Chocorua Christmas Light

Mt. Chocorua
Chocorua, NH

The Antidote to All Bad Things

Whether it's tough financial times, death of a loved one, divorce or watching the news report a horrible tragedy like what happened in Newtown this week.  The solution is all the same.  Refocus and invest in the good things in our lives.  Love your kids.  It will make you feel better and it's something we can do now to make a difference in everyone's lives.  My kids show me this every day.











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Retrolux!

SnapSeed, the fantastic photo editing software for iPhone, iPad and Android from NIK software and Google just released a great new tool in the latest upgrade. It's called Retrolux and introduces really great moods quickly. Check it out...

The original image of Mara below and two Retroluxed images that follow. Great stuff in about a two minutes of noodling with sliders!  Best of all, the app is free right now... go get it!

Summer in December

Last August, I day tripped over to the Upper Connecticut Valley to make pictures for possible inclusion in a Trail Runner Magazine feature on the area.  I was excited to hear that the story ran in the current issue and today I picked up a copy.  It made remember a fantastic day with perfect weather.  There is nothing I like better than wandering with a camera, looking for interesting things.  I covered a lot of ground that day filling a memory card and soaking up the regions best trails, coffee, micro-brews, chocolate chip cookies and back roads.

Thanks to the fine folks at Trail Runner for selecting my photos and giving me a reason to enjoy a late summer day exploring.  Super special thanks to Chad Denning and scoring the perfect location.  It was the first time we met and he couldn't have been more helpful.  Check out his Winter Wild race series if you're looking to get off the couch this winter. 

Michelle

Last month I did a fun senior portrait shoot with Michelle. It was a great fall afternoon for making pictures!

Window Light

The room was filled with every kind of lighting gear imaginable when I made both of these images, but both were created with natural window light. A great reminder that one of the best light sources is free and never has a technical glitch.


Leah Castellini at The SOPHA


Mara
Leominster, MA

Faith

Faith Mandravelis at The SOPHA

See Marco Run

In June, I had the good fortune to photograph Italian mountain running star Marco De Gasperi. He was in New Hampshire to compete in the Mt Washington Road Race and the Cranmore Hill Climb.


2012 Cranmore Hill Climb


2012 Mt Washington Road Race

A friend just shared this video featuring Marco and another of the greatest mountain runners of all time, Kilian Journet. The clip shows you not only what amazing athletes these guys are, but also tunes into what makes mountain running so exciting and beautiful. Check it out. Even with the Italian voice over, you'll get the point!

I Have a Confession to Make

I've been on vacation with my kids this week and it is entirely possible that I am now addicted to the phone app called Hipster.

It's a darn cool way to post photos to facebook and the templates look pretty swell to my eye. The geo-tagging is remarkably accurate and knows places I never would have guessed. I'm using it on iPhone, but it's available for Android as well.

Check it out...

The Appalachian Trail Hits the Street

The Applachian Trail is over 2100 miles long stretching from Georgia to Maine. Hanover, NH is one of it's most famous trail towns where the trail actually winds it's way through the town's streets and across the Dartmouth Campus.










Restock right on the trail at The Mountain Goat.

Mountain Runner Portrait Project #13: Glenn Randall

Mountain Runner Portrait Project #13: Glenn Randall
2012 Mt. Washington Road Race

Glenn Randall is a runner from Mesa, Colorado. He attended Dartmouth College where he was a stand out Cross Country skier and won an individual NCAA title in 2008. He also qualified for the NCAA Cross Country Running Championships that same year. In the spring, he turned heads with an early lead in the Boston Marathon. He placed fourth at Mt Washington this year and will be a member of the US Team that competes in the World Championships in Italy on September 2nd.

The color version of this portrait appeared in the September, 2012 edition of Trail Runner magazine accompanying an article by Alex Kurt. Like all those who are part of the Mountain Runner Portrait Project, I appreciate Glenn graciously letting me make this portrait.

See all the photos from this project as they're posted here

Sunday in the Park

Mountain Runner Portrait Project #12: Darrin Rees

Mountain Runner Portrait Project #12: Darrin Rees
2012 Cranmore Hill Climb

See all the photos from this project as they're posted here

Mountain Runner Portrait Project #11: Bob Tims

Mountain Runner Portrait Project #11: Bob Tims
2012 Mt Washington Road Race

Bob Tims doesn't have a running resume like many of the athletes in the Mountain Runner Portrait Project. He is a friend who lives in a small town in Maine and runs on his lunch hour. Bob likes cool music, is a good Dad and keeps bees in his spare time. I always enjoy seeing him and his family at the local pub.

