge.  I plan to restrict each vehicle to no more than two occupants, masked and with open windows.  I will plan for locations that have room for several cars and for lunch we will look for a place with outdoor dining – weather permitting.

In previous years, the workshop participants have gathered at my house in the evening for pizza and a chance to review the days shots.  This year, I hope to collect your memory cards and critique your photos during another evening Zoom session. 

Sunday morning, we will head out again to visit more interesting locations and plan to finish up around noon.

I feel bad about all the bothersome precautions, but my goal is to provide the best fall foliage tour while doing all that is possible to assure a safe experience.  It should be great fun and a chance to celebrate our region’s most spectacular time of year.

Please let me know as soon as possible if you wish to attend the workshop, since the number of participants is limited.  This year the cost is reduced to only $195.

If you have questions or suggestions, you are welcome to give me a call at:
603-363-8338 (Home)
603-381-8393 (Cell)

Or email at:
jeffn49@myfairpoint.net

Jeff Newcomer, NEPG
www.partridgebrookreflections.com

More Catching Up / Autumn 2019

Dummerston Vermont

Newfane Vermont

It is amazing how quickly time and the seasons progress in New England.  When I last posted I covered our eventful September trip to Ireland. I returned with a mass of beautiful images requiring careful attention and an injured heart that demanded my dedication to an intense program of cardiac rehabilitation.  With help, I have been easing into more regular activity and, of course, that means photography.

Reading Vermont

  This year, our fall colors were full and seemed to extend longer than usual. Without asking permission of my rehab team, I decided that at least a few brief explorations of the autumn foliage would be therapeutic. I felt guilty about canceling my annual fall foliage weekend workshop and decided that, as an apology, I would get together with those who had already signed up for a friendly morning shoot to some of my favorite local foliage locations. My weekend workshops can be exhausting, but I had a great time with friends exploring one of our perfect autumn days.  We covered a surprisingly wide range of sites and, despite the fact that we didn’t get back until about 3PM, I required only a short nap to recover.     

Farm Pond, Reading Vermont

                       

Chesterfield NH

I have been doing better and was able to teach my Introduction to Digital Photography course in November, and I’m excited about a very full set of classes this spring. More about the schedule in my next blog.



The fall colors were great, and despite a general paucity of snow, the winter has provided the usual photographic opportunities, but my daughter has provided a miraculous distract of an entirely different kind.

Dublin NH

The "Bear Cub" 

Our first grandchild, Owen Emerson Bryant was born on October 6^th.  Despite his impressive name, the little “bear cub” came crashing into the world at only 5Lbs 13 Oz, but he has filled out nicely.  Obviously, he has filled us with an abundance of excitement and pride – especially Susan, who has for years been desperate for a grandchild.  It has been wonderful to follow Owen’s early development and watch our daughter transform into an amazing mother.  Of course, I must mention that our son-in-law Grayson has been an equally loving and dotting father.

It should be obvious what will be consuming my time, and my pixels, over the next few years, to perhaps several decades.  Abby and Grayson live a little less than 2 hours away and we will continue to search for any excuse visit our grandson.  You must agree that the harried parents deserve a night off, or perhaps a day or two.



I am sure I will continue to commune with the unique beauty of New England and, since Abby and Grayson don’t want their child to become fodder for Facebook’s media mill, I will be restricting my postings to mountains, trees and such. 

Mandatory Jenne Farm View, Reading Vermont

It will drive me crazy, but I promised to be good - at least until Owen graduates from Dartmouth!      


Jeff Newcomer
www.partridgebrookreflections.com        

Where have You Been ( Part One ) Ireland with a Stent

Morning Rainbnow over Doolin Ireland

Ha'penny Bridge Dublin Ireland

Those few of you who, over the years, have followed my photography blog know that up until late this summer I have slavishly maintained a once weekly schedule of postings.  Including my articles for the New England Photography Guild, that makes over 450 blogs covering all aspects of digital photography, withe a special focus on the Monadnock region and southern Vermont. 

Dunluce Castle, Northern Ireland

Then suddenly, I disappeared from view - one or two folks even noticed.  The purpose of this article is to explain why I have taken a prolong hiatus, how I have been, and what I have been doing over the last 3 months.

The story includes some exciting activities and news, as well as one significant bump in the road.  Although all of this provided major distractions from my blogging duties, I must admit that there was also a vast amount of personal laziness.  After years of work I felt I deserved a little vacation, and this turned out to be the perfect time.

