adohertyh

Salisbury After the Storm

2016-Nov-212016-Nov-21 adohertyh1 Comment

Winter arrived in the Northeast with maximum attitude: from 66ºF on Saturday morning to a full-on blizzard by Sunday. In Salisbury, CT, home of ski jumps and wood-lined hotel bars, we got to experience the odd dynamic of watching Porsche and Mercedes SUVs claw through the snow. The classic White Hart hotel was looking its best.

I tested my DJI Phantom 3 Advanced in the post-storm conditions. Almost-freezing, windy conditions didn’t have an impact on its flight performance, but the gimbal didn’t seem too thrilled. Some of its smooth elegance was lost… Or maybe it was just the wind.

Foliage Tunnel

2016-Nov-18 adohertyhLeave a comment

College campuses have long, tree-lined walks; those are great places to find this “yellow leaf tunnel” effect.

Close of Business, Election Day

2016-Nov-16 adohertyhLeave a comment

Even on Election Day, businesses are open and running and life continues in the North Country. At the grain elevator, farmers arrive and depart not just by truck, but also (in the case of our Amish neighbors) by horse-drawn buggy. At the end of the day, businesses quiet down but haven’t quite closed yet and everything becomes still.

South on 11

2016-Nov-14 adohertyhLeave a comment

Without a nearby Interstate, materials move through the North Country along Route 11 in much the same way I imagine they did pre-1956. The Cascade diner and the Buccaneer Lounge beneath it, glowing with neon lighting on the right side of the picture, date from the early Interstate era. When I visit them for a burger and I beer, my mind always wanders to Eisenhower and Kennedy and the other presidents who presided over the development of the Interstate system. Highway access remains on the mind, I’m sure, of ever person who commutes in and out of the North Country, too.

On the Tracks

2016-Nov-11 adohertyhLeave a comment

Stick season has arrived, with orange everywhere. Holes in the trees have appeared and the optical topology has some new path options. Even the steel tracks now appear some copper other-metal.

Untitled

2016-Nov-09 adohertyhLeave a comment

Under the Sphere

2016-Nov-072016-Nov-07 adohertyhLeave a comment

Large-scale sculptures on college campuses set the tone of these places, focusing the on spaces for the mind to experiment and grow. I’ve always found it a bit ironic that the mind will grow to find these odd structures everyday and ordinary.

Welcoming

2016-Nov-042021-Apr-06 adohertyhLeave a comment

Admissions buildings are always charming, but the blue hour on a crisp fall afternoon creates optimal conditions for charm. Not a single leaf is out of place.

Corn Hill

2016-Nov-022016-Nov-03 adohertyhLeave a comment

Even the small local farms of the North Country can seem overwhelmingly huge, and viewing them from a quadcopter’s vantage point doesn’t mitigate the effect.

Another Husk of Winter

2016-Oct-31 adohertyhLeave a comment

The North Country is an unforgiving place during most of the year, but never more than during the depths of winter. Our first snow arrived last week, and I looked back through my photographs from last winter. The transition from summer is renders the landscape nearly unrecognizable.

Towers and Farms

2016-Oct-282021-Apr-06 adohertyh1 Comment

A central theme to my photography is visualizing the progressive gradient from dense urban areas to natural settings. Some of my favorite images are cases where that gradient is particularly abrupt or unexpected. Until I began flying quadcopters, I didn’t expect that I’d be able to find the same transitions in the North Country, with its much more homogeneous rural structure. Here in Canton, however, the juxtaposition of apartment towers, shops, and bridges with forests, islands, and farmland creates a similar effect. The North Country supports this cultural difference between folks who live “in the village” and those who live “out of the village”.

Shadows and Pavers

2016-Oct-26 adohertyhLeave a comment

A whole new point of view on the shadows of Gunnison Chapel across the quad. Much like my last post, I love the intentional alignments of the designs.

All Things In Alignment

2016-Oct-242016-Oct-25 adohertyh1 Comment

When St. Lawrence’s newest dorm, Kirk Douglas Hall, was designed, its dramatic glass bridge was brought into alignment with the Avenue of the Elms and gap between Richardson Hall and Gunnison Chapel. When the sun rises over the North Country landscape, I am drawn to the focused geometry of the landscape. (And glad I awoke to fly my quadcopter.)

Blue Transition

2016-Oct-21 adohertyhLeave a comment

The rise of an almost-full moon, framed between branches. Autumn arrives early in the North Country.

Hunter’s Supermoon on Main Street

2016-Oct-19 adohertyhLeave a comment

The weekend marked a Hunter’s supermoon—one that also coincided with the moon rising along the axis of Main Street in Canton, New York, as well as coinciding with the local period of peak foliage. Can one small town handle all of those events? My quadcopter and I were on hand to investigate. From 100 meters up, Main Street looked just about perfect. You can spot the awning of the Chinese restaurant and the movie theater that I’ve photographed previously, but the same structures take new meanings.