A friend who had run the Mt Washington Road Race last year, encouraged him to try for a spot in the race's bib lottery. Bob got in and his friend didn't. He carried on solo to run the eight miles with a relentless 12% grade and 4650 feet of vertical gain, finishing in about 2 hours.

One of the reasons I love to photograph mountain races and started the MRPP was because the elite runners do things that are simply amazing to me. Bob's race is equally inspiring.

See all the images from the Mountain Runner Portrait Project here

Hometown by iPhone

I had occasion to spend several days in my hometown recently. I hadn't done that in a long time. It's funny how quickly it all became so comfortable and familiar again. It was a busy time and I never broke out my DSLR, but I did shoot frequently with my iPhone. Climb aboard for an iPhone tour of Northern New Hampshire.











Berlin,NH
iPhone 4s, SnapSeed

Chocorua Barn

Chocorua, NH

Mountain Runner Portrait Project #10: Dave Dunham

Mountain Runner Portrait Project #10: Dave Dunham
2012 Cranmore Hill Climb

According to his bio at USA Track & Field, "Dave has run over 95,000 miles in 16 countries and 48 states. He has been injured over 500 times. When injured he has been known to train up to 4 hours a day on a stationary bike!"

Dave has been to the World Mountain Running Championships seven times with several top U.S. Team finishes and a 2nd overall in 1993. He's also the first person to run in every town and city in his home state of Massachusetts and he's on a quest to get the highest point in every U.S. state.

How do we know all this? Dave is a meticulous record keeper of his own training and running accomplishments and he frequently crunches results on races and catalogs mountain running exploits across New England. For example, the results of the Mt Washington Road Race. Dave has competed on the mountain many times and has 3 wins on the tallest peak in the Northeast.

Dave had a big day today at the final race in the USATF-NE Mountain Goat series. He had a 2nd overall and top 40+ finish at the Mt Ascutney hill climb in Vermont. He also set a new 40+ PR of 31:04. There's a reason he has an alter ego action hero named Super Dave.

Mountain Runner Portrait Project #9: Jim Johnson

Mountain Runner Portrait Project #9: Jim Johnson
2012 Mt. Washington Road Race

Jim Johnson mentioned my Mountain Runner Portrait series in a facebook post today, so it seemed high time to unveil his MRP.

Jim is a recent transplant to the Mt. Washington Valley aka mountain runner heaven. He's a mild mannered software technical accounts guy by day and the rest of the time he's eating up trails in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. Last week Jim was the winner of the Loon Mountain Race in Lincoln, NH.

See all the photos from this project as they're posted here

Mountain Runner Portrait Project #8: Chris Dunn

Mountain Runner Portrait Project #8: Chris Dunn
2012 Loon Mountain Race & US Women's National Mountain Running Championship

I became aware of Chris Dunn early in 2011 at the second race I ever photographed... The mighty Sandwich Sidehiller Snowshoe Race in Sandwich, NH. I kept seeing all of these hats, gloves, shirts... you name it... with the Acidotic logo. The field was thick with the stuff and their slogan "Race Acidotic". I remember asking my friend and Race Director Paul Kirsch, "What's up with all this Acidotic stuff?" He pointed to Chris and said "That's Chris Dunn and he runs this team called Acidotic". It was an impressive display and a strong image.

Chris is an endurance athlete and owner of Acidotic Racing or aR for short. aR is an event management company and a multi-sport endurance racing team. "Normal" people who, as aR's website says, "dare mighty things" like long distance running, biking, snowshoeing, fell racing and other lung pounding pursuits. The gear projects a tough image and I wanted that for Chris' portrait as well, but don't be fooled. Like everyone I've met in the mountain running community, these are great people. aR not only runs great events, but uses them to help others too. At the Loon Mountain Race, you could get $5 off the same-day registration with a food donation for the NH Food Bank. The race also generated a donation to help victims of the recent Colorado wildfires, acknowledging the large contingent of runners in the race from that state.

Chris has always been quick to share my photos on facebook and offer a kind word about my images. I want to thank him for that support. It's great fun to make these images. aR's next event is Saturday in Allenstown, NH... The Bear Brook Marathon & Ultra. The race is 26.7 mile single loop trail race at Bear Brook State Park.

What is the Mountain Runner Portrait Project?
Photographing mountain and trail running races, I've met remarkable, inspiring athletes and fantastic people. I thought it might be fun to capture them standing still for a change. See all the photos from this ongoing project here. More portraits will be posted... stay tuned!

