Category Archives: Photographs

Dewey-Humboldt

Photographs

Small and fine.

The town of Dewey-Humboldt is home to under 4,000 in Yavapai County, AZ, slap bang in the middle of the state and easily missed on the drive from Scottsdale to Prescott.

From Wikipedia:

When a new post office opened in 1898, the community was renamed Dewey, probably to honor Admiral Dewey’s great victory that year at the Battle of Manila — this was the height of the Spanish–American War. Another post office was established at Val Verde (Humboldt) in 1899.

It’s worth a stop as picture opportunities abound, and you can only admire the early settlers of the west for their toughness and resolve. First settled in 1863, it would be many years before Willis Carrier invented air conditioning in 1902 making the desert livable.


Dewey-Humboldt Main Street.

Nothing is certain in life except death and taxes.

Another view of Main Street.

The town has seen better days.

How the West was colonized before the steam train.


All images on the Nikon F100 on Kodak Ektar 100 film. Nikon absolutely knocked it out of the park with the F100, which can be found mint for well under $200. The ergonomics are identical to any number of Nikon DSLRs which followed – I especially like the D700 – so there is no learning curve.

Ektar 100 film has exceptionally high contrast and while I underexposed these -0.3 EVs, -0.7 EVs would probably have been better, as it’s very easy to lose the highlights with over-exposure and the dynamic range of film is simply awful compared to that of a half decent digital sensor.

The lens used was the Nikkor 24-120mm f/3.5-5.6 AFD zoom, an excellent all-rounder. After sale of the filters this came with, my net cost was under $50. It comes with free barrel distortion thrown in, easily fixed in Lightroom when it matters.

Brattleboro, VT

Photographs

Rural and quiet.

Brattleboro is a small town of 12,000 in a state with just 600,000 residents and one which is almost exclusively white, having been settled by the English, Scots and Irish in the 18th century, doubtless all hewing to the awful winter weather.

It’s my favorite place to stay when visiting my son at school as it’s just across the border from Massachusetts and accommodation is plentiful, along with some fine restaurants.

The north European look of many of the buildings here may lack the pristine quality of the Scandinavians’ efforts and the roads are every bit as deserted and the scenery a treat to the eye.

Panny GX7, 12-35mm pro zoom.

The Mead Art Museum

Colleges

At Amherst College.

For an alphabetical index of the New England College series of pieces, click here.

Unlike its public school neighbor across the road – U Mass Amherst with some 30,000 students – Amherst College is small at 2,000 and private. It is rivaled only by Colgate for the beauty of its setting.

Like many of the great private colleges in New England, Amherst boasts a superb art collection, most pieces donated by successful alumni. The small display space in Amherst’s Mead Art Museum can house maybe 200 items, and does not do the collection of 8,000 pieces justice.

As Amherst College is but 30 minutes south of Northfield Mount Hermon, my son’s prep school, I always try to drop by when in Massachusetts to check out their latest exhibition.



The entrance to the Museum, with Stearns Steeple at left. The steeple is mercifully
the last remnant of the College’s religious origins. Religion should have no rôle in education.


The entrance piece for the ‘Time is Everything’ exhibition.


Harold Edgerton’s famous 1964 image from his MIT days shows a bullet passing through an apple.
When a student at University College, London in 1976 I used his exact technique to determine
the speed of high speed grit particles impacting and eroding polymers, the subject of my senior dissertation.
It’s quite likely I used a stroboscope from the same manufacturer, America’s Perkin-Elmer.


Time has many manifestations. This magnificent grandfather clock by Isaac Gere dates form the 1794/95.


The Mead’s meeting room is beyond spectacular.


Another view of the ‘Time’ exhibition.


“Fragmented Identities: The Gendered Roles of Women in Art Through the Ages” is a small side show.
The painting at left with the idealized image of the young woman is by William-Adolphe
Bouguereau (‘Boo-zhou-row’), a 19th century academic painter much beloved by the Victorians whose
awfulness is now enjoying a serious renaissance for reasons lost on me.


The Mead changes its exhibits about every semester and is always worth a visit. As for Amherst College, it ranks up there with Williams, also in MA, for academic excellence. Many aver it’s as good as or better than anything the eight Ivy League schools (Harvard, Princeton, Yale, Brown, Columbia, Cornell, Dartmouth and Penn) offer. The beauty of the setting alone is worth a few points on your ACT score.

Panny GX7, 12-35mm pro zoom.