Goodbye Keene!

About to head off to Boston and the airport and with that in mind, I'm saying goodbye once again to my family, friends, and home. I could complain all day about it, but I can appreciate the beauty of this area for what it is - the sky is bluer here than anywhere else I've seen.

Keene also has what is without a doubt the nicest Main Street I've ever seen. This is one place I could happily hang out around without any complaints. The photos I'm posting were taken quite some time ago, around the beginning of June and before I left for Ghana. I never got around to posting them, but figured I'd show them now as an attempt to show my appreciation for downtown Keene. Sure, there are no people in these photos, but that's because it was midnight.

Mom and Dad's favorite restaurant. This place is fantastic.

Simple? Yes, but payphones actually are so rare these days that this fascinated me.

There really isn't too much to say about these pictures, and they might not even be appealing to people who don't know Main Street. Anyway, I'm sharing just to share and I hope that at least a few can appeal to a broad audience.

The famous E.F. Lane Hotel

The fine art of window shopping.

Oh, and Sadie, I'll miss you too.

Too Much Free Time - New Hampshire

You'll notice that I've given the blog a new layout. I guess I wanted a change of pace. You can explore the different "layouts" available for my posts by clicking on them in the upper lefthand corner. Also, mousing over the righthand side of the page will bring up a few different options.

Well, it's great to be back in the good old U.S. of A. I'm slowly regaining the weight I lost and am enjoying the little amount that I have to do in the meantime. At this point, just four days (one or two of which will be devoted to packing) stand between me and 4 months on the other side of the world. In the meantime, I'm doing what I usually do - taking photos of anything I can to keep boredom at bay.

I'll provide some backstory when it will help out, although I can't say the story of finding a bug on a leaf will be as interesting as meeting strangers on the streets of Ghana was.

I hope you enjoy the photos and feel free to subscribe on the righthand side of the page if you'd like.

Mike making a fool of himself for the camera's sake

I asked for a portrait, ended up with this pretty funny picture thanks to Mike throwing a football at his (our friend Dan's) face.

Above is the last photo I'm going to post from my now old camera, the Olympus E-PL1. The image quality was definitely great but I missed way too many great photo opportunities with it because it was just too slow to operate. I upgraded to the awesome Olympus OM-D EM-5 and couldn't be happier. The image quality is definitely better, but more importantly, the controls are so much faster that it gives me room to take advantage of what I've learned about photography.

So, the rest of these are from the new camera.

Mom's garden - providing plenty of image opportunities

If I were back in Ghana, this probably would've given me a heart attack. Thankfully, New Hampshire doesn't have anything but garter snakes (I hope).

My camera came with a great new lens, too. The best thing about it thus far has to be the macro (extremely close focusing) option. This lets me take pictures of tiny insects no bigger than my fingernail (like the one below). Another good way to pass time since I won't have to worry about running out of subjects.

Here are a few more photos from around the house and in the garden. I really could just spend all day outside using the lens. I appreciate how it makes me see things I otherwise wouldn't have seen, like this spider that had built its web on a plant in the front yard.

St. Andrews Cross Spider

Bonus points if anyone can tell me what this tiny little insect is. Again, never would've seen this if it weren't for the lens I was using.

This dragonfly actually sat still for me for a few minutes while I tried to get the best composition - still working on seeing the best angle and light.

And luck helps too. I was just trying to frame a shot of this flower when a bee flew in and landed on it.

To wrap up the garden photos, here are two more shots using the macro lens that I particularly like. This lens makes it way too easy.

But, it hasn't been all boring lately. One of the best things about being home is that, well, I actually have family here. My aunt Terri came to visit for a couple of days and thankfully, she shares my passion for photography. I'm pretty sure we tested the patience of my two brothers and it's becoming increasingly obvious that I'm obsessed with my camera, but at least I'm pretty happy... We went out to Kimball Farms, an awesome restaurant in Jaffrey, NH, for dinner, where the scenery is almost as great as the food. Here are a few family photos from the trip.

And here's a bit of the scenery I mentioned. I'm really loving the way this camera renders color.

And of course, no trip to Kimball's can be complete without ice cream. What you see is a small, and I could barely even get through half of it. 

Side note: This shirt is one that I was given in Ghana for taking part in a volunteer trip to a village that I mentioned in my blog before.

Having the brothers with us was great company, but it kept me and Terri from going crazy and running around taking photos all day. So naturally, we had to leave the two of them behind to take a photo walk with Sadie the following day. We just went around the neighborhood, but we had some fun anyway.