A Coke and a Canoe

Cornish, Maine

Mountain Runner Portrait Project #7: Ashley Arnold

Ashley Arnold
2012 Loon Mountain Race & US Women's National Mountain Running Championship

I made this portrait of Ashley Arnold last week at the finish of the Loon Mountain Race on the summit of Loon's North Peak in Lincoln, NH. Ashley is Associate Editor of Trail Runner Magazine and a competitive trail and ultramarathon runner from Carbondale, Colorado. Her accomplishments in the mountains are impressive including a 3rd place finish at the 2010 Leadville 100 Mile Ultramarathon, a win with her sister Cynthia in the 2011 TransRockies Run multi-day stage race and 8th this week at Loon in one of the most competitive women's mountain running fields ever assembled for the National Championship.

Ashley wrote the amazing article "Running for the Red, White and Blue" on the 2011 Women's US Mountain Running Championships that featured JVGR Photography images. She is also the mysterious headless subject of the black and white triptych image that is the the current Joe Viger Photography Facebook fan page cover photo. Those images were also made at the 2011 Mountain Running Championship race at Mt. Cranmore in Conway, NH.




See all the photos from this project as they're posted here...
http://www.joeviger.com/PersonalProjects/Mountain-Runners/23860535_jGz2VF

Mountain Runner Portrait Project #6: Heidi Chauvin

Heidi Chauvin
2012 Cranmore Hill Climb
Post Hill Climb acidotic RACING and recovery

Mountain Runner Portrait Project #5: Brandy Erholtz

Brandy Erholtz
2012 Mt. Washington Road Race

Brandy Erholtz is one of America's best Mountain Runners. She was named female mountain runner of the year in 2008 and 2009 by USA Track and Field. Brandy is a four-time member of the U.S. Mountain Running Team and has been the top American woman at the World Championships. Brandy was second at the Mt. Washington Road Race twice this year. She has won the race twice and placed second the last two years.

Brandy is also one of the players in my all time favorite racing image. I made the photo last year of Brandy showing amazing determination to win third at the National Championships at Mt. Cranmore and secure a spot on the 2011 US Team. More on that here... http://joeviger.blogspot.com/2011/07/hundreths-of-second-to-world.html.

Brandy will be back in New Hampshire this weekend trying to earn a spot on the 2012 US Mountain Running Team and a trip to the World Championships in Italy when she competes in the Loon Mountain Race. Have a great race Brandy!

See all the photos from this project as they're posted here...
http://www.joeviger.com/PersonalProjects/Mountain-Runners/23860535_jGz2VF

Mountain Runner Portrait Project #4: Kasie Enman

I met Kasie Enman at the start of the 2011 mountain running season after her winning run at the Northfield Mountain race. I thought it was so awesome how she seemed to easily move from elite athlete to mom in a matter of minutes. She was gracious enough to let me make this portrait.

2011 proved to be a huge year for Kasie as she went on to win the women's US Mountain Running Championship at the Cranmore Hill Climb. Then, in September, she competed with the US Team in Albania where she beat the international field to become the World Mountain Running Champion.

Kasie will be running in the 2012 US Mountain Running Championship and the only qualifier for the US Women's Mountain Running team this coming Sunday, July 8th at Loon Mountain in Lincoln, NH. Good luck Kasie!

See all the photos from this project as they're posted here...
http://www.joeviger.com/PersonalProjects/Mountain-Runners/23860535_jGz2VF

Happy 4th of July and an Indelible Ridge Line

A long time ago, I was wandering around the Portland Museum of Art (Maine, not Oregon) when I found my self in an upstairs gallery with what seemed like hundreds of works of art. I walked in to a large gallery space and, at first, I was stuck in the middle not knowing what to focus on.   Pieces hung on the wall three and four high. As my eye scanned the walls, I was drawn to a smallish painting hung about six feet off the ground and surrounded by many others.

It kills me that I can't remember the artist, but the title is significant... "View of Moriah from Gorham". To clarify, that's the Carter-Moriah Range as seen from Gorham, NH. The view was from what is today the Gorham Common. As a kid, my Uncle lived and owned businesses a block from there. I've spent a lot of time on Gorham Common and hiking the surrounding ridges. The shape of the ridge line is burned in to my mind and was the some sort of mental template that helped me unconsciously sort out all of those pieces of art.

The Gorham Common always was...and still is... 4th of July central for folks north of the notches with a carnival, parade and fireworks. Through no particular plan and even though we live an hour south, Gorham has become the place I take my kids to celebrate the 4th as well. This year, we were a day early and missed the parade, but the carnival was in full swing.

 When I look at these photos, there are lots of layers of meaning to them for me: photography-geekdom-artsy mumbo jumbo, a tribute to the 4th of July and small town America, sweet childhood memories and memorial to those not with us anymore.  And, of course, gratitude that I get to do this with my kids and a lot of love. I hope you enjoy the images near as much as I did making them.