The Special Green of Ireland

The story begins in late August, shortly after my last blog article.  Susan and I joined a group of 5 other friends for a 2-week tour of Ireland.  Prior to leaving, I was pressured by the fact that I had to set out my tent for Keene’s annual Art in the Park.  As always, the two-day festival was a great chance to meet friends and show my work, but this year was especially stressful since, two days later, I was on a plane to Ireland.  No time for a blog!

The Emerald Isle

County Galway Ireland

There can be no question that Ireland is overwhelmingly green.  Once out of the cities it is green on green, with fields broken only by the ubiquitous stone walls, and dotted with gatherings of sheep and cows.  Living in the Monadnock region of New Hampshire, I have become accustomed to rolling pastures, but Ireland’s lush green comes in rank on rank of neatly bounded meadows which often climb up precipitous hillsides.

Gregan's West, County Claire

Irish Heather, Wicklow Mt, Ireland

Our trip began with a couple of days exploring Dublin and its surroundings.  Dublin is a walkable city with lovely strolls along the River Liffey, a profusion of restaurants and pubs and, of course, Guinness wherever you look.  Our stay also included a side-trip south to the beautiful Wicklow Mountains, including the Dramatic Glendalough Valley where the ancient monastic settlement of St. Kevin's is located.  Many of the monastery's structures are nearly 1000 years old. 

St Kevin's Monastery, Glendalough

Arch Surf from Dunluce Castle

From Dublin, we all crowded into one Van, which was overly large for the narrow, stone-lined, country roads, but a bit cramped for seven adults.  We called her “The Beast”.  Heading to Northern Ireland, we skipped Belfast and concentrated on the rocky northern coast.  Along the way we toured sheer cliffs, castle ruins and quaint villages.

Rock Island Light, Inishmore Island Ireland

 For much of our trip we followed the Western side of the island along the Atlantic coast.  From Doolin, we cruised to the Aran Islands, which are crisscrossed with a dense maze of stonewalls, and features precipitous cliffs facing out to the North Atlantic.  We were having a great time taking in spectacular scenery with a group of close friends and then my tour was suddenly interrupted

A Green MI

During the evening of the 9^th day of the trip, while visiting Killarney, I developed some vague chest discomforts.  I responded in the usual way for a physician, I came up with alternative explanations for the symptoms, stomach acidity, chest wall strain, but the pains persisted.  I finally said to myself, “Ok moron, if a patient reported these complaints you would immediately send them to the hospital”.  We called an ambulance, and when the EKG showed a myocardial infarction, I was off for an exciting ride to Cork University Hospital. 

Blarney Castle Cork Ireland

I received great care and within minutes, my occluded vessel was opened with a stent.   The good news is that I have been doing well.  The bad new is that I missed four days of our trip, but since the airline wouldn’t let me fly until one week after my infarction, I gained back a couple of those days.

I continue to place images from our trip on my web site in the
 Ireland Gallery.

Tunnel Green County Claire

Over all, the trip was memorable for a variety of reasons.  I prefer to recall the spectacular scenery, the remarkably friendly Irish people, and the companionship and support of a group of close friends.  Upon returning home, I settled into my program of cardiac rehabilitation. Pacing myself,  I tried to get out for reasonably relaxed tours of the fall foliage, but, as you will see in my next article, my foliage was interrupted by another wonderful event. 

Owen Emerson Bryant

Jeffrey Newcomer
www.partridgebrookreflections.com
jkeffn49@myfairpoint.net

Fall and Winter Photography Classes

It’s time to talk about my upcoming fall and winter photography classes and workshops.  This year the planning has been affected by my very hectic and over booked summer, including various travels, getting our son moved into a new apartment in NYC and our daughter into her new house in Medford Mass (in anticipation of the October arrival of our first grandchild !!).  Also, I am preparing for the Annual Art in the Park which is coming up this weekend at the Ashuelot River Park in Keene. 

Finally, my I’m packing for and exciting trip touring Ireland with a group of dear friends and, since I will be away for a few weeks, I wanted to get the information out, before I left.  While away I hope to have at least spotty email to answer questions and get people on the lists. 

Again, I will be offering my Introduction to Digital Photography class this autumn along with my annual Fall Foliage Photography Weekend Workshop.  My Introduction to Adobe Lightroom Classic will be coming up in March, in hopes of avoiding the worst of the winter storms.   Here are some details

So, here is what is coming and please let me know if you have a comments or suggestions for future programs.

Hope to see you soon.

