I was driving through Pomfret, Vt., with Robin and our friends Jayne and Frank when Frank yelled, “There’s a moose!” Yea right, I’ve been constantly looking for moose for the last four years. Vermont is packed with “Moose Crossing” road signs but I am certain they were put up by the department of tourism. The signs are everywhere but the moose must be able to read them because the moose are never near the signs. In fact, they don’t even have pictures of moose on the signs like they do for deer, people or cattle, just the words, so I don’t think the Vermont department of tourist knows what they look like.
So there we are, cruising along with Frank yelling MOOSE!!! and I could tell he wasn’t joking. So I turned the Jeep around quickly and got back to the field where Frank got excited. Sure enough, standing in a little meadow was a big bull moose grazing on the grass. I pulled off the road and the moose looked at us and started to wander up the hill. I ran to the back of the Jeep and grabbed my camera and fired plenty of shots as Bullwinkle trotted off into the trees.
Rain pours on leaves and vines along Peter's Brook in Somerville, NJ. Click on the photo to buy a print.
When I was a kid and it started to rain, I’d run outside and wait for the water to roll down the street. We lived at the bottom of a small hill and in our little town there weren’t any curbs or storm drains. So when the rain began, I’d run out in the street and start moving dirt to make a dam to capture the water as it started flowing down the hill. When you’re a kid in a town of 300 people, you have to work hard to find entertainment. But it gave me an enjoyment for rain.
Today was about as rainy a day as they come. It rained hard all night, waking me up several times. After sitting around for a while, I decided to put on some old boots, grab my raincoat and umbrella and head out in the rain.
I put my macro on, stuck the camera under my raincoat and swung my tripod over my shoulder and walked over to a local park along Peter’s Brook. The rain was coming down pretty steady, so I sat under the umbrella by the broke, which was running fast after all the rain.
I tried some shots of leaves overlapping each other. The wind and long exposures made the images blurry so I moved father down the brook. I saw some fine yellow vine wrapping around some large leaves at the edge of the brook. A couple of the leaves were bright red.
I really liked the way the rain made the green, yellow and red colors shine.
As I was walking back home, I saw a large sycamore leaf laying in the grass. It looked like a leaf in October not what I usually see in August. It was fun to see all the color this time of year, so I wrestled with my umbrella to keep the camera dry and shot a bunch of close-up shots to show the detail of the color and the leaf’s veins.
By the time I got home, I was pretty much soaked. But I kept my camera under my rain coat and an extra lens in a plastic bag, so they were dry.
A sycamore leaf changed color in August this year. Click on the photo to buy a print.
I’ve photographed the Tour of Somerville since 1988, when it was the hottest day ever at the bicycle race. At least it was the hottest I’ve seen. Fellow photographer Dean Curtis and I thought we would kick everyone’s ass even though neither of us had every photographed bicycle racing before. We had tons of photos, many of them good and we had a great plan for covering the winner crossing the line. Dean was one side of the street and I was on the other. We both had long lenses and got way back down the street so we would have the sign and the winner crossing as the pack was right behind. What we didn’t know was that the winner had broken away from the pack and flying up the side of the street. We both were watching the middle of the street and neither one of us got the shot. We did learn from it though.
This year was pretty hot too. I was shooting for Middle Earth, the non-profit agency that helps kids and does most of the work to put on the race. Having photographed the race so many times, I’m always challenging myself to get a different shot. One year I shot most of the race with a 4X5 camera. Interesting, but I only needed to do that once. I always like when the 100+ riders line up for the start of the pro race. There are lots of faces, some tense, some relaxed but they are always rearing to go. I thought it would be nice to get a high angle on the riders and have the big banner that goes across the street. So I put my camera on the end of my monopod with a 16mm lens and did a Hail Mary shot from about 11 feet high. It would be fun to get that shot while they are riding away, but the riders would be happy to run me over.
Bare trees are reflected in a pond as new spring green leaves sprout.
Every year on Good Friday, I think about my senior year of high school when friend Tim Kochert and I hopped in his car and drove around the lake region of northern Indiana. I remember it as the perfect spring day, warm and sunny with that great feeling in the air. We drove around a state park where I’d later work for two summers and then headed around several of the lakes. I had known Tim since before we started grade school and even though we shared a locker, we didn’t hang out together much. It was a fun day of not doing anything special with an old friend and the memory has lingered all these years. Tim created another special memory for me last summer when he took me on a flight in his plane over glaciers in Alaska.
