Capture the Person Along With the Pixels

Last summer I quite randomly noticed a sweet little waterfall hidden in the trees across a field in West Chesterfield, New Hampshire. I generally feel uncomfortable wandering into private property, but I had to check this out. The waterfall was a lovely surprise as it cascaded into Catsbane Brook, and I knew that this little treasure would be exciting to explore in various seasons. I came away happy with the images, but uneasy about using them, or publishing the specific location, without permission from the owner. A couple of weeks ago I delivered a different framed photograph to folks living in the house across the road from the field and was able to discover that the field belonged to the people who lived in the next house down the street. They told me that the owner did not mind visitors to the falls, so, after our Thanksgiving snowstorm, I decided to return.


I geared up with my snow pants and my waterproof  NEOS Overshoe Boots and trudged across the field. The waterfall was magical, with the cascades framed by snow encrusted trees. As it does in the winter, the late afternoon light was fading fast leaving a lovely blue tone. I was thrilled with the results and anxious to get home to work on the images, but then I got a bonus to complete the experience. As I followed my tracks back to the car, I noticed that the apparent owner of the property was down the road on a tractor moving snow away from his driveway. It was the perfect opportunity stop and chat. Rick could not have been more friendly. He reminded me that our kids had gone to school together and told me that he had bought the field expressly to protect the brook and waterfall from development. He generously invited me to come by anytime to photograph and I promised to send any pictures that came out well. 

The experience reminded me that, no matter how great the image, it is always more fulfilling when I drive away having met and chatted with the owner of whatever property I had been shooting. When I started getting serious about my photography I had a fear of approaching landowners, but years of happy experience have taught me that the vast majority of these folks are excited and flattered by my interest. It is amazing how many times people have invited me to come back any time to photograph and they will often suggest that I go to other parts of the property to get a nicer angle. It happens all the time and is one of the greatest joys of photography in New England.

Just a few examples.

Working the Scene

Sheridan and Monadnock

A few years ago I was photographing a horse in front of a barn in Jaffrey, New Hampshire. To get a better angle, I had crept a short
way down the driveway when an elderly woman came out of the house. I was certain that I was about to shooed away, but instead the lovely lady ask me if the horse was in a good location for my photograph. Our conversation included the history of the house and the name of the horse. It all ended with her using a carrot to lure Sheridan into the best position, aligning him with the barn and Mt Monadnock in the distance. I have since been back frequently for pictures and chats and to give my friend, and her charming sister, one of my favorite prints of this classic location.

 


Property Releases
Whenever I settle in to shoot a location, I try not to shoot and run, but consciously dawdle a bit in hopes of meeting the locals. I scan for people outside or peaking through a window to whom I can offer a friendly wave, but often there is no one in sight. Unless I hope to move more deeply into the property, I don't generally ring the doorbell, and that often leaves me with no information on the owner.  Sometimes that can be a problem. Several years ago I was photographing in the New Castle area along the coast of New Hampshire and caught an image of a classic house sitting on the edge of a lovely cove. A nice 'fine art" image, but when Red Lobster wanted to use the picture to decorate their restaurants, I suddenly needed to contact the owner. A property release is always necessary when I will be selling an image for commercial use. I told the design company to hold on the image, I made a matted print of the picture and went to knock on the door in New Castle. The owner was happy to get the print and to sign the release and he appreciated that I had the courtesy of asking permission. It turned out he had worked as a photographer in the past and understood the importance of releases. I was in business, but it is always easier when I get the chance to meet the landowners at the time of the shoot. Even if I don't get a formal release at the time, the contact information makes getting a permission much easier if I need it in the future.

