Beginning today, I will have a larger role at the Valley News in producing the newspaper. While I’m still photo editor, I will be in the office full-time and my ability to help out with photography is going to be limited. This group of photos from this year’s baseball season reminds me what I love (and will miss) about photojournalism – there’s not constant action in front of you and it’s up to the photographer to stay a step ahead and to think about the story to be told.

From top, The sun made a brief-yet-striking appearance during the Division III matchup between Green Mountain and White River Valley in South Royalton, Vt.; Relief pitcher Alex Jenness looks for the sign from catcher Michael Evans while throwing to a Laconia batter in the fifth inning of their game in West Canaan, N.H.; Hartford’s Zack Butterfield takes batting practice with sunflower seeds while drenching rain falls and shortens their planned doubleheader with Mount Anthony to a single game in White River Junction, Vt.; As rain continues to fall before their doubleheader with Mount Anthony, Athletic Director Jeff Moreno, left, shows Hartford baseball coaches Jarrod, center, and Dick Grassi the sunny conditions the softball team is playing under in Bennington, Vt., where rain was predicted; White River Junction Post 84 senior’s Alex Emerson beats the tag at home by Bennington Post 13 catcher Owen King as Post 84’s Tom Bissaillon watches in the seventh inning of the first game of their doubleheader in White River Junction; Upper Valley Nighthawks infielders Cole Frederick, left, and Adam Smith turn a double-play on North Adams’ Brian Picone and his teammate in the fourth inning of their game in White River Junction; Lebanon Post 22 senior’s Ethan Brueckner swings at a high pitch and strikes out in the seventh inning with the bases loaded against Laconia Post 1 in Lebanon, N.H.; Nighthawks teammates John Hosmer, left, of Charlotte, N.C., and Kellen Spann, of Meridian, Miss., check out the Martha’s Vineyard neighborhoods in Oak Bluffs, Mass., during a bus ride to play the Sharks; The Nighthawks’ Devin Beckley pitches to the Sharks’ Nander De Sedas as Andrew Cossetti catches in the fifth inning of their game in Oak Bluffs, Mass. New to the New England Collegiate Baseball League, the Sharks hosted the Nighthawks for the first time; Midway through their 13 hours of traveling to play baseball, the Upper Valley Nighthawks board a fishing trawler, departing Martha’s Vineyard for Falmouth, Mass., and eventually returning to White River Junction.

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It’s been a while since I’ve done a blog post (partly because I’ve been spending my spare time on an old car – follow along with me on Instagram!), but I continue to do photography at the Valley News when extra help is needed. Here’s a few of my favorites from the past few months:

From top, Hanover High students, from left, Mae Candon, Olivia Evans, Kristov Bardales and Gail Morse cheer for the team as they are introduced before the start of the NHIAA Division II state championship against Kennett in Manchester, N.H.; From left, Thetford’s Eli Dunnet (12), Owen Deffner (22), Alex Emerson (15), Carter Blain (21) Jake Colby (30) huddle up before Emerson’s free throw attempt in the first quarter of their Division III state championship with Williamstown in Barre, Vt.; Young adult author Jo Knowles, of Hartland, Vt., is photographed in the town hall before leaving to promote her new book Where the Heart Is; A motorist stops to turn around on Falls Hill Road in Tunbridge, Vt., after an overnight storm caused the First Branch of the White River to overflow its banks. Route 110 from Howe Lane to Russell Road was closed after a section of the road was under a foot of water; Sharon’s Isabella Amodeo, right, intercepts a pass intended for Lyndon’s Lucas Patoine, left, with an assist from teammates Rory Livingston and Carl Groppe in the second half of their Ultimate game in Sharon, Vt. In the background is Sharon’s Claire Jenisch; Oxbow’s Emma DeGoosh leads the defending Division III champions in a cheer before they step up to bat in the first inning of their game with White River Valley in Bradford, Vt.; Windsor co-captain Ryland Richardson passes the time during a pitching change in the seventh inning of their game with Brattleboro in Windsor, Vt.; Richard Neugass, of Norwich, Vt., looks for migrating birds while carrying the communal trash bag along the Ompompanoosuc Flats in Norwich. Chris Rimmer has led a group of birders on Green Up Day for the past eight years to pick up litter and to keep eyes on the sky. “It’s just an excuse to go birding,” Rimmer said.

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It’s a tumultuous time to be in the newspaper industry, but it’s still a thrill to be a part of daily news reporting. Here’s a few of my favorite photos that I did over the past few months for the Valley News.

