Jim Salge Photography Blog

Images of New England captured in dramatic light and atmosphere

Lupine Festival…

With photography, timing is everything! To get a perfect shot, you have to be there, in the moment, and ready for that moment. To do that, you must anticipate, and gather all the background and ambient knowledge you can about the scene, the light and the weather. This weekend, my timing was off…and I really only had about an hour of photography where everything came together this weekend. I was glad to have those, but I’ll be bemoaning some missed ops for a while…

After work Friday, I shot up to Sugar Hill to shoot the lupines for sunset. The grand plan for the weekend was to shoot the lupines at sunrise and sunset, and hike up to the alpine flowers during the midday hours. The weather forecast nixed the second idea, so it became the weekend of lupines! Good light Friday night never happened…so I focused on something that is lacking in my portfolio…marketable images with people. Down at Pearl Lake, I found this scene. Wish you were them…eh!

Fisherman at Pearl Lake

Fisherman at Pearl Lake

I slept in the car at an undisclosed location in Sugar Hill that night, as with an incoming storm forecast for Saturday, I was hoping the sky would light up. I could see the moon all night, but an hour before sunrise, the rain moved in, killing that chance. The first instance of bad timing for the trip. Few morning photos, as there as limited fog and lots of rain, poor for atmospheric images. Instead, I met up with my friend Ed O’Malley, and had a fine breakfast at Polly’s!

More bad timing came later in the day, as I chose to eat lunch while a funnel cloud moved overhead. No dramatic storm image over lupine. I also wasn’t back by the lupines by the time that the first rainbow appeared behind the storm, resulting in me racing down Rt. 2. I was still out of my dream location for a rainbow when the next one showed up, but at least I was able to record my building frustration. To clarify, I don’t like the position of the river.  A river should flow through a scene, not be crammed on the right.  So instead, picture this instead over a sweeping riverbank of lupines…next time!

Rainbow Over Lupines - Second Rate...

Rainbow Over Lupines - Second Rate...

Then came the aforementioned hour of good luck and light. From the half hour before sunset, to the half hour after, everything came together. Skies partially cleared, the sun lit from the horizon, and the winds died. After dark, radiational cooling (see last post) caused mist to fill the air. Dream images!

Cherry Mountain Lupines

Cherry Mountain Lupines

Departing Storm Clouds

Departing Storm Clouds

Presidential Lupines

Presidential Lupines

Movement and Still Lupines Over Madison

Movement and Still Lupines Over Madison

I went to bed happy…planning to wake up at 4AM and do it again. The forecast was for similar conditions to Saturday morning…partly cloudy overnight with rain moving in. I overslept, and will forever regret it. I looked out the window at 5AM to see magic in the sky…poor timing.

I had a nice day enjoying the rain Sunday, but came away with few worthwhile images. Almost got one, but this bear cub saw me too early…

Brief Encounter With Baby Bear

Brief Encounter With Baby Bear

This will be my last trip to the mountains for a bit, as I have a busy schedule for the last two weeks of school, and two upcoming weddings to attend. Next trip…end of June. By then, we’ll be ready to share some flowers at elevation!

9 Responses to “Lupine Festival…”

  1. Well Jim, all those tales of just missing the moment are certainly familiar! (including the over-sleeping! lol) But you still got some nice shots!

  2. Kate Stinnett says:

    SO, SO, SO Beautiful, as always! SO pleasing to the eye and the heart…

  3. roy says:

    Hi Jim,

    Following your Lupine photographs in Flicker and on your site for sometime now. I am driving down to Sugar Hill in the coming weekend. I guess I will get a similar weather there as there is a storm forecast over the weekend.

    Being a CT dweller I am not very familiar about the Lupine shooting hot spots. Considering the fact that you are best person out there, can you kindly provide me some intel about few sunrise and sunset shooting locations with Lupine in the area.

    I would really appreciate your kind help.

    Regards
    Roy

  4. Sue Tremblay says:

    Wow Jim!!! Love all the Photos, makes me realise all I am missing in this stae of NH I need to get out and explore more or enjoy the views vicariously through you beautiful shots!

  5. admin says:

    Thanks all…

    Roy…the best places are all in the main area of Sugar Hill, probably within a mile or two of each other. The classic view over the mountains is from the Sampler field on Sunset Hill Road. The other nice fields are on Rt 117, between Polly’s Pancake Parlor and Sunset Hill Rd again. Pay special attention to the field behind St. Matthews Church.

    Beyond the 117 stretch, there’s a great field at the end of carpenter road, and down the street from the Robert Frost farm off 116.

    Be sure to stop by Harman’s Cheese on 117 and pick up a tour book and advise.

    Good luck!

  6. Shelley Wadleigh says:

    Hey nice pictures..Salge..I’m from the North Country thanks for sharing!

  7. roy says:

    Thanks a lot for the inputs Jim. Appreciated a lot.
    Any of them is a good sunset spot? I guess I would get rain all through the day on Sunday, so no Sunrise for me. I can only try my like on some sunset on Saturday.

    Can you kindly let me know the tripod holes for the superb sunset shots you have provided above, if you do not mind please?

    Thanks
    Roy

  8. admin says:

    No problem roy, and good luck. As for sunset…none of the locastions face nw for a traditional sunset shot…so you have to hope that clouds are present to catch the departing light. Best place to do that is sunset hill road…as you have the best sweep of the sky!

  9. robyn says:

    Jim these shots are simply outstanding. I didn’t make it up there this year but I went last year and the skies were grey. Only got a couple of shots – not that good. I am trying to picture the areas you gave roy to shoot at and am wondering if any of those areas is the area you shot by water above. I know I went down carpenter rd because we stopped by robert frost on way out – no water that I saw there. I also think I went to the field behind the church you were talking about – not there either. So maybe the area by Polly’s? Just curious because I really love these shots. They are really magical. I would be totally stoked if I were you – getting shots like these. I definitely would love to make it up there next year to these locals. Thanks for sharing these gorgeous shots!

Leave a Reply

Get our latest updates

Subscribe Via A Feed Reader

Archives



Jim Salge Photography on Facebook

Jim Salge Photography on Flickr

Jim Salge Photography on 500px