Took this in the yard before leaving, can't get over the detail. You can actually see me taking the photo in the reflection of her eye.

Early in our walk we came across a neighbor's garden that was particularly interesting. Looking like complete weirdos, Terri and I walked over to the flowers and started snapping photos. I'm confident that the neighbors running by thought we were absolutely out of our minds. Again, I saw some things I never would've seen otherwise, and I'm happy about that.

I'm told this is an invasive species, and that I should've killed it instead of photographing it. Oh well...

I took a ton of other shots around the neighborhood, but nothing really worth sharing. I was too busy chasing  Sadie out of neighbor's yards and was pretty overwhelmed with the heat (excuses).

Here's one last photo taken before Terri left - Sadie was literally licking Michael's face for a solid 15 minutes straight, so this wasn't very hard to capture. 

I apologize as I know this blog is now getting way too long, but I've been really going crazy with the camera lately and I'm also extremely happy with how the pictures look at the size I'm posting at, so I'll share a few more experiences before ending this entry.

I met up with my friends Nelson and Kurt recently to take a trip over to the nearby Pisgah Park. It's located in Chesterfield close to me, but I'd never seen it before. Here's a photo from the car ride there, I was just curious to see what it would look like and I'm decently happy with it.

When we arrived at the park the light was pretty nice. We had a pretty lengthy walk through the woods before reaching our goal, and I managed to get one decent shot of the light coming through the trees.

After a bit more walking, we made it to where we were going. There were no other people in sight and, if it weren't for us, there would've been next to zero noise at all. I say all the time how bored I get in New Hampshire, but I can really appreciate places like this. Nelson and Kurt were bold enough to do a few dives, and I took the chance to try out the burst mode on my camera. Of course I could have done better, but I'm pretty happy with what I got. 

I also did my best to capture the scenery, although my composition really should be better. This is one area I'm hoping to improve before I make it to New Zealand, where I'll really want to be taking landscape photos.

Okay, just one more set of photos I promise. Last night, we had a blackout. The power was out from about 9:30PM until after I went to sleep. Rather than letting this ruin my night, though, I actually found a way to turn it into a good thing. The lack of lighting meant I pretty much had complete control over the lighting in any picture I wanted to take, so I did some experimenting. First, I grabbed Mike and our friends who were with at the time and got them together for a portrait. Using only our friend's phone for lighting, I ended up with this result.

Those of you who have been reading from the start might also remember my first attempt at light painting, which I posted about before Ghana. Well, the lack of light outside encouraged me to try this again, and I think I've improved. I have to thank my camera in part for this, too, as it has a fancy mode that actually provides live updates of what the final exposure is going to look like. When the exposure is going for 20+ seconds, this can really make a big difference.

Here are a few shots - I'll have to get one of dad's fancier cars out to try again soon.

The lines of light running around the car are the result of the camera seeing the head of the flashlight. Did it on accident, happy with how it turned out.

And of course, what set of photos could be complete without Sadie. I didn't even try to get her in the photos, she just decided she wanted to be a part of it all I guess. This made things quite difficult as even a slight movement of her head while I was shining the flashlight on her would leave things blurry, but I got lucky a few times.

Now I just need to get my act together and try printing some of these photos in large sizes. I'd like to have a "photo wall" or something so that I can show off a little bit of what I'm doing. What did you think? Are the large images too big, or do they help the presentation? You can leave a comment here or email me if you'd like. Thanks for viewing.

Recap: Weekend in Paradise and more

Well, it's definitely been awhile since I last posted. Time is flying now and just one short week stands between me and home. It's bittersweet really - I am going to miss some things dearly...the azonto dance and people's unbelievably friendly natures in particular. On the other hand, I'm down a few pounds and can't wait to get some American food in me again.

Anyway, down to business, lots of pictures to share.

Starting most recently, I'll share pictures from our group's last weekend trip to Busua Beach. This is one of the few areas in Ghana where the water is clean and safe to swim in, and I have to say, it takes the cake for my favorite spot in Ghana. I swear that there is nowhere else on earth where one can find such a beautiful beach with so few people at such a low price....I soon might eat this words when visiting the beaches of Koh Samui, Thailand, but until then, I'm sticking to it. The first thing that I liked about our stay in Busua was what I found in our hotel's 'backyard'. Dozens of yellow birds (really wish I knew the name) live in the trees behind the hotel, making for a great photoshoot.

I spent an hour or so shooting the birds from different angles and was able to get some pretty sharp pictures. As everyone on my Ghana trip has come to realize, I really love animals and wildlife photography, so this was a nice opportunity for me.