Today wasn’t a beautiful day but I wanted to celebrate Earth Day by being sure to get out and spend some time in the great outdoors. I went to Lord Stirling Park, which is a large county park adjacent to the Great Swamp National Wildlife refuge. The swamp isn’t too pretty this time of year, it is a swamp, after all. With all the rain, the grass is brilliant green contrasted against the dark, swampy water. I was fascinated with the way the trees were reflecting in the water as a few blades of grass stuck out of the pond.
Early morning shadows fall across the deep snow in Woodstock, Vt.
It got down to 11 degrees overnight, which is quite a shift from the 75 degrees when I left New Jersey on Friday. The cold usually means clear skies and the morning light was gorgeous, creating shadows in the snow.
It was 75 degrees yesterday when I left New Jersey head to Vermont. I watched as the temperature got lower the farther north I drove. When I got to our house in Woodstock, it was 35. The snow gods were busy this winter in Vermont and there is still two feet of snow on the ground, which isn’t unusual since March is typically the snowiest month in Vermont. While driving around South Woodstock this afternoon, I saw this barn with nice sunlight falling on it. I like the way fence was lit, I only wish I could have gotten lower so I would have only red barn showing through the fence, but a snowbank prevented it.
I don’t care much for year-in-review stories and remembrances, so I thought I’d do mine. 2010 was a great year and I photographed many things for the first time. I’ve always wanted to see a bear, so I was thrilled when one came to visit Somerville. My friend Walter Choroszewski made it possible for us to visit Alaska for a near non-stop photo adventure. A neighbor in Woodstock, Vermont, gave me access to her family property to photograph the water, trees and vistas. It was a good year for weddings as friends and family got married. And I made a special effort to observe what is good in my life and looking back I can see there is plenty of goodness around when I take the time to look.
A boardwalk is covered with frost in Lord Stirling park.
Since I couldn’t get into Lord Stirling park in Bernards, NJ, yesterday as the deer herd was being thinned, I headed back at sunrise to see what was around. I hoped there would be some leaves left on the trees, but they are mostly bare. The leaves on the ground didn’t look too great, the color is gone and the frost this morning was very light. There are lots of boardwalks in the park and some frost on one of them made a nice contrast with the warm sunlight.
The sunrise is reflected in the swamp at Lord Stirling park.
I always enjoy seeing the sunrise hitting trees in the swampy part of the park. The water is dark and nicely reflects whatever is being hit by the sunlight. It can look really nice when colorful leaves are floating but today I saw only brown oak leaves.
Frost covers a leaf at Scherman Hoffman Wildlife Sanctuary.
This morning I thought it would be good to go to Lord Stirling Park in Basking Ridge, NJ, which is adjacent to the Great Swamp National Wildlife Refuge. They are essentially the same place, they are only separated by the Passaic River and a different name. I got there while it was still fairly dark, taking advantage of the last day of daylight savings time. Now I have to get up an hour earlier to see the sun rise. I got out of the Jeep and saw a sign that said Trails Closed and then a rope across the main trail. Hanging off the rope was a little sign saying something about deer management. In other words hunters were in there culling the herd. So I thought I’d just go over to the NWR, I still had plenty of time before the sun came up. Of course, only hunters were allowed. I’m sure I could have found a trail in but a bored hunter might take a shot for fun.
Mist rises from a waterfalls at Lendells Pond in Mendham, NJ.
I understand the need to hold down the deer population. There are too many and when there is a tough winter, there won’t be enough food for them to sustain themselves. They are changing the landscape, you can see a browse line at their head height in any woods in the area. Many people complain about the deer eating their scrubs, I don’t care about that, but no new growth is happening because the deer eat tree saplings before they have a chance to grow. But I hate having the image in my head of a deer being shot by an arrow and then running in pain for however long it takes for the deer to bleed to death. I guess that is better than starving to death.
So I went over to the Audubon Society’s place, which is only a few miles away. They didn’t have any hunters but I was there before they opened the gate. So I drove around the property and came upon a water falls at the end of Ledells Pond in Mendham. It seems like I have been shooting lots of waterfalls lately but it looked good as the mist rose.
I went back over to the Audubon sanctuary and while I was driving around I saw three large bucks. I couldn’t tell if they were in the rut or scared by the hunters, but they looked nervous. Hopefully they didn’t stroll under a hunter’s tree stand.
This morning was rather chilly, in the low 30′s when I hit the road before sunrise. I wandered back to Colonial Park in Franklin, NJ, and was happily greeted by a light frost on the ground. I enjoy getting down on the ground with my macro lens to shoot close-up shots of frosty things, especially colorful leaves.
Frost is melted off a leaf by the morning sun.
