Waterfall Workshop in the White Mountains
June 9th, 2012
In conjunction with The Buttonwood Inn, I will be teaching a half-day long waterfall photography workshop. It will start at the Buttonwood Inn for an early breakfast. Then right out to a nearby waterfall for a jam packed morning of making photographs and learning how to make better ones. For more information and reservations call Paula at The Buttonwood Inn, 603-356-2625. The food is fantastic, once we finish shooting we head back to the Buttonwood Inn and have a late lunch. While eating we get to see what everyone shot and discuss how they were made, and ways to maybe make them a bit better.
So give Paula a call set up for a perfect weekend here in North Conway, NH. The food, photography and waterfalls will be fantastic!
Day 8 – Correction from Day 3
I mis-spelled Graupel on Day 3
Here’s the real spelling /graupel/ and the pronunciation:/ˈgraʊp(ə)l/
noun - small particles of snow with a fragile crust of ice; soft hail.
- Origin: late 19th century: German Graupel, back-formation from graupeln ’to hail with soft hailstones’, from Graupe ’cereal grain’
- Here’s how it sounds in German “Graupel“
I bet that origin would surprise a few avalanche forecasters and meteorologists around the country.
Day 5,6,7 – New Year, a couple of days off the mountain with the kids.
Every year I volunteer for the Eastern Slope Ski Club. The schools in the area all get to ski 1/2 day at one of the local ski areas. My two boys are 9 and 11 and we’ve been involved since they were in first grade. It’s great to watch kids growing up in the mountains. So today is the first day of the program. The bummer is that there is just a few trails open at Cranmore, and there will be a school full of kids racing down the slopes. I fear for my shiny new Black Diamond skis I got for Christmas….
Day 4 – Room to Breathe, No hiking today
Old man winter has been very stingy so far this season. This makes most of the snow rangers a little crazy, by now mornings would consist of a quick ride into Huntington Ravine, over to Tuckerman Ravine, write the avalanche advisory by 8am plus or minus. No snow means getting into the ravines the old fashion way, by foot. This might add an hour or so to the whole process. The flip side is, no snow means a general advisory for both ravines that gets updated when necessary, or every three days. Today, no new snow, no existing concerns, no hiking.
With that I dig back into my stack of images to pull out something a bit more abstract. The Forest Service cabin at Hermit Lake is retro-ish. Built before I was born, with few upgrades since, make the old storm windows ideal for growing frost and ice crystals. The variety and scale of these crystal gardens are worthy of a personal photography project, a book even. So here’s a start at it.
crystal feathers growing to completely cover an entire window.
Day – 3 High Winds, really low temps
The winds on Mount Washington hit a buck and a quarter (125 mph), sometime early this morning. The day before provided pretty good conditions for the formation of grappel, which is when a snowflake falls from the sky through a layer of moist air forming a frosty coat over the snowflake. Sometimes the flake gets caught up in an updraft and cycles back up into the atmosphere picking up a thicker layer of frosting. eventually it hits the ground. During high winds these “styrofoam” balls of snow collect in sheltered spots. Today I got to wade through 5 feet of it. It felt like a huge beanbag dumped its insides into a pile. Same feeling, same consistency, without all those “beans” clinging to everything.
This shot was taken at about 0 degrees with a wind somewhere around 50 of so. The summit was recording gusts near 80 at the time. Being in a sheltered “ravine” takes some of the sting out of the blasts.
Bottom of the Open Book, and Ice climb in Tuckerman Ravine. At least 4 feet of grappel piled into the base of the climb.
Day 2 – Embracing the Iphone
Studded snow tires, necessary for commuting into the mountains.
Ice crystals, a constant companion for the cabin windows.
Up until now I haven’t really embraced the camera function on my Iphone.
It seems awkward and unnatural. The convenience and the fact that it is always around more than makes up for those short comings. What it boils down to is that it’s another tool that is more than capable of creating content and telling stories.
I plan to continue posting short comments and stories from my winter on Mount Washington, using iphonography, photography, audio, video and any thing else that might work.
Stay tuned, pass the link along, or drop me a line.