Poltrack Blog

  Back to Blogger Time to mix things up a bit. I have been posting daily picture themes on Substack for a couple of years. Thanks to all who have subscribed. Substack is a great platform but not the only one. Years before it existed I created a body of work on BLOGGER which was purchased by Google. I get nervous about investing too much energy in products owned by Google,  especially having watched them drop Google Plus. I was sure that Blogger was going away but it still exists.  I've decided to throw a few photos at it and see if anyone responds.   

There is an acronym in photography called SOOTC which means "Straight Out Of The Camera". It refers to an unaltered version of a photo with no adjustments, cropping or alterations. When I shot with slide film I had no way to change the result. What I shot was what I got. I guess it taught me discipline but now I can't imagine making some edits. Here is an example from our week at the Cape. Which photo would you choose? My Grandnephew Alex enjoys a popcorn snack at Coast Guard Beach (Cropped) This view is of something completely different

As we all know, the Green Center contains many wonderful items. I share photos of the ones that catch my interest on this blog. As an experiment I took a few objects home to photograph in a more formal setting with a neutral background and  soft lighting. I was striving for the kind of photos you might find online or in a magazine advertisement. This slide projector came in on June 9th. I didn't know Minolta made them. It had a removable slide caddy that fit behind he lens. The projector would close up with a hinged top, The lamp and blower worked. I remember light meters. This beauty is in a bakelite case. Weston was a premier manufacturer of measuring instruments dating back to the 1800s. What is nice about external light meters is that they can measure incident light, such as the light falling on an model's face. You would set it for the film speed (ASA) and it would show you all the combinations of shutter and aperture. Two of these SLRs came in,...

I find it hard to let go of things. In 2008 I spent quite a bit of money to buy the top of the line Digital SLR from Olympus. I opted to get their excellent 14-54 mm lens. I took 13,115 photos from 2008 to 2015, but now the camera is gathering dust. Olympus discontinued the 4/3 format and moved to a MICRO 4/3 format. This move probably saved the company. The lens and cameras became smaller and lighter. They moved into a new niche, the mirrorless camera. This is what I use now as the E-3 sits in a closet.  The E-3 weighed in at 3 pounds with the lens. Because it is optical it lacks some of the advantages of the mirrorless, such as magnified view and focus peaking. It had a 10 megapixel sensor which seems quaint today. The images were stored on Compact Flash or XD cards.I question whether the image stabilization even worked, Still I got some nice photos from this and I wish it well as I send it off to KEH for resale. Paris the Cat - Jan 10, 2008 Taken with the E-3 ...

The New Ipswich Photo club meets on the second Wednesday of the month at the New Ipswich Library. The only exception to that schedule is prior to tax filing when it is moved to Thursday to accommodate a free tax group.. Each meeting we chose a "theme" to concentrate on for shooting photos to share with the group. I've  been stumped by several of them. I was lax about the theme "night photography" mainly because it was too cold to venture outside. Also I'm not entirely comfortable with choosing exposure settings, times and ISO settings for shooting in the dark. Here is my crop of photos taken in New Ipswich & Temple. Pizza Haven Too - 1/5 Second F/1.4 ISO 64 Doctor John Preston House, Turnpike Road - 2.5 second f/2.2 Front Door at Temple Town Hall - 1/15 Second f/1.2 ISO 64 Congregational Church, Temple, NH - 4 Seconds f/1.2

The majority of photos in the New Ipswich Historical Society have notes or descriptive notes. However one photo folder was labeled UNKNOWN. Hopefully by posting these, some reader can provide information about people and locations. Group on lawn - Cushing House near the Congregational Church Woman seated near a dam Two women by fence at Ledger Farm Woman in snow at Toko house in Smithville Woman by fence. Possibly the location of Wildflowers on Turnpike Road. Four people, one dog and horse cart at Mansfield house on Perry Road Portrait of two women Portrait of a woman Group in front of a stone wall Interior photo This may be the brook near the Barr Estate Man on bench Telephone pole in front of house Daguerreotype of a woman Six people and a dog Overshot Waterwheel

The monthly photo theme for our photo club is Leading Lines. I'm not coming up with new ideas but  I found plenty in my archives. Here are a few. The Photo Club met at Connolly Brothers Dairy Farm in Temple, NH This is one of my "leading lines" photos from that shoot Garden Tour at the home of Ken Vengren and Harrison Kendall Garden Tour at the home of Ken Vengren and Harrison Kendall Hay Loft in New Ipswich, NH Cattle Stalls at the Hillsborough County Fair grounds in New Boston, NH Nice walk to White Ledges in Temple, NH Shadows lead the way at Shieling State Forest in Peterborough, NH Looking up at dead trees in a swamp in Townsend, MA Gritty walkway at Hopkinton Dam Autumn Farm Stand in Greenfield, NH

 A few years ago a neighbor lent me a copy of the New England Magazine March 1900 edition which had an article about New Ipswich. I had the foresight to scan it before returning. I noted a reference to Leonard R. Willard ,  the village photographer who was alive when the magazine was published. Chickens might have been his most profitable pursuit, but I  admire his art of photography. "I've got four businesses." he remarked one day while taking a snap-shot, "farming, house painting, photography and chicken raisin'; but chickens is the most profitable" - Lonny Willard, village photographer New England Magazine - March 1900 page 105 New England Magazine featured an article about New Ipswich  It is not specified if this is actually a photo of Leonard R. Willard Leonard took many photos from the same vantage point at the intersection of Turnpike & Main  Dry Goods store decorated for the 150th Anniversary  Notice the two chi...