Favorite Shooting LOCATIONS
There are millions of good shooting locations around New England and some are even off the side of the road. This is not a complete list of potential locations. This is my personal list of places that I find myself returning to time and time again over the years. And many of the New Hampshire seacoast area locations are in what I refer to as my ‘Circle of Accessibility.’
A little bit more on the ‘Circle of Accessibility’. Many photographers and instructors will also refer to this as your ‘local area.’ But I prefer my term, it’s a little more catchy. As many of us are not professional photographers with the time and resources to travel the world, a large percentage of our subject matter comes from local sites that we have access to. And we are therefore challenged with the familiar, because as a familiar location we don’t always see it’s uniqueness anymore. But the unique benefit to these local and familiar sites is that we have relatively easy access to them. A quick trip on a weekend, a lunch break from work, or a quick stop after the work day. This type of access and awareness allows us to be able to follow the conditions. Have you ever seen a boring location rendered magnificent under spectacular light, or fog? Some of my favorite compositions come from ordinary places that were touched with the right conditions. So being local, this allows us to jump on opportunities more easily when the conditions present themselves. I suggest that when scouting locally, or feeling frustrated with what your circle of accessibility has to offer, try to imagine that location in a blanket of fog, during the blue hour, in the snow or with moody skies before a thunderstorm. Now you are no longer longing to travel the world to exotic locations but rather waiting for the conditions to set up and turn on the magic for you right where you live. It happens, I guarantee it.
NEW HAMPSHIRE
Adams Point (Durham)
Packer’s Falls (Durham)
Wagon Hill Farm (Durham)
Odiorne Point State Park (Rye)
Fort Stark (New Castle)
Great Island Common (New Castle)
Prescott Park/Downtown (Portsmouth)
Urban Forestry Center (Portsmouth)
Gonic Trails (Rochester)
Castle in the Clouds (Moultonborough) (*Brook Trail)
Sugar Hill
MAINE
Fort Foster (Kittery)
Vaughn Woods (South Berwick)
Portland - Old Port (Portland)
Acadia National Park (Mount Desert Island/Bar Harbor)
Ocean Path Trail
Jordan Pond Path
Otter Cliff
Carriage Road bridges in the woods
MASSACHUSETTS
Mass Audubon's Ipswich River Wildlife Sanctuary (Topsfield)
Parker River National Wildlife Refuge - Plum Island (Newbury)
CONNECTICUT
Mystic Seaport (Stonington)
Mystic Aquarium (Stonington)
Some annual EVENTS to check out
Beside finding the thousands of unique and picturesque locations all over New England, there are many events that lend themselves to photography. Again - this is not a complete list at all, but represents some of the events that I have come across in my time. Admittedly, living in New Hampshire, the list is skewed towards NH, but be sure to check out these types of events in our your own state. Google will let you know!
NEW HAMPSHIRE
Portsmouth Halloween Parade (Portsmouth)
Usually on actual Halloween
Tall Ships (Portsmouth)
Mid August
Hot Air Balloon Festival (Pittsfield)
First weekend in August
Fields of Lupine Festival (Franconia, Sugar Hill)
Mid June
MAINE
Winter Wonders at Sandy Hill Farm - lights (Eliot)
Late November - end of December
MASSACHUSETTS
Watch City Steampunk Festival (early May)
Waltham
RHODE ISLAND
Providence WaterFire
Full lightings on select Saturdays May-September
RESOURCES for Learning and Inspiration
There are billions of resources available in books and on the internet when it comes to photography. This is just a handful of favorites that I use and visit regularly and have found to add some value to my personal learning journey. I gravitate towards the landscape and nature photographers as my base, but there are many more vloggers and bloggers out there that specialize in other genres as well such as portraiture, street, travel, still life and sports to name a few. Depending on where your photography interests take you, you will find your own useful favorites as well.
YOU TUBE
Thomas Heaton (https://www.youtube.com/c/ThomasHeatonPhoto)
British landscape photographer
Emphasizes the photographic process and keeps scenes simple and clean
Mads Peter Iversen (https://www.youtube.com/c/MadsPeterIversen)
Landscape photographer from Denmark
Landscape and fine art photographer with strong emphasis on composition
Nigel Danson (https://www.youtube.com/c/NigelDanson)
Landscape photographer from the UK
Exceptional landscapes as well as many woodlands
James Popsys (https://www.youtube.com/c/JamesPopsysPhoto)
British landscape photographer
Keeps things simple and you will notice a distinctive look about his work
Gavin Hardcastle - Fototripper (https://www.youtube.com/@fototripper)
Landscape photographer from Vancouver Island, now residing in Nova Scotia
Videos have a very entertaining spin and photo tutorials are good too
Mark Denney (https://www.youtube.com/c/MarkDenneyPhoto)
Landscape photographer from North Carolina
Focus on educating and has very detailed tutorials on various subjects
Adam Gibbs (https://www.youtube.com/c/AdamGibbsPhotography)
Landscape photographer often in Vancouver Island
Very detailed on the process and thoughts that go into composing an image
Michael Shainblum (https://www.youtube.com/@MichaelShainblum)
Landscape photographer based out of California
Exceptional photographer that enjoys his time out in nature
Adrian - AOWS - (https://www.youtube.com/c/aowsphotos)
B+W landscape photographer that travels the world
Often very simple yet compelling images.
WEBSITES
YouPic (https://youpic.com/)
Photography Life (https://photographylife.com/)
BOOKS
Any of the Scott Kelby book series. Humorous and informative.
Favorite GEAR and Where To Get It
I don’t feel the need to list specific models of the gear I own. It’s not all state of the art, some is new and some is older. But over time I have found that these are reliable brands that produce good, quality products. Everyone should take the time to research which specific camera body suites their needs and which lenses will give them a good working range of focal lengths and which filter system they prefer. Every photographer is different and therefore the gear preferences and needs of each photographer will also differ.
CAMERA BODIES
Nikon
CAMERA LENSES
Nikon
TRIPODS
My big and heavy - Manfrotto 3021BPRO (aluminum)
My travel - Sirui AM-284 (carbon fiber)
TRIPOD HEADS
Ball Head - RRS (Really Right Stuff) - BH-30
Gimbal - Oben - GH-30
FILTERS
B+W
RETAILERS
B&H Photo and Video (https://www.bhphotovideo.com/)
Adorama (https://www.adorama.com/)
MPB (https://www.mpb.com/en-us) - Buy, sell or trade used photo and video gear.