From top, With help from carpenter Mike Gross, of Tunbridge, Vt., (not pictured) Peter Klinck attaches a rake overhang with screws to the porch of his Tunbridge home. The porch is the last of the house’s framing to be done, rebuilt after a Nov. 2014 fire caused $250,000 in damages. Klink used insurance funds, donations, recycled materials and sweat equity to bring the building back into shape; South Royalton teammates, from left, George Carr, Logan Martin and Zeb Perrault celebrate after Martin scored on a bunt by Jacob Barry in the sixth inning of their Division IV semifinal game with Rivendell in South Royalton, Vt. South Royalton won, 4-2; State Sen. Alison Clarkson, of Woodstock, Vt., gives Jane Curtis, also of Woodstock, a kiss after about 50 people sang “Happy Birthday” to Curtis at the start of a rally at Tribou Park in Woodstock. Curtis, who turned 100 earlier in the month, was the inspiration for the new group Women For A Change, who organized the demonstration against the Trump administration’s policy to separate immigrant children from their parents while they are seeking asylum; Becca White, middle, of White River Junction, Vt., reacts to the news that Donald and and Wanda Nalette are to be selling their South Main Street building in downtown White River Junction to Northern Stage at the end of July. Wanda Nalette, who owns Twin State Typewriter, will be closing the business and joining her husband in retirement; While waiting to line up for commencement, Jackie Balch takes a silly photo of herself with her classmates Elizabeth Coverdale and Lawrence Roessel in Sunapee, N.H. Twenty-nine graduates received their diplomas; After cutting away an area of cedar shake siding with a chainsaw firefighters examine where lightning was suspected to have traveled down the side of Donna Goldberg’s house on Taylor Valley Road in Vershire, Vt. The early 1970s-era house was unoccupied, undergoing renovations and is insured.

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It’s still a pleasure to be here and there covering the community for the Valley News. I’m mostly in the office as photo editor but I’m on the road whenever we’re short a photographer. Here’s a few of my recent favorites:

From top, Jocelyn Beeman, of Claremont, N.H., wipes her eyes while watching her son Oliver, 10, speak to the Claremont City Council about a petition he circulated to ask for the lowering of the speed limit along South Street At left is Oliver’s father, Jason Beeman; Thomas Buergenthal sits for a portrait in Hanover, N.H. He gave the speech “Scenes from a Life: From the Auschwitz Death March to the International Court of Justice” at Dartmouth College later in the day. He was one of the youngest Holocaust survivors. After the war, Buergenthal studied law in the United States and during the course of his career as a law professor, became a world-renowned expert on human rights; Dartmouth No. 5 singles player Ciro Riccardi serves against Princeton in their last match of the regular season. Dartmouth won, 4-1, to win its first Ivy League title since 1997; Ellie Woodward, 6, of Lebanon, N.H., tries to take the basketball away from her father, Dylan Woodward, while enjoying a warm Sunday afternoon at the CCBA’s Witherell Recreation Center’s outdoor courts with her sister and mother in Lebanon; Newport, N.H., seniors Stacia Dame, left, Hailey Perry and Kendall Hamilton (not shown) hug after they were given flowers by their families at the start of their last home game with Stevens in Newport.

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Finding moments while being out and about as a photographer for the Valley News continues to be a joy, whether it’s early in the morning or late at night. Here’s a few of my favorites so far from 2018:

From top, Nick Stickney of Blakeman’s Towing & Recovery works to remove a Jeep Wrangler from the ditch after it was struck by an Amtrak passenger train in South Royalton, Vt. Police said the Jeep’s driver was trying to pull another car out of the snow at the time of the crash. No one was injured; Amy Hutchins, as Marianne, and Michael Stewart Allen, as Roland, rehearse a scene from CONSTELLATIONS, a two-character drama by Nick Payne at Shaker Bridge Theatre in Enfield, N.H.; Jarvis Antonio Green is the founding producing artistic director for JAG Productions and BarnArts Center for the Arts; Terry Wing, of Springfield, Vt., reacts to Gregory Smith’s testimony in Windsor Superior Court in White River Junction, Vt., about the shooting of her son Wesley Wing in April 2015 over a dispute about drug activity in the Springfield neighborhood where Smith and Wesley Wing lived; Lebanon guard Megan Gradijan keeps the ball in play as it heads out-of-bounds in the first quarter of their game with Con-Val in Lebanon, N.H.; Players and fans react to Dover’s go-ahead goal with less than 30 seconds to play in the game with Lebanon-Stevens on Feb. 14, 2018, in West Lebanon, N.H. Dover’s Garrett Swan, left, scored on an assist from teammate Wyatt Allaire, center, to win 5-4; Ben Emery, of Burlington, Vt., launches from the 50-meter jump at Storrs Hill in Lebanon, N.H., during a Junior Nationals qualifying event. The jump now has metal tracks instead of snow, allowing for predictable tracking and planned year-round use beginning in 2019; Over a half-dozen homeowners in Warren, N.H., have been without water for about two months after a stretch of the Baker River near their homes was dredged. They believe the water table dropped, ran their dug wells dry and are looking for answers from town, state and federal officials.

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The second story I photographed for the Weather Channel’s series on climate change was published over the weekend. Working with writer Matt Hongoltz-Hetling and editor Patty Cox, over the summer I documented elements of Vermont’s renewable energy efforts, from solar power to electric vehicles to zero-energy homes. I enjoyed exploring the topic and seeing the result! Follow this link to read the story and see a video that was also produced.

