Month: August 2010

The Pier at Fort Foster | Kittery, ME

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For today’s post we head to the other side of the Piscataqua River.  This long and inviting pier is located at Fort Foster in Kittery, ME – which is near the former life saving station in the mouth of the Piscataqua River, close to Whaleback Lighthouse.  If you look closely – you can spot Whaleback between the supports of the Pier itself.

I decided to head over to the Maine side of the river for a sunset voyage over the weekend…as it’s one of the few places where you can get a gorgeous sunset over the waterfront on the eastern seaboard (at least on the part that’s within driving distance).

I’ll be featuring several more shots from the evening’s travels – with a good portion coming from the quick hour that I spent wandering around the pier and watching the tide go out as the sun went down.  Quite a peaceful evening.

The Blue Angels | Portsmouth Air Show

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It’s not every year that the Blue Angels make an appearance at an air show held right here at our very own Pease International Airport. The former Air Force Base still serves as the home for the New Hampshire Air National Guard and the refueling tankers…and this weekend it had a few extra aircraft and a few tens of thousands of extra people!  I ventured into the madness at the airport to see if I could get some good shots and to enjoy the incredible engineering feats and flying talents of the pilots.

I had a blast trying to shoot the ridiculously fast aircraft (flying at up to 700mph)…even though it’s outside my normal photographic pursuits, it was fun to throw on a zoom lens for a change and see if I could come up with anything good.  I’m pretty happy with my results despite not renting any special gear and it being my first air show.  Looking forward to the next opportunity…in the meantime, enjoy the shots!  Please head over to my gallery on FLICKR to see more from the event…I’ll be putting together a video of the Blue Angels in their pre-flight exercises later this week and will share more from the other aircraft that flew during the day before the big Blue Angel finale.

Many thanks to the fine folks at Portsmouth Regional Hospital for the opportunity to see the show!  Enjoyed meeting more of the team and the great view from their sponsor area…thanks to them for supporting the event and for also featuring more of my photos on their display in the booth.  (And thanks for the water in the PRH bottle on the way out – I definitely needed it after baking in the sun all day.)

Boston-Portsmouth Air Show

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Boston – Portsmouth Air Show with the Blue Angels from Ron Risman on Vimeo.

The Boston-Portsmouth Air Show is in town all weekend!!  The incredible talents of the individuals flying the aircraft are beyond words as you’ll see in the video above.  Today’s post is a special one – the featured video was recorded and produced by a friend of mine, talented local photographer Ron Risman of Cinematic Stories (visit him at http://cinematicstories.com).

I’m planning to head over to Pease to take part in the madness on Sunday and see what I can do for photos of these amazing aircraft (that travel at ridiculous speeds only feet away from each other!).  For Saturday’s show I was lucky enough to see the Blue Angels flying overhead as I mowed the lawn and again later as I enjoyed a cup of coffee on the front patio. Looking forward to the opportunity to capture something new!  In the meantime, here’s an image to enjoy of our beloved waterfront and the Moran Towing tugboats.

Balcony & Founder's Lobby | The Music Hall

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In another visit to The Music Hall, I wanted to be sure to capture the pure grandeur of the historic theatre.  Inside the theatre itself – there is rich color and eye candy to be seen everywhere.  From the reds and natural wood color of the seats and the stairwells to the soft pastels of the wonderfully restored turn of the century painted ceiling, to the gilding and the gorgeous proscenium.  It’s a perfect setting for entertainment of all kinds, from live music to high quality films (or film festivals including the upcoming Telluride By The Sea or the 10th Annual New Hampshire Film Festival), to internationally recognized speakers and writers.

The Founder’s Lobby (as seen below) is a very cool place as well, very avant garde and very rich in color and unlike any other room you’ll come across in Portsmouth.  I’ll let the room speak for itself….and share more details in the future.  The room definitely commands a presence…and the minute details at every corner add to the interestingness of the place. 

