The Conundrum of the Vacation Photographer

I just got back from a fabulous trip to Rio de Janeiro. My family and I had time to absorb the culture, and squeeze in almost all the things you're "supposed" to do while you're there, too. Of course, I brought my camera, my two favorite lenses (and, wishfully thinking, even my compact tripod).

But when you're whisking from one sight to another with your family, amongst throngs of tourists and their anti-social selfie sticks (grrr!), the last thing you want to be doing is checking every last angle for that perfect shot, and holding up the group to glean one more shot requiring complex manual camera settings. I feel guilty just getting my fair share, especially if the sun is beating down, my group is ready for lunch, or the crowds are maddening.

Cristo Redentor

To expedite my picture-taking and reduce frustration time, I made one crucial decision early on my trip and I stuck with it: Since the sky was going to be cloudless nearly every day, I didn't dawdle with many manual settings; I used Shutter Speed priority mode (set to 1/160th sec. or quicker) almost exclusively, and let the aperture open as it would. There would be enough light to get a super-fast, in-focus shot almost every time.

But, when I finally dive into Adobe Lightroom to check my hundreds of shots, I'm sure they won't be all I hoped they'd be. But, the justifications for sub-perfection are easily understood and provide me with some comfort:

1. The sun is at a crappy angle from mid-morning to mid-afternoon, when I would be taking all my shots, and a postcard-beauty photo would have to suffice. No tour guide is going to get me a special entry to Christ the Redeemer at sunrise for a magical golden-hour shot with no tourists around.

2. I didn't make my family wait around while I indulged in inventive shot-taking. Well, OK, I did. But just a couple times for a couple minutes.

3. I was there to have fun and experience a new culture. It's harder to do that from behind a viewfinder. And it's less fun than seeing something new while holding hands with your wife.

Ipanema Beach

Outdoor Art Show Success! (Mostly)

Well, it was a fun and interesting weekend in Gilford, New Hampshire, where I distributed my wares at the Gunstock Weekend Craft Village. There were about 25 vendors there, along with Segway-ers, hikers and tourists of varying levels of zaniness throwing themselves up and down mountains via slides and suspended cables.

If you were outside at all, you know that the weather was not the best. But it also wasn't the worst. Moisture was limited to a minor inconvenience, and there weren't any strong winds which might ruin peoples' tents and wares. I met some nice folks: customers, of course, but also vendors who had a few too many quiet minutes available due to the spare attendance. Many of them were very disappointed with the crowds. Perhaps I'll look back after a few shows and realize how lackluster it was, but…

My goal was to make my money back, plus a bit more, to justify the time and effort it takes to do such a show. Mission accomplished. Though I didn't get rich, I at least put a good chunk of change in my pocket, and moved some metal prints, which I had trouble with last time.

Lessons learned from my first outdoor show:

• Without doubt, the outdoor summer crowd is different from the indoor spring/fall crowd. Pretty is pretty, so I didn't move a completely different set of images, but I did move different media. The Summer people spent more on average, and were less interested in the very lowest-priced items.

• The tent worked perfectly, especially since I had practiced putting it up and taking it down a couple of times. I had a set of weight bags in place, but need to have my second weight set ready for more blustery days.

• Big magnets sell! I was pleasantly surprised that my new addition was well-received.

• Vacationers like to buy images of places they've recently been. It's not exactly my forte, but it certainly would pay off to have, in addition to my Hidden NH images, photos of spots that the customers had just hiked and visited.

• Metal prints get a lot more attention when they are set off the wall and people can see how thin they are. I did well by adding a 1 inch backer to my metals, though they were a bit wobbly in a breeze. I need to order all future metals with a backer already affixed.

• I need a bigger car or a cargo carrier. It's nice to have a sibling whose house serves as a base of operations for the Lakes region, but I need more universal solution so I can say "yes" to any nearby fair.

I feel great about meeting more people, learning more lessons, and doing better than breaking even. Let's see if I can get into a couple late-season/autumn shows in 2015. I hope to see you all there!

Brave New World (again)

I've been away from my blog for too long.

At least it's because I've been busy. I've been doing some freelancing and a lot (A LOT) of work on the Hidden New Hampshire Calendar for 2016. It's going to be awesome and full of nice touches. More on that later.

The other item that's clogging my workdays lately is getting ready for my second craft fair. And this will be my first time outdoors.

If you're in the area (or even if you're not), come visit Gunstock Resort in Gilford, NH this weekend from 10-4, for the Weekend Craft Village.

Free Admission! Music! Crafts! Mountains! Lakes! Weather!

My tent is purchased (a very nice EZ Up model that came with zippered sides included), supplies are restocked, and my metal prints have been given a one-inch foam backer to pop them off the walls. I'm very much looking forward to selling my stuff again. And I will be more so after I practice setting up my tent one more time in the backyard.

I only wish I my calendars were ready. Next year, I'll get them done a bit sooner, in time for the heavy craft fair season, which seems to kick off around Independence Day. But I do have a new item for this show - magnets! Let's see how they do.

I hope to see you there!

Do I like this photo?

I'm not sure exactly what it is about this image. Why do I keep coming back to it? Why am I still changing it? Is it even flawed? Yes, it is, but I can't seem to put my finger on the problem in order to fix it.

Obviously, when I took this photo back in 2010 during my trip to Amarante, Portugal, I saw something worth capturing. Something besides the town's interestingly-shaped cakes (careful). There was a lovely wall. The water was still and reflective. Nearby was the hustle of the city market and the solemnity of the town church, yet here was a solitary man doing some quiet fishing down by the river – the simple pastime of a normal man.

