Back to the pemi wilderness!

My twin brother, Jonathan, visited NH for a week. He flew overnight from Seattle, and the next night we decided to head out to the White Mountains, specifically an area we have been bushwhacking and back-country camping each spring and fall for the last several years- the pemigewasset wilderness of the White Mountain National Forest in NH. It is a magnificent area.
Me, Jonathan, and our best friend, Paul arrived at the trail head at 10:30pm Friday. It was a bit of a late start, but we really wanted to spend two nights, since one night always feels too short. We hiked in a little bit and back country camped off the trail. The next morning we bushwhacked to a beautiful spot we found last year, set up camp, explored the nearby rivers and relaxed.

We brought Jake, a tough and adventurous little dog. The first night was nearly a full moon with very little cloud cover, so we slept in the open. But it was so bright it made it hard to fall asleep.

Jonathan, Paul, and Jake exploring one of the branch rivers, during our bushwhack on the second day.

Swimming in the chilly water! Paul took a few photos of me and Jonathan going in the chilly river. A few days before October!
Jonathan striking a pose with the hiking stick he whittled when he was 1o or 11.

I don't think it is very common for little terriers like Jake to like to swim, but he loves it, and he did really well swimming in a river for the first time. I wasn't sure how he would do camping out, but he was great, I wish we had brought him with us years ago.

On Sunday, the walk back on the Lincoln Woods trail. It was cloudy, but the leaves seemed to become more vibrant by the minute. We picked a great time to visit the Whites, close to peak foliage.

Jonathan showing Paul the chaga fungus, a parasitic fungi that grows on live birch trees. Great as a tinder. The fungi's cancer-fighting properties are also being researched.

Group shot by the fire on the second night. The fall is my favorite time of year to camp and explore the white mountains. Nice chilly nights, great for sleeping and a nice fire, there is no need for mosquito netting at night, it is fantastic.

On the way back we stopped in at The Mountain Wanderer, a map and book store in Lincoln run by Steve Smith. If you want to know something about the white mountains, and he doesn't know it, odds are no one does. He's knows the woods of the whites, on and off trail, like no other. Check out his explorations on his blog here- Mountain Wandering.

I was fortunate to be able to take a couple days off and get up to NH to visit with my twin brother and Paul. Thanks for a great time guys!

Whale watch

As we headed back towards shore a cloud front was starting to roll in.

In mid-September Jacqui and I went on a whale watch with Granite State Whale Watch out of Rye NH. The guides were very informative and pleasant to talk with about marine biology, an area of the natural world I know close to nothing about.

The white strip is very visible in this photo. Apparently they can swim up to 30 mph.

It was beautiful early-fall day, a clear blue sky that stretched forever over the ocean. The trip lasted over 5 hours and we fortunate enough to see a blue shark, a pod of about 50 atlantic white-sided dolphins, which swam all around the boat, extremely fast, close enough to hear them expel air. We were also lucky enough to see an endangered species of whale known as the northern sei whale (I believe that is correct), we also had some great views of a fin whale. Overall it was a wonderful time, and I look forward to doing it again sometime next year.

Passing the Isle of shoals as we head back to shore.


I didn't take very many photos, I was mostly just trying to not miss anything and just experience the trip. But Jacqui took a few more and has some good ones here.

fireflies- incredible photos by german photog.

Check out this link, you'll definitely enjoy it-

"If you glow down to the woods today..."


It is a great example of some creative photography with long exposures! Thanks for sending that Jacqui!

Two senators- archive photos

Two former senators, one would become the next president, whereas the other had a serious fall from grace.
I was browsing through some of my old archived photos on an external hard drive and came upon some of them, so here are a few.
In one of my first blog posts (click here) I wrote about some of the opportunities I had while working for the student paper at the University of New Hampshire.

JordanJessopPhotography.com

While it is still very much a work-in-progress, I have been updating my personal photography website- Jordan Jessop Photography. Have a look and please feel free to offer feedback, use the fancy new contact page!

Star Trails

I was finally able to get out and experiment with making star trails, this is the best result so far. Next time I need to increase the f/stop even more to decrease noise a bit. I angled the lens toward the north star, orienting it in the top left corner. The shutter was open for about 30 minutes. Some light pollution is visible in the image, especially towards the lower right corner. This was taken in Mont Vernon NH, a small town in a rural area, but apparently still too close to the city lights of Manchester. When I get back to Springfield NH I plan on taking advantage of any clear nights to experiment further with this, the night sky up there is quite nice. I am not sure that this is feasible it is to do star trails in Millbrook, NY, where there is quite a bit of light pollution, but I will try when get a chance. I used a fixed 50mm lens on this shot, set at f/5.0, ISO 100, exposed for 26.3 minutes. I can't wait to try again.
Please offer any advice or insight on star trails!