I'm still hoping to get to the zoo in Kumasi before I leave, but will be hard pressed to find the time. I might not be able to risk making the 4-5 hour trip there in case the road is shut down and I'm not able to get back in time for my flight.

Of course, I didn't ride 5 hours in a cramped van just to take pictures of birds, there was a beach to experience too. The waves were big, big enough to surf, but for me, doing some bodysurfing was more than enough. It's been a long time since I felt ocean water that wasn't freezing - not a huge fan of the New England side of the Atlantic - and I have to say I really enjoyed the warmer temperature.

I might have to reupload this picture when I get home. The size is limited because I don't have unlimited data to use, and it just kind of looks bad.

The guys also got in some solid beach football, thanks to Dawn for capturing the action. She said I didn't have any pictures of myself and offered to take some more. Not sure they're the most flattering self-portraits, but at least I can prove I was in Ghana now.

Totally missed the ball, but it looks cool.

Who gets the pass interference penalty?

Being the good guy I am, helping Max up.

Now part of what makes Busua so special is what makes Ghana so special for me. The people there, from bartenders to hotel staff to rastafarian juicemaking beach bums, are wonderful. One kid in particular caught my attention and had really warmed up to Catherine, so I had an opportunity to take some of my favorite pictures from the trip.

Joe does his best, but really can't compare to the kid in the awesome factor.

Naptime on Catherine's lap

Rocking Catherine's shades, a bit too big for her face I guess.

Still trying to figure out exactly what kind of expression this is. Almost like she's saying, 'are you done with the camera yet?'

It's a good thing adoption isn't an easy process.

This trip really was what we all needed. It served as one final chance to really get away and enjoy Ghana's best parts. Accra can sometimes be overwhelming, stressful, and noisy - sound familiar? Sitting on a beach listening to a live reggae band and watching a bonfire burn all night is a nice change of pace.

Max and Eric with drinks from the bar, enjoying life.

Bonus points if you can guess which two aren't local (just kidding).

Brian and Mike enjoying Busua at its finest. I had to convince them that I could take an awesome picture of them, so hopefully they can thank me now.

Either they celebrate birthdays just like we do in America, or our hotel has had plenty of guests from the States before. The cooks put together this surprise birthday cake for Dawn and Mahlet's birthdays.

Happy times.

This was by far my most enjoyable weekend yet and I left Busua with the feeling that I was going to miss a lot about Ghana. It just isn't every day that you get to dance like a fool on the beach and be surrounded by nothing but support and other foolish dancing.

Couldn't figure out where to incorporate this in the article, but I like the picture, so consider it a bonus?

I'm also posting some pictures from the weekend prior to last. I was very, very sick all weekend, so many of  my pictures from the weekend were taken by Ashley. I'll try and give credit where credit is due.

Our first stop was in Ada Foah, where Bentley has some close contacts. Isaac, our closest friend in Ada Foah, works with local farmers, many of whom are disabled, to teach sustainable farming techniques. The results have been very successful and his farmers make more profit than most others with bigger plots of land do.

Joe in the maize field.

Capturing Dan's flow, one unwilling portrait shot at a time.

Got the entire group together for a picture - 15 cameras later, it hurt to smile.

After visiting one of the farms, we took a boat tour out to a few of the surrounding islands. I was already throwing up with whatever illness (probably Malaria) that I had come down with, and I get seasick. I was miserable most of the time, but felt decent enough to take a few pictures on the first island.

I'm really not sure if this boy knew what my camera was. He had this sort of stare going on the whole time.

Not sure what these guys were doing out on the water  as I don't see fishing nets or anything. It's possible they needed to get to the mainland I suppose, as many people do live on islands.

I was impressed to see a boat rowed by all women.

Shortly after taking the picture above, I was leaning over the side of the boat throwing up. Ashley proved that I have absolutely no skill though, and took some really great pictures like those below.

A portrait (caricature?) of Max.

Most pets one sees in Ghana are strays it seems, but one hotel we stopped at for lunch had some cats. I had no interest and put my head down to rest, but Ashley seemed to feel otherwise.

To conclude, I'll show a pretty bad picture I took of a classic tro tro in Accra. This van, old and rundown as it is, is likely carrying at least 15 people and, as you can see, a huge amount of baggage. It amazes me that these things don't just fall apart in motion (they do sometimes actually).

I hope you enjoyed the photos and writing. It's tough to find the time to really write in depth, but I at least tried to get my thoughts across. Stay tuned for many more photos when I get back to the U.S. and have unlimited net access again.