Fall Foliage: Western Massachusetts

There is nothing quite like seeing summer change into fall. Fall is my favorite season. The smells. The leaves changing. Apple picking. Pumpkins. Indian corn. Sunflowers. Crisp mornings and evenings. And this week I had the opportunity to travel to the Pioneer Valley with my dear friend Rikki. It was a rather quick visit, but we got to visit Hallmark and made what has become an annual trip to our friend Kristin's farm.

We enjoyed a lovely visit with our incredibly talented artist-friend. Kristin chatted with us as she prepared homemade chicken soup. Then we walked outside and the dogs herded the sheep around the property. Kristin's house backs up to a mountain, and the view was simply incredible. We ended our visit with Kristin preparing a beautiful bouquet with some of the last flowers of the season.

Enjoy some pictures of our day.

Joan Hutton Landis:: Media, PA portrait session

I received a phone call from Stoneleigh Burnham School - an independent boarding and day school in Greenfield, MA - asking if I could take a portrait of an alumnus of theirs. Joan Hutton Landis is the 2013 recipient of their Distinguished Alumna Award. As the school detailed,

"The Distinguished Alumna Award is presented annually and bestows institutional recognition on one alumna who has distinguished herself in her personal or professional life, in her intellectual pursuits, or in her dedication to service of community, country or society. Joan was nominated and selected to receive the award due to her outstanding (and lengthy) career in the humanities. She began teaching at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia in 1977 and founded that school's Department of Liberal Arts, which she chaired until 2009. She taught English Literature and published poetry during her tenure."

I had the opportunity to go down and photograph Joan - in her home - a number of weeks ago. I thought it might be fun to walk you through my session a bit. I wish I had known I was going to make this a bit of a tutorial, because I didn't take any wide shots to show you the environment. But I feel very happy with the final image chosen, which will be used in the SBS's alumni magazine this summer.

When I arrived, Joan and I walked into their sitting room. There were quite a few couches and single chairs. On one long wall there were numerous tall windows with a window seat (would love to have that in my home). Across from that wall was a bookshelf, the opening to the foyer, and a bench of sorts. Along the short wall at one end was a large stone fireplace and along the opposite wall was a couch and some wall hangings, with a window on the right side of the wall.

Joan let me know that people often like to take pictures with the bookshelf in the background. I asked if we could pull the couch away from the bookshelf to give some dimension, and that's where we started. This is one of the first images I took - a nice straight shot of her. But her shoulders were broad and I knew she hadn't yet relaxed in front of the camera.

There was light from the windows on the left side of her face. While I liked this set up, I knew we'd take some with different backgrounds.  We took a bunch more frames of her near the bookshelf, but then I rotated her so the short wall would be behind her. I didn't quite like the distraction of the window, the window frame behind her head, nor the purple behind her on the right, though it did complement the sweater. It was simply too busy.

Here's a similar image, but I was trying to get Joan to lean a bit, so as to get a different angle. Still not there yet.

Then Joan mentioned she had a different top to change into, as I had suggested she have some options. So she changed her sweater, leaving on the black turtleneck. She also mentioned she had a gold necklace on and pulled that out from under the turtleneck. I left her where she was and took another image, not having her lean as much and letting some of the light hit her face a bit more on the left.

We rotated her yet again so she'd be sitting with the opposite short wall behind her - where the fireplace was. In all of the previous images, I was shooting with my 50mm 1.4 lens. I wasn't liking some of the distortion it was creating, and I knew I wanted to be 'closer' to her. I decided at this time to switch out for my fav lens -- my 70-200mm 2.8. I asked Joan to stand and wondered what that would do to the image. While I like this a bit more, I still wasn't satisfied.

I noticed there was a bouquet of fresh flowers in a vase near the windows, and stuck it in the background. I knew it'd be blurred out, but knew it'd create some kind of wonder behind her and I asked her to sit again. By now she had warmed up to the camera, and I backed up quite a bit, zoomed in to 200mm and knew - as soon as I looked on the back of my camera - that I had my 'hero' image.

I love that there is some understanding of items behind her, but for all we know, she could be in one of a hundred locations. Behind her to the left is the vase of flowers. Knowing that, you can see the green stems and the pink flowers. It adds a pop of color, but you'd likely not know it was flowers. I love how Joan is the emphasis in this one...clearly the subject of the image. Her shoulders are relaxed and the sweater and necklace are laying nicely. 

I warmed up the image a bit, and this photo has become one of my most favorite images I've ever taken. There is a priceless beauty to this image. And to know a bit of Joan's story - the impact she has had on education - leaves me wishing I knew her better. I know there are so many stories behind her smile - countless lives she's affected, knowledge she's imparted into the lives of young people, and countless people who have likely looked up to her as colleague, boss, role model, teacher, and friend.

Joan and her husband lived in the Middle East for quite a few years before returning to the States in 1967.  Read more of Joan's biography by visiting Penstroke Press. Here's a woman who's surely left her mark on society. 

Joan, it was a pleasure meeting and photographing you. I wish you all the best. Thanks for your significant contribution; you are so very deserving of this fine award from Stoneleigh Burnham. Thanks also to Susanna for setting this up, as well as Pete Chilton - an instructor of mine while at Hallmark - who recommended me for the shoot.

