MILTON CONNECTICUT – We had weekend house guests in Connecticut. I cooked osso bucco, which with other activities gave little time for photography. I spared our guests exposure on this blog. A barn in a neighboring village caught with my Hasselblad.
On this day last year: Saks Fifth Avenue window. This was taken with a long lens from across Fifth Avenue. One of my favorites from last year.
LITCHFIELD CONNECTICUT – I spent some time in this historic old village exercising my Hasselblad, taking full frontal images of some of the buildings in town. Here’s the Union Savings Bank Building, conveniently located right next to the historic Litchfield jail. The sign looks sort of temporary. I’m guessing here (I’ll check this out with some of our local friends) that this was formerly the First National Bank of Litchfield, which was merged into the Union Savings Bank earlier this year.
WASHINGTON CONNECTICUT – Here’s another angle on the Washington Congregational Church, first presented on these pages here: follow this link for information on Washington CT. This is with my new Leica 35mm Summilux FLE lens – I’m experimenting with the out of focus rendering.
NEW PRESTON CONNECTICUT – From its architecture this building (which houses youth activities for Washington CT) looks like a defrocked church – a church with its steeple removed. It’s quite close to the New Preston Congregational Church so I doubt that it was built on this spot – it was probably moved here after it was decommissioned. I’ve found no references to it on line – I’ll have to carry out more detailed research on the ground. Taken with my Leica M9 and a 35mm Summilux FLE lens. Two frames stitched.
WASHINGTON CONNECTICUT – I’ve been waiting for an opportunity to photograph the Washington Connecticut Congregational Church. There is a large tree in front of it – very close, actually – so it’s hard to get an angle on it even with a very wide lens and a shift capability. I decided to shoot it through the tree once the leaves were off. I did some details of it last year – here’s my entry from November 29, 2010 which includes some historical narrative about the structure. Anyway, this is with my Hasselblad H3d-39:
This is the image from last year:
On this day one year ago: Construction site. In terms of star ratings this is the least popular image ever on this site.
NEW MILFORD, CONNECTICUT – Here we are back in New Milford, which among it’s other issues, seems to have been swarmed by strip mall developers. But at least there’s handicapped parking. This image is with my 12mm Voigtlander lens on my Leica M9. A 12 mm full frame lens is very wide indeed – let’s not get bogged down in image quality here because it’s a miracle that it forms an image at all. I use a piece of software called Cornerfix that fixes the color shifts and other weirdness that would otherwise be caused by shooting this lens on a digital sensor. No viewfinder is needed. Assume that the frame includes everything.
BRIDGEWATER, CONNECTICUT – Well I had a great plans to solve the autumn color blues today. I have friend who annually hosts a variety of lunatics who bring catapults, and who compete at catapulting pumpkins across the landscape. We headed out that way mid-afternoon but as a result of a mis-communication with my daughter (my fault) we arrived after it was over. Tough luck. Really tough luck. But I saw this barn on the way back to New York. I shot it primarily because of the complete absence of yellow, red and orange. Leica M9 with 50mm Summilux lens. Six images stitched.
This may be my favorite image from the last 12 months. The light was magical. The name of the building, Pacific Gateway Medical Center, conveyed ironic grandeur. The name of the town, Drain Oregon, suggests hair balls and the like. Wow.