I had my tripod splayed out and I was on my knees hovering over the camera and concentrating rather hard on getting the angle I wanted as the rising sunlight swept across a leaf. I heard a little noise and I was rather startled to see a man standing nearby with his dog. I was in a part of the park that doesn’t get a lot of foot traffic, so this was the only person I had seen. As I looked up, the man was a little startled too. “I don’t see someone on the ground very often, I came over to make sure you were OK,” he said. I laughed and thanked him for his concern, I guess I did look like a blob of humanity on the ground. It was nice that he took the time to check on me.
The rising sun shines through the blades of a plant.
After my old knees didn’t want to be on the ground any longer, I noticed the sun shining through some long leaves along a fence in the formal garden. I liked the way the light interacted with the blades and created a highlight on the edges.
At sunrise today I was wandering around Colonial Park, in Franklin, NJ. I wasn’t feeling it, I was having real trouble finding a picture I liked even though it was a beautiful morning. The light and what little colorful foliage that is still around didn’t come together for me. I was about to give up and I was headed back to my car when I saw a bird with long legs land beside a pond. I didn’t recognize the bird, so I tried to get closer. I couldn’t see it in the reeds and grass along the pond and it flew about 20 feet away. I didn’t have my long lens so I went to the car and go it.
A black-crowned night heron shakes off the morning dew.
When I came back, the bird hadn’t moved but the lighting was really bad on it. The only way to get good light was to be in the middle of the pond, and that wasn’t happening. So I crept up on it and made some shots. I thought it might be a green heron, but it wasn’t big enough. It just sat there staring into the water, it didn’t move. I still didn’t know what I was shooting, but it stuck its neck out real long and then shook off before taking flight. I went through my bird book and looked online when I got home and I think it is an immature black-crowned night heron. Let me know if I’m right or wrong.
I headed over to Duke Island Park in Bridgewater, NJ for another autumn sunrise. I was hoping there would be mist rising from the pond or river, but it wasn’t there. There wasn’t a whole lot going on, just some pretty yellow maple leaves hanging by the river.
A tree full of bright leaves.
I walked back to the pond where a tree full of red leaves was screaming at me. I got up close with my wide angle lens and I like the way the leaves are stretching toward me.
Orange leaves in Bridgewater.
I then tried some close-up shots of leaves on the tree.
Tailgaters pack the hillside at the Far Hills Race Meeting.
Today was my annual helicopter flight over the Far Hills Race Meeting in Far Hills, NJ. The race meeting is steeplechase horse races on a large farm where 30,000 people pack onto the hillside and infield area and kinda watch the horses run. The main purpose of the event is to raise money for a local hospital and for people to consume too much alcohol and show off their riches. The tailgating event draws the high-end crowd, people bring their Rolls-Royces and have large catered parties, complete with ice sculptures, the finest wine and food.
I’ve been photographing the party from the air for at least the last 15 years for the organization that puts on the event. I started in a little Robinson helicopter that I barely fit in, then for many years I chartered a Bell Jet Ranger out of Princeton. It was my favorite, they’d take the door off and I would wear a climbing harness and hang out the side. It was fun and expensive. Last year they found a local guy with a helicopter who donated the ride, which saved lots of money. I rode in that one again this year, it is a six-seat Bell 470. The original owner had the interior done in leather to match his Porsche. It is really nice but I can’t ask them to take the door off and risk something flying in and ripping up the leather. So I just slide open a little window and shoot through there.
There is plenty of coverage of what's wrong with the world. I'm glad others are keeping an eye on things that could be better, but I want to show what is good around me.
About Loren
Loren Fisher has been a professional photographer for over 35 years. He has published books on Pope John Paul II and Branson, Missouri. He is completing his latest book on the 109 covered bridges of Vermont and is founder and editor of Somerville NJ news site SomervilleToday.com
I’ve photographed the Tour of Somerville since 1988, when it was the hottest day ever at the bicycle race. At least it was the hottest I’ve seen. Fellow photographer Dean Curtis and I thought we would kick everyone’s ass even though neither of us had every photographed bicycle racing before. We had tons of photos, many of them good and we had a great plan for covering the winner crossing the line. Dean was one side of the street and I was on the other. We both had long lenses and got way back down the street so we would have the sign and the winner crossing as the pack was right behind. What we didn’t know was that the winner had broken away from the pack and flying up the side of the street. We both were watching the middle of the street and neither one of us got the shot. We did learn from it though.
Loren Fisher has been a professional photographer for over 35 years. He has published books on Pope John Paul II and Branson, Missouri. He is completing his latest book on the 109 covered bridges of Vermont and is founder and editor of 