Introduction to Digital Photography

Sponsored by Keene Community Education

·         Date: Oct. 29 to Nov. 19, Tue.,

·         Time: 6-8pm (8 hrs.)

·         Location: Room 326 at KHS

Keene High School

My introductory class on digital photography has evolved over the years as I have tried to find better ways to inform and excite students about the amazing capabilities of digital cameras.  The course includes 4 two hour classes and two photo shoots. I cover a wide range of topics from understanding the differences in camera types, to image file formats, file management and archiving. Special emphasis is placed on exposure, composition and the use of different types of light.  All these topics are applied to the results of the photo shoots.  This class always fills very quickly, so sign up early at :

https://www.keenecommunityed.org/classes/digital-photography-intro/

Contact Email Erin White at ewhite@sau29.org  for more information

Introduction to Digital Photography, Online Syllabus

Sorry, for health reasons, I have to cancel this year's Foliage Workshop

Fall Foliage Workshop Weekend

October 18th – 20^th, 2019

Monadnock Region and Southern Vermont

This autumn, I will again be offering my Fall Foliage Weekend Workshop.   I will be following the same format that seemed to work well over the last several years.  Again, I picked the weekend after the Columbus Day weekend craziness.  It is an opportunity to see great color without the same crowds that typically congest our beautiful countryside.  Our base of operations will be around my dining room table in Spofford, NH.  I will host the participants at my home on Friday evening for snacks and a discussion about photography in general, and the specific opportunities and challenges of foliage photography.  It will also be time to plan the shooting for all day Saturday and Sunday morning.  

Saturday, we will head out early to explore as many different locations as possible.  My goal. Will be to place the group in beautiful locations and then help them get the most from the opportunities. Depending on the state of the color we may travel west to some of my favorite locations in southern Vermont, such as Guilford and the magic village of Green River, or we may explore the hills and farm around the Monadnock region and my own village of Chesterfield.

In the evening, we will return to the dining room table for an informal dinner of pizza and some gentle critiquing of the day’s shoot.

We will head out again Sunday morning for more of our exploration of color, and I will finally let people go around noon. I promise you will come away exhausted but thrilled with the experience.  I look forward to sharing my love for photography in this special time of year. 

The three-day program is $195, including the delicious snacks and an elegant pizza dinner.  Please get in touch soon, by email or phone, to assure your place in the workshop. If you are coming from outside of the area, I can send you a list of some the best local accomodations.

• 2018 Fall Foliage Workshop
• 2017 Fall Foliage Workshop
• 2016 Fall Foliage Workshop

jeffn49@myfairpoint.net

603-363-8338  

Introduction to Lightroom Classic – AND the Transition to Photoshop

Six Tuesday Evenings March 3^rd  through April 7^th, 2020

? Monadnock Imaging, Main Street Keene New Hampshire

For the last couple of years, Monadnock Imaging has provided facilities for my classes, but I haven’t been able to confirm that the store will still be available after their business transition.  The alternate site will be around my comfortable dining room table in Spofford.

I am a dedicated long-term user of Photoshop, but over the last few years I have become increasingly impressed with the power of Lightroom, in terms of both its image management tools and its sophisticated editing capabilities.  I still bring almost all my images into Photoshop for final tweaking, especially when complicated masking is required, but I now use Lightroom for 80-90% of my global editing.  Given its power and ease of use, for the majority of digital photography enthusiasts, Lightroom is likely all they will need to get started with image management and editing.

 During the last couple of years., I have offered a comprehensive introductory course covering all the essentials of Lightroom.  I run the class as a live demonstration.  Students are encouraged to work along on their own laptops, but a computer is not necessary to benefit from the material.   I’ve had a great time and, as is always true of teaching a course, I have learned a ton. Over the last couple of years Lightroom has evolved and grown, with increased capabilities, and I have worked to keep up with the changes.  

Recently Adobe has complicated our lives by splitting the Lightroom Program in two.  There are many good discussions of the differences between these very different programs, but simply speaking, the new Lightroom CC is an entirely new cloud-based program.  With a simpler interface, but significantly pared down capabilities.  It is designed for more casual photographers, and those who work primarily through a mobile interface.  For more serious photographers who store larger image archives locally on hard drives and who want to use the full features of the “old” Lightroom, the new program has no significant place. 

For me and most serious photographers, the “new” choice is called “Lightroom Classic”.  It sounds disconcertingly like the old “Coke Classic”, but Lightroom Classic is just the old Lightroom CC with all the amazing features and functions and a few new tricks.  This split seems to be designed to create a simpler path for mobile, and other smart phone photographers, without stripping the power of the “Classic” Lightroom program.  Adobe promises to keep up with innovation on both versions of Lightroom.  We will be watching.