Heidi

 (from l to r: Julie, Heidi, and me at Hallmark's graduation -- June 2011)

Yesterday I got a very sad phone call....I found out one of my roommates from photography school passed away.  Without going into it all, the details of her passing bring much sadness. I remember the very first email I got from Heidi and the very first time we talked on the phone. She was very simple, and didn't require much.

When I first arrived at school in August 2010, Heidi was away for a few days, then when she got back, I had left for a weekend trip. So by the time we met each other, it was only a few days before school was to begin. While she was gone, my other roommate - Julie - and I had gone through the (then gross) kitchen and did major cleaning. We noticed some pots and pans that weren't ours and decided to throw them out. While I was on my weekend trip, Heidi called to ask where her pots/pans were....here we had thrown them out with a few other things we thought were 'junk'. Great way to start off with a roommate you've not yet met. Fail.

I'd realize throughout the year that Heidi liked to live in peace. She was easy-going and often I'd come home to the smells of delicious food she was cooking, frequently using garlic and doing up veggies. She wasn't very good on the computer - well, with technology in general - so I helped out a lot with teaching her simple things. She liked to be in nature and while her photography was very different than mine (style-wise), I came to appreciate her unique approach to life and photography. And although we saw much of life through different lenses (both literal and figurative), I grew to love Heidi and celebrated the differences between us.

We have kept up since graduation. I tracked her move to Oregon a number of months ago, and watched her new photography take on a fresh liveliness. It's difficult to process (as is with any death) that we won't ever speak again, but I'm thankful for the time we had to share as roommates. I marvel in the people that are brought into my life - if even for a short season - and I'm grateful to have met Heidi.

This morning a friend sent a video to me - to lighten my mood. I ended up liking the video so much, I clicked to see if the creator had other videos. Sure enough, there are many. And randomly I clicked on another video entitled Gratitude, done by the incredibly gifted Louie Schwartzberg. I thought it would be soothing music with awesome video footage. But around minute 1:05, narration begins...Brother David Steindl-Rast (complete with an accent) begins to talk about this day - today - that we are given. And I found it so powerful that I wrote out the text of what he narrates.

Here is what he says:

You think this is just another day in your life?

It’s not just another day.

It’s the one day that is given to you – today.

It’s given to you; it’s a gift.

It’s the only gift that you have right now.

And the only appropriate response is gratefulness.

If you do nothing else but to cultivate that response through the great gift this unique day is;

If you learn to respond as if it were the first day in your life, and the very last day,

then you will have spent this day very well.

Begin by opening your eyes, and be surprised that you have eyes you can open.

The incredible array of colors that is constantly offered to us – for pure enjoyment.

Look at the sky; we so rarely look at the sky.

We so rarely note how different it is from moment to moment…with the clouds coming and going.

We just think of the weather; even with the weather, we don’t think of all the many nuances of weather.
We just think of good weather and bad weather.

This day right now…its unique weather may be a kind that will never – exactly in that form – come again.

The formation of clouds in the sky will never be the same as it is right now.

Open your eyes; look at that.

Look at the faces of the people we meet.

Each one has an incredible story behind their face – a story you couldn't fully fathom.

Not only their own story, but the story of their ancestors; they all go back so far.

And in this present moment, on this day, all the people you meet, all that life of generations and from so many places all over the world….

Flows together and meets you here, like a life-giving water, if you only open your heart and drink.

Open your heart to the incredible gifts that civilization gives to us – we flip a switch and there is electric light.

You turn a faucet and there is warm water and cold water…and drinkable water.

It’s a gift that millions and millions in the world will never experience.

So these are just a few of an enormous number of gifts, to which we can open our hearts.

So I wish that you would open your heart to all these blessings, and let them flow through you.

That everyone you will meet on this this day, will be blessed by you – just by your eyes, by your smile, by your touch, just by your presence.

Let the gratefulness overflow into blessing all around you.

Then it will really be a good day.

(Brother David Steindl-Rast)

So while I am extremely grateful for today - THIS day - I am also grateful for the many 'todays' that I got with Heidi....and I will continue to pray for her family in this incredibly difficult time.

Leyden Glen Farm:: Leyden, MA

I've mentioned before a farm that I found out about while I was at photography school. While talking with a B&B owner, I learned of Leyden Glen Farms, specifically Kristin Nicholas. A few friends and I went to the farm while we were still at school; we were able to take some of our portfolio images on the gorgeous land that farm owners Kristin and Mark have. I blogged about them before - mostly showcasing their sheep.

Back in August, my friend Rikki and I took a trip back to the farm. We visited with Kristin, while Rikki did an interior shoot for a site she writes for. She did an incredible job of showcasing the amazing artist Kristin is. Kristin painted all of the rooms in her house. She has this ability to make the quaint spaces contain pops of color. The home-grown flowers are in gorgeous vases throughout the home. The kittens pulled on frayed blankets of the rocking chairs. Kristin's daughter, Julia, was abuzz with trying to find people to man a float for a local parade. We had a wonderful time catching up and hearing about the upcoming things Kristin has on her plate.

While Rikki's pictures are so much better than mine, I couldn't help but snap a few shots of Kristin's lovely home....and of course of the cute animals that are as much a part of the farm as Kristin and her family.

Just the other day, I read on Kristin's blog that Archie (one of the Great Pyrenees below) died. Kristin, I hope these pictures are great memories of your lovable dogs, esp. the one where they're nose to nose.