Yesterday

Awesome day. St. Ansel of Adams was on my right shoulder. The forecast was for "occasional showers" in the morning with clearing in the afternoon. I figured on doing some mountain photography between showers and headed toward Keene Valley. As I turned the corner at Paul Smith's I thought "I really have to drive over here some Sunday during church services at St. John's of the Wilderness and find out who I need to talk to to get permission to photograph the inside". I have photographed the outside many times under all sorts of conditions but it has always been locked when I went by except one time when I did not have my cameras with me (yes, there are times I don't carry my gear). The image above is a heavily modified digital panorama (two frames) that I made with my first digital camera.

As drove by St. John's I slowed down and saw a car parked out front so I whipped into the drive. The sexton was working at the side of the church. After introducing myself I learned that he was there to try to eradicate some grubs that were destroying patches of the lawn. When I told him what I wanted to do he offered to let me in and I spent the next half hour or so happily making exposures to turn into HDR images.

It was fortunate that I had that opportunity because the "occasional showers" turned into a morning long rain that would have confined me to my truck had I not had some interior photography to do. The afternoon was as forecast and I returned to Mossy Cascade to try some more HDR exposures plus some medium format B&W under overcast conditions. I got all the shots I wanted plus some bonus photos of things I ran onto along the way. Throughout the afternoon I had overcast when I needed it and touches of sun when I needed that. Whether by pure luck or divine intervention, it was a great day. The "photo" above is a teaser. I'll post some of the others over the next few days as I complete processing them.