NEW CAMERA IV

Shrewsbury, Massachusetts    1 May 2012

Driving around on a wet and rainy day, and looking expressions of who we are as a people, as a culture is what I do.  My photographic life is so much easier by having a camera that doesn't mind a little water.

NEW CAMERA III

Boylston, Massachusetts  1 May 2012

For the past 10 years or more, I have driven by these two birch trees thinking that one day I should make an image of them.  Somewhere in the back of my mind is a similar image made by John Sexton, but of course, his was in black and white.  I love photographing on wet days because the colors are so intense, and since we've had so little rain this spring, I haven't been out and about much.  However, the weather pattern seems to have changed, and I have been itching put my new medium format digital camera to use.  Wet and calm days are perfect for this kind of image.  Good thing the new camera is waterproof.

NEW CAMERA II

Shrewsbury, Massachusett   1 May 2012

Homage to Eggleston  -- yes, I know his tricycle was big, shot from a low angle, the houses were distinctly in the background, and they were ranchers (as they say here in New England).  Of course, I couldn't make the same image as Eggleston, but his image quickly came to mind when I drove past this scene.  And while I have titled and tagged this image as being made with my new camera, it was, in fact, made with my Canon 5D2.

NEW CAMERA

Crystal Park, Worcester, MA 22 April 2012

It has not rained on a day I was free since I bought my new camera. This past Sunday was a day of steady rain, and oh how I love making images when everything is wet. I don't find it all that difficult to work under a big umbrella. As sweet as I may be, I will not melt, and the new camera is waterproof. I had a function to attend later in the day so I left the house about three hours early and just wandered towards my destination. Crystal Park is across Main Street from the main entrance to Clark University (where I teach photography). The basketball courts are towards to end away from the university and I have never driven the road across the back end of the park. I saw the bright orange of the backboard against the gray skies and the new green of the leafing-out trees. It was only when I investigated by walking up the incline towards the courts that I discover the brightly painted "floor." Wet, shiny, and reflective makes for great color images.

SOMETIMES A PICTURE NEEDS TO BE TAKEN

West Boylston, Massachusetts 4 April 2012

The weather people on the TV tells us we're experiencing a mild drought, but the illustration at US Drought Monitor web site says we're only abnormally dry. Interesting that the ground in my backyard is visually damp and wet to touch -- it's not dry. But what do I know?

Last Wednesday as I was leaving the Clark campus, the sky to the north was very dark. As I started up Interstate 190, I drove through a brief shower, hardly enough to require wipers. Rather than go home I decided to take a brief detour over to the reservoir where I could have a more open view of the clouds. As I got out of the truck with camera in hand, a slice of sun cut across the Old Stone Church -- the one remaining monument to where the town was once located before they built the reservoir. Hard to believe we only got a few scatter rain drops from these massive clouds. Thankfully I had the 28mm on the 5D2 that day, it seemed the perfect lens.

NEW ADVERTURES VIII

Dooms, Virginia 3 March 2012

NEW ADVENTURES VII

Browntown, Virginia 3 March 2012