Waiting for the Next Premier

Never let it be said that bar talk is idle and unproductive. I was enjoying a killer piece of rare tuna at the completely awesome Krista's when I overheard that a young guy had bought "the theater in Porter and was going to work on re-opening it". I never even knew that the little village of Kezar Falls/Porter had a movie theater, but I was intrigued. If you follow this blog, you know I like to photograph local things, off beat things... old things. I immediately thought "I want to make photographs in that place before they clean it up". So, I got involved in the conversation and before long RJ did what all good bartenders do... he hooked me up.

I met Silas Hagerty for the first time when he drove up to meet me in front of his very own movie theater. Formerly called The Playhouse Theater, and a host of other names, the building in the village of Kezar Falls was most recently a discount store. It hasn't shown a movie in years.



Silas was leaving for the Philippines in the morning but agreed to meet me and was generous with his time, showing me around his new purchase. I've driven by this building many times and never knew that behind the asphalt shingle siding shell is a pearl of American culture.



Silas is a movie maker himself with Smooth Feather Productions and his enthusiasm for this place is inspiring and contagious. He told me about wanting to use the building as a studio and a place to teach. He talked about wanting to show movies for the community again. As Silas handed me the keys and told me how to get them back to him, I was still trying to mentally piece together everything he had shown me in this non-descript building across the street from my dentist's office. I lost all sense of time and stayed in the building making photographs for almost four hours on this warm night. This is an amazing place that can offer so much to this small town. Good luck Silas!


This wallet was found in the theater. It belonged to a 17 year old local boy who apparently still lives in town.














These projectors still work and according to Silas can run modern releases with minor modifications.

Dirty Frank's Hot Dog Palace... The Name Says it All

It's been a while since I blogged on a favorite local joint and a post on Dirty Frank's Hot Dog Palace is long overdue! I get to Columbus, Ohio several times a year and inevitably, I ended up here sampling a tasty hot dog and enjoying friendly company. This time around, I was late getting in to town because of a delayed flight and still hadn't eaten dinner. Dirty Frank's seemed the perfect answer.

Located downtown where there isn't a whole lot else going on at 9:30 at night, Dirty Franks is always full of folks enjoying over 30 different hot dogs, including tofu dogs or brats for those who roll that way. I'm partial to the Whoa Nellie dog with brisket and bbq sauce as well as the Beano (think a hot dog gone loco, taco style with refried beans). Tonight Chili Dogs got the call. My favorite dog on the menu? Probably one I'll never order... The Glenn Beck... aptly described "just a plain, old wiener"

Dirty Frank's is more than a hot dog joint. It's a cultural experience with ONLY local music on the stereo and stylized artwork painted by the owner's brother on the walls. Apparently the artist's cultural references are the same as mine with paintings of athletes from the late 1970's and heavy metal stars of the 80's. Check it out... it's a great local place!

Hundreths of a Second to the World Championship

I love pouring over images from the running races I photograph. Things often happen fast and you can shoot 1,000 or more images during a race. You don't always realize the stories you are capturing until you piece the information together.

At last week's US Mountain Running Championship in North Conway, NH, the top spots were won by fairly large margins. In the women's race, Kasie Enman of Huntington, Vermont took first place by almost two minutes over Longmont, Colorado's Michelle Suszek. For a photographer, that mean's capturing the finishers at a pretty leisurely pace.

A minute after Suszek crossed the line, I could see Brandy Erholtz leading Megan Lund and Amber Moran as they pounded down the final pitch of the Cranmore Mountain course and on to the flat that approached the finish. It looked like Megan had a chance to catch Brandy, but she had some confusion on the most direct line to the finish and had to course correct in the final 100 yards. Things were getting interesting fast.



Brandy dug in and left everything she had on the final flat. In three steps, she opens a lead on Lund and Moran. Body language tells the story. Megan is throwing herself forward in a final effort to catch Brandy.



Megan's effort is strong, but by now Brandy is crossing the line. Erholtz takes third place and secures a spot on the US National Mountain Running Team. You can't help but wonder how Lund's error impacted her ability to pull together the mental strength to catch Erholtz.



Megan Lund takes fourth place and the last spot on the National Mountain Running team. Amber Moran of Skyline, North Carolina crosses the line fifth and realizes she's just missed the National team. Only the top four women go to Albania in September to compete in the World Mountain Running Championship.



An amazing finish by unbelievable athletes. Looking at the results, you see how close it was with the reward of going to Worlds at stake.

