Noone Falls and My Sad Camera Bag

Contoocook River Below Noone Falls

 YET Another Cautionary Tale, With a Bonus

Here is a quick cautionary tale. It seems that at least half of my blog articles follow a cautionary theme. I am perpetually telling you what not to do by recounting the disasters that have befallen

Noone Falls with Better Flow, Peterborough, NH

me when I did that exact same thing. Cameras falling into streams,  lens ground to dust in my bag, frozen batteries, following the wrong trail and missing the sunrise or lighting my camera bag on fire at my nieces wedding. I'd like to say that these were all wonderful learning opportunities, but there MUST be better ways to learn. Perhaps I should be reading some other photographer's disaster blogs. Certainly, I have learned important lessons from all these tragic experiences, but, life being the random experience that is, sometimes past lessons open fresh opportunities to screw up in wholly new and creative ways.


Noone Falls
Last week I was in Peterborough delivering a picture to a client.

Contoocook River Reservoir

While I was in the neighborhood, I decided to check out Noone Falls off of Rt 202 along the Contoocook River. The old mill falls drains the Contoocook River Reservoir across a broad drop, but on this day, the main falls were dry with the water all shunted through a slues-way along the side. Happily the flow was strong and the cascades below the falls were promising. I settled in to find the best views along the rough, over grown banks and here is where my hard won experience paid off. As I worked my way to the best spots, I had visions of my Macro lens flipping out of my camera bag and into the steam, similar to what had happened to me a couple of years ago. As I am a cagy and experienced photographer, I took off my bag and carefully placed it beyond danger on a safe and stable spot above the bank. The river here has lots of interesting rocks and eddies and the passing clouds allowed prolonged exposures to capture the soft beauty of the flow. As I worked my way upstream, I grabbed some nice shots and then quickly circled back to the car to head home. It was getting late and I wanted to have time to do my necessary tortures at the Keene YMCA, before we joined friends for a pot luck supper to celebrate Susan's ..... birthday.

Contoocook River Through the Shoot

As I got out of the car at the Y, I grabbed for my gym bag and suddenly realized that I would not be punishing myself on the weights that day. The "cagy, experienced photographer" had left his photo bag in its very secure location on the side of the Contoocook River 25 miles away. I took such great precautions to protect my bag that I had completely forgotten it. Horrified, I did a quick mental inventory; Macro Lens, Filters, extra battery ,memory cards, graduated and variable ND filters, somewhat ratty cable release, and of course one partially incinerated, but much beloved camera bag. There was no choice. I leaped back into the car and hurtled back to Peterborough, reassuring myself all the way that the chance of someone finding and absconding with my bag of random stuff was very low. But it didn't help to reduce my anxiety.



 

As I pulled into the parking lot and rushed toward the river I knew I had no right to expect a joyous reunion. It didn't help to realize that, if I lost everything, I would have the makings of yet another sadly cautionary blog article. Against all justice the bag was still there, looking a bit hurt, but none the worst for this trial separation. I could almost hear it complaining, "First you light me on fire and now you desert me by a raging river? Is there a message here?"

 






Undeserved Bonus
As I sheepishly returned to the car, fate struck one more surprising blow. Along the informal path I came across a beautiful collection of Lady Slippers. These were some of the most perfect examples I had ever seen and at the peak of their unsullied pink perfection. Surprisingly I didn't notice them earlier in the day when my attention was drawn to the cascades, but on the way back to the car after retrieving my bag, my head was bowed in shame, and there they were! I placed my bag safely on the ground (really!) and was lying on the grass in an instant. I grabbed multiple, progressively focused images to allow focus stacking when I got home.  The wind was light, so I was able to align the images and get good sharpness front to back.  I also found an interesting new angle on the river from downstream. The water was churning around a projection of the bank which split the flow. Later, in post, I gave the water a bit more bite by blending in a tone-mapped layer. I found that an opacity of only 18% was enough to add the sense of the energy that I saw in the cascade. Nice shots, but my self-loathing was only partially assuaged by the photographs.




So what is the lesson from my latest screw-up? It may be that I should keep better track of the equipment and not get distracted by the beauty of the location, but I prefer to think that it is the reminder of the value of returning to a spot for a fresh look. Even when the visits are just a couple of hours apart, a fresh eye,(or head orientation) can reveal surprising new opportunities. Perhaps my bag knew all along that there was more to see along the Contoocook. Oh, and I did remember to bring that bag home this time, but the poor thing was watching my every move with practiced skepticism.



Jeffrey Newcomer
Partridgebrookreflections.com

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Zooming in on Spring Leafscapes

Using a Telephoto Lens to Focus on the Spring Color

 

Having survived stick and waterfall seasons we are now firmly in leaf season. Mid to late spring is a time of infinitely varied curtains of green and it is one of my favorite times of the year.  Not only can we say goodbye to the last remnants of winter (I hope), but the colors in the trees rival the autumn for warmth and brilliance.  Too soon the leaves will settle into their deeper and more monotonous summer greens, but while it lasts I feel like a kid in a candy shop trying to capture the unique beauty of new beginnings.

Not the Grand View
So far this spring I have been concentrating on macro images of the early buds and flowers, but the colors of the spring leaves lend themselves to a broader canvas.   In the Spring and Autumn, when the emphasis is on the color of the foliage, photographers often capture expansive images of hillsides with vast splashes of color.  It is tempting to focus on the grand panoramas, but for me, these images are generally monotonously busy and without direction.  I prefer to move in on the detail, arranging leaves, trunks and sky into more intimate compositions.  I had great fun this early spring limiting myself to the world seen through my 100mm Macro lens, but for the spring foliage I decided to switch to my telephoto zoom generally restricting my view to the 300 - 400 mm range.

 


The Telephoto View

Long lens' change photographic vision in a number of ways.   I found that the massive hunk of glass hanging from my shoulder quickly altered the focus of my attention as I scanned for more distant subjects that I could pull into the viewfinder.  The long telephoto restricts the angle of view making it easier to isolate arrangements of leaves, tree trunks, branches and fauna into simple but powerful compositions.  It compresses distant layers of foliage creating interesting and complex combinations of differing flora.  At the same time, depending on aperture, the telephoto creates a narrow range of sharp focus allowing soft bokeh to simplify the image and draw attention to the main subject(s).


 


 
 I started by scanning across pastures to the distant forest edge looking for patterns. The variously colored leaves created lovely montages while in other areas the dark branches provided interesting contrast with the soft foliage. Once I started looking, the compositions were everywhere. Foreground elements also helped to provide interest and context to the images. Through the perspective flattening effect of the long lens fences, sheep, and horses were compressed into the scene linking the background with the foreground interest. The effect can be subtle but still provides an almost unstated sense of connection which is very calming.




A couple of days ago I awoke to find a gentle mist hanging on the trees.   I rushed out  to shoot before the fog melted away. The depth enhancing effect of the mist combined with the compression of the telephoto produced lovely contrasts.

Spring Mist

 



 The leaves are beginning to settle into their summer hues. Sadly, the soft spring colors seem as fleeting as autumn's garish display, while it lasts it is well worth zooming in on the show.
Jeffrey Newcomer
Partridgebrookreflections.com

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