Low Water in the Lake

A clifftop view of Mohonk Mountain House’s swimming hole shows the impact of last summer’s drought: sections of beach that would be deep underwater are instead showing green sprouts of grasses. Even with that minor asterisk, the setting is idyllic and captures the late-summer pleasures of a little escape well.

Low Water in the Lake

Leaving Before the Fireworks End

Fireworks displays in metro areas always mean serious traffic, but the line of stopped cars along Bushnell Park has clearly formed before the fireworks display even ended. From this vantage point, there’s luckily more to see than traffic; the magenta luminescence of excited lithium ions paints its colors across the buildings and treetops of downtown Hartford.

Leaving Before the Fireworks End

Another Overheated Fall in Clement

The first weeks of school during my senior year at Trinity College, all the way back in 2007, were memorable to me for a lot of reasons; one of those was because it was just unbearably hot for a couple of weeks. Now, having returned to campus as a faculty member, I’ve apparently brought this weather back with me. The mostly-un-air-conditioned Clement Chemistry Building is once again my home—but this time, my office has a window unit.

Another Overheated Fall in Clement

Dublin Street Corner

Dublin in late autumn has a damp energy that I found unquestionably intriguing; the optical artifacts from shooting into the setting sun do a fair job of approximating the feeling that every bit of asphalt and brick have some eerie effect taking place beneath them.

Dublin Street Corner

And a bonus Piper shot from just about the same moment as we explored the city.

Piper on a Dublin Street

Two Views on Final Views

A couple of months ago, I published what I anticipate will be my final pictures of St. Lawrence University, and with this post, I believe I’m releasing my final pictures from St. Lawrence County more generally. They’re an interesting pair, because I feel they capture the dichotomy of the area.

The first image is a high, dramatic drone shot into the Adirondacks, taken near Colton. Nature! Topology! Wilderness! (Clicking through to Flickr, you can see this shot was even featured in their Explore page.) This was perhaps what I was expecting when I moved to the North Country. This was the last such picture I captured on a rare quiet weekend while preparing to move out.

Last Light on Stone Valley

The second picture is one I took on the last day of classes at St. Lawrence. A charming view of our small town, I suppose, but also a vast, flat landscape with a few too many parking lots and strip shopping centers to quite constitute rural life. This was perhaps a better depiction of everyday life in the North Country, and a strong contrast with the drone views that I get now.

Flying on the Last Day of Classes

Living the #GRIDLIFE

Last weekend brought me to the #GRIDLIFE Circuit Legends event at Lime Rock Park. I finally finished processing pictures from the event. Today’s post features some of my favorites from the event, but there’s definitely more to come.

Let’s start with this BMW M3. This was my first time trying longer exposures with moving cars to get serious motion blur. I’m honestly thrilled with how it came out and can’t wait to try more.

Green BMW

#GRIDLIFE was also remarkable for the access available to the pits. Enthusiasts were just roaming around as mechanics got to work on their cars.

Supra in the Pits

That provided opportunities for even kids to get to see the cars up close.

To the Next Generation

The bucolic nature of Lime Rock added some chill vibes to what would otherwise be a pretty high-adrenaline setting.

Modified Subaru in Its Natural Environment

Nocones Garage built this race car from a Subaru 360.

Nocones Garage Subaru 360 Race Car

The red Honda S2000 in the background wasn’t even part of the team with the two red Subaru BRZs, but they were all kind enough to keep their cars in a line.

Triple Red

I like the array of tools and materials in front of this BMW M4.

Up on Blocks

While the Acura RSX’s team worked aggressively on their car, the BMW M2 team in the next stall looked on.

Getting Down to Business

I spotted this Toyota Supra by the gates coming into the show.

Red Supra

The owners of that BMW M2 earlier got their beast out onto the track.

M2 on the Track

Shots like this, with huge amounts of motion blur, are the kinds of dramatic moments that really got me excited to go through with the wasted shots necessary to capture the perfect ones.

AMG on the Track

This show wasn’t just a chance for me to expand my shooting abilities; I also practiced some new photo-processing techniques. I don’t normally do a ton of color grading, but shots like this one really feel richer with some amped up forest green.

Z in Forest Environment

Speaking of forests, this trio was stopped by the gate, too.

Ariel, Porsche, Porsche

From a forest of trees to a forest of people surrounding an FD Mazda RX-7 making its way back to the pits.

They Love an FD

I had a chance to look into some pretty nuts engine bays.

Green Engine Bay

A Honda S2000 looks the part out on the track.

S2000 in Its Natural Environment

Beneath the Boss S14 body kit, this drift monster is still a Nissan 240SX.

BOSS S14

As is this less-disguised example. Just look at those sparks!

Drifting, Now with Sparks

Watching four cars drift in parallel was really something…

Four in Line

But this shot of bonkers tire smoke from an 86 really got me attention.

Toyobaru Drift