3rd Place 0:35:12 Brandy Erholtz Evergreen, CO Team New Balance
4th Place 0:35:13 Megan Lund Basalt, CO Team Montrail
5th Place 0:35:14 Amber Moran Skyland, NC Team Inov8

Despite the hard finish, the athlete's mutual respect is evident after the race with hugs and smiles all around. Congratulations to all three runners for an amazing race. See all of my photos from the US Mountain Running Championship Cranmore Hillclimb at www.joeviger.com.

Franconia Ridge View Photo Critique

A special thank you to Jerry Monkman for featuring my photo Franconia Ridge View in his new monthly photo critique. Take a look at the critique posted to his blog today. Jerry's kind words and constructive thoughts are most appreciated.

If you aren't familiar with the Monkman's work, you really should be. Based in Portsmouth, Jerry and Marcy Monkman are two of New England's best photographers capturing images of nature and adventure with a special focus on promoting conservation. They have penned seven great books and I'm excited to be getting a free a copy of "The Photographer's Guide to Acadia National Park" for having my photo featured.

Close to home here in Freedom, NH, Jerry and Marcy's images were used to assist in promoting the conservation of the Town's Trout Pond Property. If you are ever in Jackson or Gorham, you can admire their work in person at The White Mountain Cafe.


Sugar Hill, NH

Sugar Hill Lupines

Lupines grow wild along many New Hampshire road sides and Sugar Hill is ground zero for the spring explosion of these spiky blue, purple, pink and white flowers. The area hosts a festival each year featuring the peak bloom of these beautiful wildflowers in fields framed by New England architecture and the Franconia Ridge.

Weeks ago my friend Jeff Sinon and I had planned a photography outing for this past Saturday. As is typical we were still finalizing the plan as we got in the car. Sugar Hill kept coming back into the conversation and by mid afternoon we were waist deep in Lupine fields.

Inspiration, Influences and Instinct

There's a saying I hear a lot... "If you want to be a better photographer, study the work of great photographers". Turns out this is a minor obsession of mine. I spend way too much time looking at photography websites. Browsing books and magazines pondering what makes a photo great and what the photographer was thinking. But I've often wondered if it really matters. How do you incorporate all of that into what you are trying to express with the camera? How does it not become completely derivative?

This past weekend I photographed the first race of the 2011 USATF New England Mountain Running Circuit at Northfield Mountain, Massachusetts. On this course, I'd have only two chances to shoot the field... once on the way up the mountain and once on the way back down. Where you choose to shoot from is always a calculated risk, especially if you haven't taken photos on the course before. Once the race started, I quickly realized I was in the wrong place. The runners were still too close together coming out of the start making it difficult to isolate runners into clean compositions. Because of the tight pack, this round of shooting was over in literally a few minutes.

Trying to adjust to a better position, I did make the image below and while it isn't technically the best of the several hundred frames I shot that day, I liked it. To me, it showed movement and how the pack advances as one. The trees in the background were compelling and, along with the curve shape in the pack of runners, they gave the image depth.



Hand in hand with contemplating the work of other photographers, I also contemplate my own and something about this image made me particularly thoughtful. Why do I like it better than any other image I made during the first leg of the race? Why did I take it? Was it as simple as this was all I could capture in the mad scramble? I started the race shooting tighter. Why did I pull out to a wide angle and shoot the pack from the side?

Then I had a thought and went to the Internet to find an image I've admired many, many times by the legendary Paul Caponigro. Paul is the father of noted contemporary digital artist John Paul Caponigro. The elder Caponigro made this image called Running White Deer in 1967. He was in County Wicklow, Ireland on a private estate to photograph a rare herd of white deer. As they fled, he made one image and this was the result. Below Caponigro's image, I've posted a black and white version of my shot from the race.





Let me say clearly that I'm not directly comparing the fine art made by Caponigro to my race grab. But there are interesting similarities that I'm not sure are coincidental. Who would have thought fine art photography could influence sports shooting? Maybe this explains why I chose this shot when I needed a fall back plan to my poorly chosen shooting location. Maybe the pack of runners connected with some iconic component of Caponigro's image that I carry around in my head. Maybe not. But I'm going to keep my habit of tucking my kids in to bed and then passing the evening browsing websites of important photographers. It's more interesting than television and maybe something rubs off.

Salton Sea Horizon

Red Hill
Salton Sea, California