City Portraits

Wow... I'm a way overdue on blog posts!  Sorry folks.  The reality is that Facebook, Google+ and Instagram get the bulk of my attention these days.  Make sure you follow me on those social media channels!

Roaming around Boston with my guys this week, I loved making on the fly portraits of them.  All of these images where made with the Fuji X100s.

Motion

When I photograph a race, a goal is to try to get a strong photo of every competitor.  Strong for me means sharp focus with the person looking athletic against a great background.  Many times because of the logistics of the course layout,  you get one chance and if you miss it, you don't have a photo of that athlete.

At the recent Cranmore Hill Climb, the course layout provided several great opportunities to photograph nearly the whole field.  This allowed me to be a little more creative and as folks ran the home stretch to the finish, that meant making some panning shots and taking advantage of the wonders of motion blur.

I don't use this technique that often.  Honestly, it can be sort of elusive for me and, like I said, you hate to miss getting a usable image of a competitor.  But after a few test shots at Cranmore, I was getting pretty reliable results and I'm pretty happy with the images.  Best of all, the runners seem to love them!

It takes a few shots to dial in the settings when shooting motion blur.  Panning your lens is obviously a key element to these shots.  Twist your body towards the subject and pan your lens it moves by you. The key to the shot is definitely shutter speed.  Start at around 1/200 and tune it from there depending on the light and the look you're going for.  The slower the shutter speed, the more blur you'll create.  All of these images where made with at f/18 and shutter speeds between 1/15th and 1/40th.

The 54th Northeast Delta Dental Mt. Washington Road Race

7.6 miles in length.  An average grade of 12%.  Extended sections of the course have an 18% grade.   The last 50 yards steepens what is affectionately called "the wall" with a 22% grade. The Mt. Washington Road Race is a New England running tradition and a rite of passage for mountain runners everywhere.  I photographed the race for the fourth time last week and it's more fun and more remarkable every time.  The 2014 men's champion was Joe Gray.  After a string of strong showings, I was excited for Joe to take the win.  Last year's winner, Eric Blake was second with 2012 champ Sage Canaday, Zach Miller and Ryan Bak rounding out the top five.  Shannon Payne of Colorado took the women's race in her first try at Mt. Washington followed by Italian World Champion Valentina Belotti, stand out Brandy Erholtz, former US and World Champion Kasie Enman and NH favorite Denise Sandahl.  What a day!  Here are a few of my favorite images. 

Zach Miller and Ryan Bak

Sage Canaday

Eric Blake at the hair pin

Joe Gray

Joe Gray sees the win

Joe Gray breaks the tape

Joe Gray contemplates the hard work

Eric Blake

Ryan Bak

Justin Freeman, Nordic Olympian and top NH Men's finisher

Brandon Newbould

Kasie Enman

Shannon Payne, Women's Champion

Denise Sandahl, 5th woman overall and top NH women's finisher

Darrin Dia Blo

Ashley Krause of Western Mass Distance Project

Paul Bazanchuk, Central Mass Striders

Peter Maksimow and Simon Gutierrez of Team Colorado

Vintage Signs and Meeting Interesting People

One of the things I love about being a photographer is how it's a passport to meeting people.  Outside Jack's Diner in Albany, NY, I was approached by someone asking about the photo I was making.   It turns out he was a painter who restores painted signs on buildings and he was prepping to work on the American Glass lettering in this image.

Here's a photograph I made of the interior while I ate a great breakfast.

Photographs were made with a Fuji x100s.

A Memorial Day Story

Yesterday my kids and I visited Battleship Cove in Fall River, Massachusetts.  I hadn't heard about before until just recently and while I'm not a war/military buff, it was one of the more interesting exhibits I've ever visited.  I highly recommend a visit.  They have a battleship, destroyer, a submarine, a couple of helicopters and several PT boats that you have remarkable access and freedom to explore.

This morning as I sip coffee and look at photos, I keep rolling over in my mind how amazing the people are who served on these ships or in any war time effort.  This photo of the battleship USS Massachusetts exemplifies that for me.  I made the image on the lower starboard deck and was surrounded by eight 5" guns.  You can see two of those here.

Working with hundreds of crew to man these guns, sailing around the world to engage in battle and living on these ships and submarines is just unimaginable to me.  These people are true superheroes that deserve to be remembered and celebrated on Memorial Day.

Waiting for the Green

I love beech leaves. I found these in Freedom, NH when I stopped for a late day walk in the woods on my way home. It's not the spring flowers y'all are dying to see, but it's beautiful to me anyway. I made the photo with the Fuji x100s at 1/80th of a second and f/2.

Rainy Morning at Portland Harbor

From our hotel window, I could see the small sailboats chasing each other in the bay and knew it was windy. I had a photograph on my mind, so when we packed up to go home, I said I wanted to make a quick picture. I drove the block to this spot. I had seen these old pier pilings last year and the light was all wrong to make a photo. Jumping out in the rain with the x100s on the lightest tripod I own, I made a few quick frames. I remembered the camera's built in ND filter and with a push of a button, I had the slow shutter speed I was looking for. In my head, looking out the hotel window, this image was black and white all they way. It's funny how sometimes, the photograph just isn't what you thought it would be. I did a b/w version, but I was surprised that the luminance of the color version was the one that caught my eye.

Portland Harbor
Portland, Maine

Another Spring for this Chevy Special Deluxe

Emerging from the snowpack to see another spring is this rusted up old Chevy Special Deluxe. Somewhere near Gilead Maine.  The car has a sticker on the vent window from the Newport, Rhode Island Naval Base in 1955.   Imagine all the winding roads this car took in 60 years to go from Newport to this field in Gilead, Maine?  There's amazing story in there somewhere.

A Day on the Road and a Moment in Dixville Notch

Saturday I did something I really love to do. I drove 250 miles with absolutely no plan looking for what the world had to offer me. Randomly, I ended up in Dixville Notch, NH... home of the now closed Balsams Resort and the first place in the nation to vote in Presidential elections. It was still winter in the Notch with strong winds and heavy snow squalls, but there are always photos to be made!