And I keep getting sucked into that stone stairway on the right side that I can't make sense of, even five years later. How are those steps part of the wall? Why does their orientation look backwards? Why does the reflection look more correct? Shouldn't reflections look wrong?

I saw this photo upside-down today, (this is a handy trick for evaluating one's own work with fresh eyes) and noticed something new: the converging lines on the right side of the photo caused by the stairs, shoreline, and tree. I added a little contrast to the area to make it more noticeable and liked how that looked, but it gave the photo a secondary focus away from the man.

And maybe that's the biggest issue with this photograph – there is no proper focal point. Not that you have to follow every photographer's rule each and every time, but you need a good reason to stray away from normal. So, rules be darned; I'm choosing to compound my eye-confusion by showing selective color only in the fisherman's reflection. Umm, does that make it better?

Or am I just reflecting my own disorientation? Am I fishing for answers in an upside-down world?!?
Heh.

I'll just keep blaming those crazy stairs.

What is it about bridges?

There is something rustic and romantic about old bridges. I don't need to wax overly poetic about such things, as I did in my last post, but i'll just say they make wonderful calendar covers. I'll fight the urge to put another one on next year's edition.

New Hampshire has a lot of covered bridges, too. Not as many as Pennsylvania. One thing New Hampshire does have, though, is the last remaining covered railroad bridge in America. It's known as Sulphite Bridge and can be found in Franklin. Built in the last years of the 19th century and used until 1973, it was damaged by arson in 1980. It's also known as the "Upside-Down Covered Bridge," since the main deck of the bridge was not used for transportation. Instead, the trusses were covered for protection and a railroad track was built on the roof!

Winnipesaukee River Trail Association

The bridge crosses the Winnipesaukee river where a thriving paper mill stood decades ago. Thanks to a successful rail trail conversion, the bridge and remnants of the mill can now be found near Trestle View Park, along the beautiful Winnipesaukee River Trail.

Because of the dense vegetation along the river, photo opportunities are a bit hard to come by. That is, unless you're a tiny bit crazy, and are willing to risk life and limb (or a wet shoe) by climbing down embankments to whack some bushes and balance on slippery rocks.

And, I couldn't think of anything more fun to do on a gorgeous afternoon.

The noblest pleasure…

…is the joy of understanding."
– Leonardo Da Vinci

Sometimes artists are robbed of their own joy. They are unable to experience their art the same way their audience and customers will. While it's true there is a distinct joy to the creation of that art, and the work of many other fellow artists to enjoy, one's own art becomes both too personal – and too foreign – to appreciate properly.

Creating art is a bit like singing a song that everyone but you can hear.

In my own artistic niche of finding special locations that comprise Hidden New Hampshire, I am lucky – I discover these places for myself first. On a recent trip to the Dartmouth/Lake Sunapee Region, I stumbled across yet another concealed gem that my state seems to have in abundant supply.

Driving with eyes wide open north on route 3A through Bristol, Bridgewater and Hebron on my way to a few potential calendar outlets, I noticed a sign for "Sculptured Rocks State Park." Huh? Another place I'd never heard of? I stopped at my next destination and looked it up on my phone. I found a few fascinating images, but not much else. Exploring seemed like a wise idea!

I was not disappointed. After a short side trip into Groton, I found big, magnificent boulders carved into odd and fascinating shapes by the Cockermouth River as it rushed into Newfound Lake. It was a beautiful and almost jaw-dropping discovery. I clambered over boulders, snuck under branches and carefully hopped across river stones to attempt to bring photographic justice to this place.

"Water is the driving force of all nature."
– Leonardo Da Vinci

I'm not sure I had as much fun as the pack of college grads who were jumping into the chilly water to cool off, but discovering another hidden treasure in my home state gave me exactly the kind of thrill I hope to bring to others with my calendars, prints and cards.

A better example of doing what I do

I scolded myself in an earlier post for not making the most of an opportunity when I should have.

I wanted to share a brief story of a more successful venture. Because it illustrates at least part of the life I imagine living in the near future. Certainly, my future plans will shift based on clients' needs, my success at craft fairs, and other things that the future tends not to reveal in detail.

Spring for photographers: the best of times, the worst of times.
Good: Flowers, sun, warm weather and those bright, shiny new leaves.
Really Good: Going on day trips with my wife to uncover beautiful spots throughout New Hampshire.
Bad: High, flat light from the sun for much of the day. Very early sunrises and very late sunsets. Rain.

No, I'm not going to get the best light for many of my photos, because I'm not going to wake up in the middle of the night, rouse my wife, travel some distance, then hope capture the golden light of sunrise (which might be clouded over anyway). I'm also not going to keep my wife out late, some distance from home, just to utilize the golden hour at sunset, either. Job one is visiting some locale which gets too little attention, to help celebrate this beautiful region. So I resign myself to compensating for that bright, flat light during post-production. If it means spending a very nice afternoon with my wife driving winding roads and seeing interesting things, I'm OK with that.

This time, I planned well, and we had a great afternoon.

The Old Carr bridge in Hillsboro

There are six stone bridges in the Monadnock Region of New Hampshire, some of which are still used for vehicular travel. This very handy website transformed a couple anecdotes that I'd heard into a feasible day trip. I carefully mapped a route that included a retail store I wanted to visit. When the afternoon was over, I had photographed all six stone bridges and may have added another home for my Hidden New Hampshire calendar (and other merchandise?) come Labor Day.

From all perspectives, it was a success. Spring is a great time to photograph streams and waterfalls because of the snowmelt, so I got some lovely and dramatic pictures, conducted some commerce, and had a nice time driving pretty roads with my wife.

Look for the stone bridges of western New Hampshire in the next Hidden New Hampshire calendar!