Construction in the City

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For those of you who drive downtown on a regular basis – you know that it has been a trying summer.  State Street has been loudly under construction as its wastewater system gets an upgrade, with a new stormwater runoff separation system being implemented, along with new brick sidewalks and street lighting.  While it’s going to be gorgeous when it’s all done – the road has definitely done a number on the suspension of my car from driving home each night.  I thought I’d bring the camera along to lunch at Googie’s this week to snap a few shots of the progress being made.  It’s actually quite fascinating to peer down into the holes that are being dug in the pavement….a few of the guys told me they’d found the old wooden sewers from a couple hundred years back – and I’ve seen some brick sewer piping in one of the trenches too.

The next shot features one of the storm drains that will be a central part of the State Street system.  I can’t wait til I can feature the newly paved State Street with all of its new street lamps – and motion blur from all of the swiftly moving traffic that will return.

This shot features the Martingale Wharf building as it gets another layer to its skin…as seen from Bow Street.

Mechanic Ave | Streets of the South End

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In another installment of Streets of the South End – Mechanic Avenue is featured…I absolutely love this part of town.  Mechanic Ave is located along the waterfront of the back channel in one of Portsmouth’s most picturesque portions of waterfront.  This section can somewhat be seen in yesterday’s post, which was taken from the Peirce Island bridge….where you can see the wharfs and the waterfront scene.  The Wentworth-Gardner House is the large home featured prominently in the shot – and is one of the best examples of Georgian architecture in the country.  You have to click this one to view it LARGE!

Lobster | South End Waterfront

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Seen from the Peirce Island Bridge, this waterfront vista of Portsmouth’s historic South End should be a familiar sight.  It’s one of the area’s most photographed vistas, usually from directly across the river on Peirce Island – highlighting the docks, piers and colorful homes that line the streets of the waterfront.  I just love this old structure sitting on the waterfront – and the fact that the moon is rising in the upper left corner, and that you can catch the South Ward Meetinghouse clocktower in the upper right corner.

Martingale Wharf | Reflections of a Changing Waterfront

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This shot was taken setting out on the sunset harbor cruise on the Heritage.  I snapped this single exposure with the incredibly sharp and vibrant Carl Zeiss lens that I’ve rented on a couple of occasions – and I just loved the rich blues of the water and the sky.  I’ve always thought that the Martingale Wharf building was pretty massive when seen from Bow Street…as it takes up so much of the street front – but it wasn’t until we were heading back in from the cruise that I realized just how massive the structure is.

Seen here the water side of the building is partially covered in tarps – as construction has progressed through the summer.  If you are walking up Bow Street, you might notice the fire sealing/insulation on the interior of the structure – so I imagine it’s only a matter of time until the skeleton of the building gets its skin.  I can’t wait to see what the structure looks like when its brick facade is installed….and it will be a welcome change to this seemingly stagnating waterfront visage.

Tugboats at Dusk

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The instantly recognizable Moran Towing Tugboats resting at dusk.  The workhorses sit patiently waiting for the inclement weather to return, when the freighter traffic picks up steam.  I’ve seen them escorting a ship here and there…but the waterfront has been pretty quiet in terms of working waterfront traffic (and usually is during the summer season).  Be sure to check the large version of this one out by clicking on the photo.

For the first time in a very long time, I find myself with a backlog of images I’ve edited that I’m really happy with. Usually I’m scrambling to come up with a good shot from a recent shoot, only hours before the next post is due for publishing here on the site.  I’m thrilled to have a few days worth ahead of time to share with everyone – and I’m hoping it will allow me more creative flexibility in covering some new territory in the next couple weeks to shoot. I’ll also have some unique NYC shots to share from a trip this weekend that included a city lights harbor cruise and a stop in the madness of Times Square at midnight on Saturday night.  For those of you who are Mad Men fans out there – I also snapped a shot of the Time & Life building, which is where the new Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce agency is located this season.  I could spend hours wandering the city & shooting the skyscrapers & streetscapes.