A Vermont Minute. August 15, 2012
Posted by littlebangtheory in Art and Nature.Tags: Canon 2XTele-Extender III, Canon 400mm f/5.6L prime lens, copper flashing, Dover VT, farm pond, steeple, water lilies, weathervane, wildflowers
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Part of my time last weekend was spent toodling around southern Vermont in search of skies.
The skies never quite materialized despite forecasts and teaser clouds, and as the odometer churned, I wondered about the sanity of my venture.
I looked for rivers, and found none which beckoned. I looked for barns, and found none which called to me. I looked for wildflowers, but they’d all dried up in the preceding month of drought.
When at last I’d resigned myself to finding the route southward, a glint of gold caught my eye, passing over my shoulder, or rather I was passing under it’s watchful brow – the steeple of a town building in West Dover.
I turned the car around and parked, then took this shot with Gizmo and my 2X extender:
This steeple was fully clad in copper flashing and sporting a jaunty weather vane.
It troubled me only slightly that its directional letters were reversed from my point of view.
I got back into the car and resumed driving, but due to a lucky accident of parking I had to drive a little way up a side road to reverse direction.
And the driveway I chose to turn around in was flanked by a farm pond full of water lilies:
Ah, Serendipity, You Rock!
I threw Gizmo back on the box and got these shots before resuming the journey home.
Blooms beneath cat-tails:
…and closer view of a blossom:
And among the hundreds of beautiful magenta blooms, one contrarian:
It wasn’t the fraught skis I’d been hunting, but when the object of my desires failed to materialize I was pleased to have these shots to come home with.
The Prodigal Guy… December 20, 2010
Posted by littlebangtheory in Art and Nature.Tags: reflection, steeple, sunset, Turners Falls, verizon
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…returns, after several days without internet service (during which I rudely ignored your kind comments) followed by a couple of days away from home, and now heading into the happy maelstrom which is Christmas. Balls have been dropped, as I’m sure many more will be before we rest with our errands run and our bellies distended.
And then, of course, come The Resolutions and The Gym and the Long Night which is Winter in these parts.
But for now, a quick update:
We’re back on line, with two dead modems, a bone to pick with Verizon, and a butt-load of Cape Cod photos to process (from the “couple days away.”)
But the processing may take a little time, and there’s a total lunar eclipse tonight (weather permitting) and I’m trying to get some dinner made to gird my loins for a three AM foray into the night to see it, so I’m not promising too much tonight other than this pre-Cape-trip photo of a Turners Falls church reflected in Barton’s Cove at sunset:
I dug how the flaming clouds hung below the startlingly blue dome of the sky.
Anyway, I’m hoping to hoover some Mexican chicken and work on photos ’till 3am, and if I get something in presentable form before The Moon Thing happens I’ll post it.
Otherwise, this is “G’night!”
😉
The Other “Foliage Season.” April 18, 2010
Posted by littlebangtheory in Art and Nature.Tags: buds, catkins, foliage, Shelburne, Spring, steeple, swivelheads
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While tourists flock to The Berkshires to see “the Colors” in September and October, we locals get to enjoy a subtler “foliage season” in the Spring, uncrowded by swivelheads.
The steeple of a church in Shelburne rises above the buds, catkins and nascent leaves of our mixed-hardwood countryside:
This time of year, with its unsettled weather, seems somehow more appropriate to the character of “traditional” New England than the Disney-esque rainbows of Autumn.
Enjoy it while it lasts.
Ruby Tuesday: Rain In Two Venues. June 22, 2009
Posted by littlebangtheory in Ruby Tuesday!.Tags: daisies, fog, oosac Tunnel, Portsmouth, railroad tracks, steeple
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It just won’t stop raining. Day after day, for weeks it seems, brief glimpses of sun are smothered under dense clouds, buffetted by incessant winds, and unless one is possessed of impeccable technique and the fastest of lenses, photography comes to a grinding halt.
Enter the blessed variables of Piss Poor Judgment and Irrational Obsession, which conspire to send Yours Truely out into the maelstrom, MacIntosh flapping, umbrella inverted, with half a roll of paper towels jammed down my pants, looking for a reason to exhale slowly and depress the shutter.
This week’s meager gleanings include a shot of daisies dancing in the rain alongside a railroad siding by the Hoosac Tunnel:
If that looks scarcely ruby, trust me, there were red lights in there.
And later, a trip to the sea, hoping for some drama amidst the swirling mists. By the time the salt air filled my nostrils it was long past dark, and I took advantage of a break in the rain to capture this shot of a well-lit steeple in Portsmouth, NH:
I liked the way the fog rolled by, holding and releasing the shadows and light.
A bit more conspicuously Ruby, that one.
More on my trip East later; for now, thanks to Mary at Work of the Poet for this Ruby meme.
Some Recent Images December 27, 2007
Posted by littlebangtheory in Art and Nature.Tags: mid-day clouds, morning light, steeple
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It’s a gray and drizzly day here in Massachusetts, with temps hovering just below freezing. So I spent a while this morning going through the files and finding a few shots which I haven’t shared yet.
Here’s one of a recent morning in my valley:
A mid-day trip up to the hills, where low clouds rolled in to steal the rainbow from the landscape
And a peaceful evening coming on:
Hope you’re all having a fine day as we head toward the last weekend of the year!
Peace/Out
While You Lay Sleeping December 1, 2007
Posted by littlebangtheory in Art and Nature.Tags: steeple, sunrise
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In the pre-dawn hours, crossing over Windsor Mountain on the way to work.
I know, it’s redundant. Red skies, steeples. It’s what I saw. I’m sharing it. Shoot me.
Scenes From My Day November 30, 2007
Posted by littlebangtheory in Art and Nature.Tags: fog, owl, steeple, sunset
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Well, from my evening, actually.
It rained today, from mid-morning ’till mid-afternoon, then cleared a bit. The temperature dropped and a chill fog rose from the corn-stubble fields.
I headed up country through banks of thick clouds and breaks of pale blue sky, expecting there to be fresh snow and some visual drama.
The back roads were empty, almost.
The wind picked up as I approached Florida Summit, and low clouds began racing past.
I reached the snow up on the flanks of Spruce Hill just as the sun bade a pink farewell to the Berkshire hills.
Thank You, Mother Earth. Thank You, Father Sky.
Little Bang Theory 