Props
This autumn, I was shooting the foliage along the road to Guilford, Vermont. I found a lovely scene with a tractor in a field, backed by

Guilford Tractor

nice foliage. As I was shooting a farmer came by. He was there to take the tractor back to his farm.   I expected a quick dismissal, but instead he asked if the machine was blocking my picture. When I told him that the tractor was an essential feature, he agreed to fire it up and then sat still while I caught him on the seat with the smoke billowing from the stack. He didn't move on until I assured him that I had what I wanted. He headed down the road, but I caught up to introduce myself and get his email.  That night I sent a copy of the picture WE had produced.

Friends
The ideal situation is when initial contacts lead to long term

Roads End

relationships. One of my favorite local places to shoot is Roads End Farm in Chesterfield, New Hampshire. Tom is the owner and protector of this lovely horse farm which is home to over 60 horses and a summer riding camp for girls. Tom has been a friend for years and is always welcoming to my regular visits. On one occasion he happily pulled my car out of a snow bank with his tractor. For me it has been a unique opportunity to capture the farm and it's workings through all seasons. Tom has great respect for the land and despite difficult financial times he has remained dedicated to protecting his land from development. He knows that I would be happy to support him in any way I can and that my photographs are always available to promote his efforts.

Simple Rules, Should Be Obvious
Obviously be friendly, human and appreciative.

Seek, don't hide, from the opportunity get to know the landowners. Make sure they know how beautiful there property is and how lucky you feel they are to be there.

Don't wander deep into private property without permission. Be patient. A single violation may spoil the chance for a valuable long term relationship.

On call to capture the prize cow.
Stonewall Farm, Keene, NH

Give out your card and give back. A business card can establish your professional status, and a print or even a link to pictures on-line can do wonders for future interactions.  If a picture ends up in my calendar, I try to get a copy to the landowner. Of course it doesn't hurt that this often leads to more sales. 

 

Record your interactions. My memory being what it is, I always try to get all the contact information, including any personal details, into the image's meta data as soon as I get home. "Remembering" the name of the family cat can do wonders toward cementing a strong relationship.

And finally I will say again, don't fear interactions with landowners. In the vast majority of cases you will come away from the shoot not only with great images, but also with a burgeoning friendship that will open up future opportunities and provide a fuller appreciation of the location.


Jeffrey Newcomer
Partridgebrookreflections.com

Lightroom Map Module, Finding That Red Barn

 

Green River Bridge and Falls, Guilford, Vermont

There are just TOO many red barns in New England and not enough space in my aging brain to keep track of all of their locations. For that reason I have been forced to be compulsive about labeling my images with their GPS locations. Over the years, I've used a number of different techniques, but I'm happiest with my current approach which depends on the amazing power of the Lightroom Map Module.  If you don't have Lightroom or haven't used the Map Module to its full potential, consider this your wake-up call.

Past History 
 I started recording GPS coordinates using a separate GPS logger and special software to synchronize the images based on the time they were taken. It worked reasonably well, but added several, often time consuming, steps to my work-flow. A few years ago, while on a trip to Yellowstone and the Tetons, I misplaced my small logger and, of necessity, began using my iPhone to capture GPS labeled images in key locations. I would then manually add the coordinates to the metadata of the images taken in those spots. I just needed to remember to grab the iPhone picture in each location. All this was a bit complicated, but it worked, as long as I stayed rigorous in my work-flow.  Then I finally broke down and got Lightroom 5 and everything changed.

 I purchased Lightroom primarily to simplify the organization and accessibility of my hundreds of thousands of image files, but in a short time I found myself using it to streamline file uploading and to do the majority of my editing, finishing the process in Photoshop. Since Lightroom 4 the program has also included a nifty Map Module which makes it much more intuitive and easy to add and use GPS Coordinates in your images.  Here's how it works.

