NEW PRESTON and WAREN CONNECTICUT – So here’s another one of the buildings in New Preston Connecticut, shot with my Alpa Max, a 47mm Schneider Digitar lens and a Phase One IQ 180 back. I caught our friend Dorothee Grisebach and Maria with my Leica after we packed the car up to come back to New York.
New Preston
Dorothee and Maria
On this day one year ago: Dog treats.
WASHINGTON CONNECTICUT – Perfect autumn day. I got to New Preston before the stores opened so I had an opportunity to capture some of the local building before cars showed up. Taken with my Alpa Max and 47mm Schneider lens. I used the shifts on the camera to correct perspective in the camera.
New Preston Kitchen Goods
The send in a series of 24 self portraits, taken in my studio in Warren on February 13, 1999 at 3:00 PM local time.
3:00 PM local time February 13, 1999
NEW PRESTON CONNECTICUT – I’ve developed a rule of thumb for landscape photography. There are rare moments when the light is absolutely magical. It may be the “golden hour” or the moment when the sun breaks through after a storm. Some days and places are better than others, but really great magic light moments are fairly rare. Here’s my rule of thumb: If you experience a magic light moment stop whatever you are doing and photograph whatever is at hand with whatever equipment you have available. Even if the subject is mundane the light transforms it – perhaps turning it into a serious statement.
After endless rain we finally had a few moments of late afternoon sun creating a brief magic moment. Fortunately I had my Alpa TC and 60 meg back in the car and managed to find a place to stop in New Preston.
9 Main, New Preston Connecticut
On this day last year: Seagrams Building.
Seagram Building New York
NEW PRESTON, CONNECTICUT – Here’s the New Preston Congregational Church captured in profile with my Alpa TC, 36mm Schneider lens and 60 meg Hasselblad digital back. I’ve been here before with a camera – a full frontal view is the subject of my post for November 7, 2009 – in one of the early shots in my ongoing project on Churches in Litchfield County.
New Preston Congregational Church
On this day one year ago: Boating on Lake Waramaug in our 1956 Chris Craft.
1956 Chris Craft
NEW PRESTON CONNECTICUT – Driving back from a real estate closing I stopped at the cemetery an New Preston. The Civil War had profound impact on these small New England towns and villages – many have memorials to the war dead. Taken with my Alpa TC, a 36mm Scheider APO and 60 meg Hasselblad back.
New Preston
On this day last year: Emmet Gowin photograph.
Emmet Gowin, Nancy, Granville Virginia, 1969
NEW PRESTON CONNECTICUT – A really gray day. New Preston is a small village near us just off of Route 202. Politically it’s part of Washington Connecticut. The Congregational parish has two church buildings: a traditional neo-classical wooden structure where the congregation meets for most of the year, and a stone church where they meet in August. New Preston doesn’t have a green so both buildings are sited awkwardly – the stone church s literally 6 feet from the edge of the road. Taken with my Alpa TC.
New Preston Stone Church
On this day one year ago: a gray icy day in Warren Connecticut. This seems to be a theme this time of year.
Warren, Connecticut
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.
On this date last year: Birches in early winter.
Birches Warren, Connecticut
NEW PRESTON, CONNECTICUT – While Maria is shopping at a local boutique, J. Seitz, I wandered around the back of the building to shoot the waterfall over the dam that is part of the system that impounds Lake Waramaug.
Waterfall, New Preston Connecticut
Leica M9 with 50 mm Dual-Range Summicron (modified to mount on the M9). Two frames stitched.
NEW PRESTON CONNECTICUT – Saint Andrew’s Episcopal Church. Founded 1764 according to the sign in front of the church. The building was dedicated in 1822. The brickwork in the steeple is a different color and was painted to match, suggesting a fire or other damage and repairs along the way.
St. Andrew's Episcopal Church
NEW PRESTON, CONNECTICUT – Lois Conner, a friend and teacher, told me never to photograph in cemeteries. This image exploits the lovely rendering of the out of focus portions of the image possible with the lens that I’m using: the Lecia M 35mm Summicron. Here’s a link to a listing of everyone who is interred in this cemetery: Interred in New Preston
Nancy Lee Cheney Calhoun, Nov 20, 1920 - January 11, 2000
NEW PRESTON, CONNECTICUT – I’ve decided to photograph all of the churches in Litchfield County, Connecticut, very much working in the shadow of Walker Evans. The approach is frontal. You can see a similar esthetic in the “Small Town” images on my landscape gallery, and for that matter in 30 Rock taken on November 6. This is one of two Congregational churches in New Preston that serve the same parish (the other is the Stone Church). Captured at sunrise.
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