If you, like many, are still confused, just know that the CC and Classic versions are both included among the options in the Adobe Photography Subscription Plan, and still for $9.99/month.  

My course will be covering the full power of the Lightroom Classic Program.

I initially thought that that four, two-hour classes would be enough to cover the program's many features, but because of my tendency to ramble and lots of great questions, I subsequently added a fifth class to cover the Slide Show, Book and Web Modules.

A Sixth Class

Lightroom is a great program which covers most organizing and editing needs of the majority of photography enthusiasts, but there are many aspects of fine tuning that can be performed best from within the scary confines of Photoshop.  My Lightroom students frequently ask, “When are you going to do a course on Photoshop?”.  The prospect of trying to organize a comprehensive course on this massive program scares me to death.  But perhaps an easier approach is to take a smaller bite of the pie.  Some time ago I added a fifth class to my Lightroom course and last year I added a sixth session.

In this additional session I focused on the transition from Lightroom to Photoshop.  Starting with pictures which have been optimally edited in Lightroom, I will again examine some of the important ways that Photoshop can refine those images using more precise selections, layers and compositing.  Consider it a chance to dangle your toes in the ocean of possibilities that is Photoshop, but for many who already own Photoshop as part of the Adobe Photography Plan, it can be an encouragement to take the plunge.

There will be. not five, but six, two-hour, evening sessions, and of course, snacks will be provided. The expanded course will be $225.  Please get in touch by phone or email as soon as possible to reserve your spot on the list.

Stay tuned for this coming spring’s offerings including the Spring Waterfall Weekend Workshop, my Introduction to Digital Photography Course.

Jeffrey Newcomer

www.partridgebrookreflections.com

jeffn49@myfairpoint.net

603-363-8338  

Photographing Our Autumn Oaks

As our autumn is fading, we are sadly saying goodbye to the brilliant reds and gold of the Sugar Maples and happily goodbye to the hordes of “peepers” who congest our roads and then leave without offering to rake a single leaf.  Things are getting quiet, but before we descend to full November stick season, there is still much late season color to enjoy.  The Maples are spectacular, but delicate and short-lived.  This year we seem to be enjoying an especially lovely late foliage season and, as always, it is coming primarily from the long-lasting beech and the sturdy Oaks.

Beach Forest

The beeches display bright orange and gold. Over time the leaves mature to a rich brown, but when the Maple leaves are largely on the ground, the Beech are just reaching their peak.

I have previously sung the praises of the “Underappreciate Beech”, so this seems a good time to celebrate the wide variety of New England Oaks.  Oaks come in a wide variety, from low lying shrubs to majestic giants. 

Champion Red Oak

In Chesterfield’s Friedsam Town Forest we are blessed with the county champion Red Oak, nearly 100 feet tall and estimated to be over 300 years old.  Other varieties of Oaks include the White,  Pin, Black and the Swamp Oaks.  Their leaves vary widely in shape and in autumn color.  Oaks can have bright russet foliage, but they are known predominantly for earthy browns and rusty tones.  

Stickney Falls Autumn

Black Mountain Oak

All autumn colors become apparent only after the green of Chlorophyll has faded.  Maple leaves get their yellows from Carotene while their reds and oranges come from anthcyanins.  For Oaks, the distinctive brown color comes from Tannins.  Actually, Tannins cause the brown color that most leaves, including Maples, display after they have settled into the forest floor.

Over the last days I have been out looking for autumn Oaks and I have come to freshly appreciate the variety of photographic opportunities that they provide. 

The range of color in the leaves makes for attractive intimate tableaus especially when something of interest can be placed in the background. 

Frozen Floor

Whether frosted, frozen or lying in the grass, fallen Oak leaves can portray a sense of autumn’s end.

Because autumn Oak leaves tend to reach their color after most other leaves have fallen, their arrangements tend to stand out in greater relief, creating clearer patterns than are apparent in the masses of early foliage

A few years ago, I included Oak leaves in my back-lite Macro leafstudies.  The results showed the variety of shapes and the delicate quality of the “mighty” Oak leaves.

Of course, I still miss the amazing colors of that split-second of peak foliage, but there is much to enjoy in autumn’s prolonged mellow tail.  So, get out there and capture all the beauty that our Beeches and Oaks have to offer, before stick season fully descends.

Jeff Newcomer, NEPG
www.partridgebrookreflections.com