Hopkinton Fair- NH

Fowler Pond

Fowler Pond is along Fowler Drive, on the Cary Institute's property, adjacent to the vegetable garden. It is a very small, and shallow pool of water, lined with aquatic vegetation, it's murky waters are filled with little fish, and the an occasional snapping turtle. I have resisted the temptation to jump in it on hot humid days, although some people do go swimming in it, I think it is a bit too mucky and full of algae and duckweed to offer much refreshment. But it is a beautiful spot to explore as well as to sit and read.

A couple of weeks ago I spotted this great egret hunting along the shore.

rabbits everywhere!

One of the first things I noticed after arriving at the Cary Institute and throughout the Hudson Valley area, are all the cottontail rabbits running around at the edges of fields and yards. Depending on the time of day, morning or dusk, they are easily a more common sight than squirrels. A few weeks ago I took a little time to get a few photos of some of them in the lowlands on the Cary Institute property. It is possible some of the rabbits I have seen are New England cottontails, although they are much less common, and are actually considered endangered in New Hampshire, with possibly fewer than 100 remaining in the state (link).

american robin

A project assistant here, working on various research projects caught this beautiful robin outside our house. These common little birds are often seen as harbingers of spring, even though they are usually year-round residents, they are less-visible roosting in the winter woods.

Around the Cary Institute and up the creek!

Two friends and I spent part of Saturday walking along Wappinger Creek and around the Cary Institute grounds. We found green frogs, painted turtles, some newts and enjoyed the beautiful weather, before the heat and humidity came back today. Thanks for a fun time and the hand modeling for the photos Jay and Katie!













This young painted turtle could really tuck tight into his shell!

Duckweed is the smallest flowering plant in the world! Jay's hand shows how thick the pond was with duck weed, it provided great cover for the frogs and turtles.

Exploring Bash Bish Falls (100th post!)

I recently explored Bash Bish falls again. I crossed the creek at the falls and went up the steep blue trail passing by a couple of picturesque pools (see below).

The best place to find some peace and quiet away from hordes of people is to go up beyond the falls, where a few people can be found exploring, but it is generally deserted. The creek at this point is very calm and is great spot to sit and read a book, which is exactly what I did for a few hours.


The water strider shadows looked like faces dancing across the rocks below.

First time in NYC

My first thought getting off the train in Grand Central Station, after admiring the iconic architecture, was, "Is it always this crazy?," and of course, since it was a Saturday morning, the answer is most definitely, "No! It's usually far worse!"



A week ago, Jacqui and I took the express train down from Poughkeepsie into the city. The ride down was pleasant, giving us a nice view of the Hudson River Valley. We saw the United States Military Academy, a bald eagle, a nuclear power plant (you were right Jacqui!), a couple of great blue herons, and a whole lot of garbage along the tracks and roads as we got into the city.

Walking out of the station we made our way over to Lexington Ave, where there was a large market full of vendors, which stretched for blocks. Each consecutive block sold almost the exact same items just with different faces behind the booths.

It was an extremely humid 94° F day, we visited a small portion of Central Park, where I was very dismayed to see a huge golden statue of General Sherman, portraying him as some sort of godly figure. Despite the controversy that surrounds him, he somehow also has the world's largest tree named after him..

Anyway while we were sitting on a bench at the edge of central park we noticed a model walking along a crosswalk back and forth, with a group of photographers snapping away as she strolled across at each red light. It was funny.Her outfit looked totally ridiculous, plus she could barely walk, each time she turned around she nearly fell over with her long narrow heels that looked like small stilts.
Check out the huge L-series canon lens. Several thousand dollars right there.

We couldn't tell if this from an actual wedding or just more models, but it was in the middle of grand central, with a half dozen photographers.
We also visited the UN building. Below is the flag from the UN building that was bombed in Baghdad, the Canal Hotel, killing 22 people including the UN representative.


On our way back from the noisy, bustling city. It was a hot and busy day. We still have so much more to see, I look forward to visiting again, most likely in the fall, and after I have recovered from the madness of the city.

Fireworks

Above are a few photos from fourth of July weekend from back home