From top: Three solar projects have been installed near the Rutland Community Garden’s 50 plots, within view of the Green Mountains and Killington Peak, the second highest in Vermont. According to Green Mountain Power, Rutland is the Solar Capital of New England, with the most solar per capita of any city in the region; While 60 SunCommon solar panels are installed in an adjacent barn, Jersey cows are turned out to pasture after their morning milking at 4 Corners Farm in Newbury, Vt.; SunCommon Warehouse Assistant Evan Vaillancourt loads a pallet of solar panels into a trailer to be delivered to a job site at the company’s warehouse in Waterbury, Vt. The company’s 21 enclosed trailers are delivered with job-specific inventory — they average 15 installations a week in the summertime; SunCommon Co-President Duane Peterson below bi-facial solar panels, which absorb energy on both sides. Peterson and James Moore started the company in 2012 and the business has grown from 16 employees to over 70; Farmer Anna Hurlburt leads her flock of 50 Dorset Tunis sheep through the solar array at Open View Farm in New Haven, Vt. Hurlburt and her husband, Ben Freund, rotationally graze the sheep under the solar array owned by Cross Pollination Inc., which intentionally had the facility designed to allow for livestock grazing; The sheep graze under solar panels at dusk at Open View Farm. The 2.49-megawatt solar array was designed and built by Vermont-based groSolar in 2013 for Cross Pollination. The solar array generates enough power for 350 homes each year; Jennifer Wallace-Brodeur leads a morning transportation team meeting at the Vermont Energy Investment Corporation offices in Burlington, Vt. Wallace-Brodeur is the director of transportation efficiency at the VEIC; Kevin Jones, of Chittenden, Vt., travels on Route 100 in Stockbridge, Vt., near the Green Mountain National Forest. After owning two gas-electric hybrids, Jones decided to lease a Chevy Bolt electric car for his 80-mile roundtrip commute. Because its brakes regenerate the battery power, Jones said the downhill travel in the mountains compensates for its uphill climb; After arriving at work at Vermont Law School in South Royalton, Vt., Jones plugs his Chevy Bolt into a Level 2 charging station at the school. The school has seven charging stations, four which are the higher-powered Level 2 stations; Vermod Homes owner Steve Davis speaks with the construction crew foreman on the job site at one of Vermod’s modular home installations in Woodstock, Vt. The three-piece 1,500 square-foot home was built in VerMod’s facility in Wilder, Vt., and put together on-site; To help with its weatherization, laborer Tim Nunn caulks electrical boxes from the outside on one of the modular homes under construction at Vermod Homes in Wilder, Vt. “I haven’t seen a house as energy efficient as these,” he said; Carpenters Tyler Wheatley and Ben Parsons of Conniff’s Custom Building in Brookfield, Vt., build a garage on-site after a Vermod home was placed on the property in Woodstock. Doc Conniff said he has been working with Vermod Homes owner Steve Davis on jobs for 30 years.

In the first week of November, I tagged along with Carl Diener while he explored the woods to hunt deer in the waning days of muzzleloader season in Hanover, N.H., for a Valley News story. Oblivious to a steady rain, Diener spent the afternoon waiting for his prey while warm in wool. “I like the old way of doing things,” he said. “You feel like you’re actually accomplishing something.”

From top, Carl Diener, of Hanover, N.H., quietly walks into the woods near his home while looking for deer tracks on the second to last day of New Hampshire’s muzzleloader season. Diener began hunting in the 1980s with a co-worker and was attracted to muzzleloader season because it’s a two-week head start on rifle season; A collection of photographs in Diener’s shop shows the deer he has harvested over the years with his muzzleloader rifle. Once rifle season begins, Diener will not use a modern gun, dressing in his wool capote coat, carrying his powder in a horn and ammunition in a pouch; Diener takes aim at a doe he sees nearby — but does not shoot — while hunting. During muzzleloader season, the state allows the taking of any deer only for the first four days in the G1 Wildlife Management Unit where Diener hunts; Stepping in from a rainy afternoon of hunting, Diener checks to be sure the flintlock’s priming pan is dry where gunpowder was to be struck in his muzzleloader rifle. Diener had covered the area with a cow’s knee, originally named for the piece of leather made from the appendage. Diener made one himself from two pieces of suede.

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This fall I have had the privilege to spend time in and around Upper Valley schools to catch moments while working working for the Valley News. I especially liked catching the Rock-Paper-Scissors Championship above on video, with a great touch by Web Editor Maggie Cassidy!

From top, Richmond Middle School seventh-grader Mandi Shi, center, is encouraged by classmates Elizabeth Pollock, left, and Reilly Loughman while twisting to pass a hula hoop made of duct tape to Loughman at the annual Class Day activities held after lunch at the Storrs Pond Recreation Area in Hanover, N.H. In addition to playing other team-building games, the students learned to dance the Macarena and had a brownie bake-off; Randolph Union High School junior Shea Fordham works to solve a problem in her Advanced Placement Calculus class at Randolph Union High School in Randolph, Vt.; Marion Cross School third-grader Sophie Hopkins gives crossing guard Fred White, 81, of Wilder, Vt., a hug after a surprise all-school assembly honored the retiring White for his 19 years of service in Norwich, Vt. White said he’s enjoyed meeting the students over the years and staying in touch with some of them through adulthood.

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