Finding Yourself
Upon return from a photo shoot I usually have a good idea about the locations of most of my images, especially when my shots are close to home. The Map Module portrays a Goggle Map in the display. It does require that the program has a connection to the internet to allow access to Google Maps, but then it is easy to click and drag groups of images to their known locations on the map.  Immediately the images are labeled with their coordinates and a small tag (or "Pin") appears on the map including the number of images placed in that location. Hovering the cursor over the tag reveals a thumbnail showing the top image from that spot and an arrow allows scrolling through all of the other images in the stack. I'm usually able to place tags for familiar locations within a couple of minutes. I can drag the map for nearby spots or use the search box to jump to more distant locations. I still use my iPhone images to fix less familiar locations, and I can find them on the map by typing the GPS Coordinates into the search box. I just need to remember to put the negative sign in front of the longitude coordinates to avoid ending up in Kyrgyzstan.  

Ancient Red Oak in Friedsam Forest

 

Randon Aside
Actually if you dig straight through the earth from New Hampshire you don't end up in Kyrgystan or, as tradition would suggest, China, but actually in the southern Indian Ocean north of the isolated French island of Kerguelen.  There!, you must admit that you have learned something from this post.













The Map Module provides a fun way to quickly see where you have traveled on your photography shoots and quickly preview the images taken in any area.

Pins marking nearly 60 thousands images in the Monadnock Region

Tracking

A Hike in Friedsam Town Forest

I have just begun experimenting with the use of GPS Logging to follow me on shoots. Lightroom allows the input of logging files (gpx format) which can then be synced to the images taken during that time frame. I use "myTracks", one of a number of simple, free GPS Logging Apps. The app regularly records locations into a file, which, after moving it to Evernote,

Forgotten Wall, Friedsam Forest

I am able to email to my desktop. For accuracy the camera's clock must be synchronized with the time on the iPhone. A few days ago I took a hike through a section of the Friedsam Town Forest in Chesterfield.  Most of the images here are from that hike.  I started the logger and then placed my iPhone in the top pocket of my backpack. Once home I was able to upload the track to Lightroom and the location of each photo was shown on a detailed track of my hike. It actually worked, but the logger is a hog on the iPhone battery, 90 minutes of use dropped power to about 20%.  For longer hikes I will bring a power backup unit, but in the car I can hook the iPhone to a power adapter. So far it seems that the logger will tick away even when I answer the phone or adjust my music.

Friedsam Town Forest, Chesterfield, NH  (pin # 8)

 

Putting the Data to Work


 

Spofford Lake & Harvey Pond

Once in Lightroom, the database of locations can be used in a number of helpful ways. If I'm trying to find the location of a particular image, all I need to do is click on it in the Map Module and it will be bring me right to the spot.  Within the Library Module, you can click on the small Pin Icon at the bottom of the any thumbnail and the map location will appear.  Alternatively, if I am looking for all the images around a certain location, I can click on "All Photographs" in the Library Module and then switch to the Map Module to bring up tags to all the labeled images in any area on the map.  

Map Location Icon



 Zooming the map out to include much of Cheshire County, you can see that I have taken more than just a few images in my home region, nearly 60,000. Tags with a pointer refer to a single location and rectangular tags indicate that more than one location is under

Harvey Pond with resolved locations

that spot. As I zoom in, these markers separate to the discreet locations. Another particularly nice function in the Map Module is the ability to produce customized "Locations" of photographs from a defined area. By drawing a circle around a region the program will pull all of the images from that area into a separate "Location" and will continue to add images to the collection as pictures are uploaded. 

"Location" including Cheshire County

 Defining a location makes it easy to jump to that spot and by clicking on a Map Location in the Library metadata filter, all the images within that circle can be selected for editing. 

Filtering for the Cheshire County Location

Red BarnSearch

Lightroom is a remarkably capable program with more features than I can sensibly be expected to understand, but much like Photoshop, it is a constant adventure finding new toys to help me manage and fulfill the potential of my images. And now I DO know where that red barn is.

The Red Barn, Windsor, Vermont

Julieanne Kost  of Adobe TV has an excellent video describing the features of the Lightroom Map Module. 


Jeffrey Newcomer
partridgebrookreflections.com