Along with their family and friends from Oklahoma and Texas, Clay and Eileen came to Vermont to have an intimate wedding at the Christ Our Savior Parish in Manchester Center, Vt. Eileen spent a lot of time as a child at her grandparents’ home in nearby Dover — the area is very special to her and her family. More photographs from the wedding can be seen on my Facebook page.
Author Archives: Geoff Hansen
Starting Off
Thanks to Forbes Morrell’s attendance at a plumbing trade show, Vermont Lt. Gov. Phil Scott waved the green flag to start the NASCAR Nationwide series race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon, N.H. Morrell, owner of Forbes Maintenance Services in Corinth, Vt., nominated Scott for the honor while at the trade show. Scott is also a race car driver, something he’s done since 1989 and before he became a politician. I photographed Scott and Morrell at Thunder Road International Speedbowl in Barre, Vt., the other night for a story we did for the Valley News. More photos from the event can be seen in the newspaper’s online gallery here.
Driver Phil Scott, of Berlin, Vt., gets a good-luck hug and hiss from his wife, Diana Scott, before his late model heat race at the Thunder Road International Speedbowl.
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Bay of Fundy
My family and I just returned from a ten-day vacation on the New Brunswick coast, at Canada’s Fundy National Park. The Bay of Fundy’s tidal changes are the greatest in the world — the difference between low and high tide’s water levels are as much as 48 feet!
From top: Following the boardwalk to the shore, my wife and daughter walk through the woods to Fundy National Park’s Point Wolfe at low tide. Once heavily logged for shipbuilding in the 1800s, the area became a national park in 1948; At low tide, fishing boats at the marina in Alma, New Brunkswick, look as if they are in a bathtub after the drain plug was pulled; at low tide near the Cape Enrage lighthouse, the sky is reflected in one of the rocks. Mariners gave the area its name due to the long reef that caused many shipwrecks; My daughter skips rocks on the bay with one of the many flat rocks she found while walking the beach.
Shannon & Willy
Yesterday afternoon I met with Shannon and Willy to take their engagement photos — we made use of the Top of the Hop’s beautiful location at Dartmouth College in Hanover, N.H., after a downpour dampened our outside plans. I used to work with Willy’s mother at the Valley News; when he was a young kid, we even used Willy and his sister as models for a story about homemade Halloween costumes. I’ll have to find those negatives before their Sept. 2013 wedding!
Living History
This weekend, the Vermont History Expo is being held down the road from us at the Tunbridge Fairgrounds. While working for the Valley News yesterday, I met organist Miriam Herwig at the log cabin on Antique Hill. Herwig was playing songs Civil War-era on a pump organ in the hall as the expo marked the period. Wearing her grandmother’s 1887 wedding bonnet, Herwig definitely looked the part.
Miriam Herwig, 89, of Randolph Center, Vt., turns the page while playing “Battle Hymn of the Republic” in Antique Hill’s log cabin at the Tunbridge Fairgrounds in Tunbridge, Vt. Reenactors, authors and historical societies from towns across the state were part of the Vermont History Expo this weekend. An organist in her community church, Herwig said she enjoys playing the Civil War-era songs on the 1880 parlor organ because her grandmother sang some of the same to her when she was a child.
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Mica & Jason
On Memorial Day weekend, I photographed Mica and Jason’s wedding ceremony at the Strafford Town House in Strafford, Vt., followed by a reception at their nearby home. I enjoyed documenting the day and returning to the place where I was married in 1995 (with 18 photographers swarming about!). More photographs from the wedding can be seen on my Facebook page.
Counting on Cards
Last Saturday night, I photographed a Texas Hold ‘Em poker tournament at the Orange East Senior Center in Bradford, Vt., for the Valley News. Many of the players were regulars at the center’s fundraising game. It was interesting to watch the action, ranging from serious to silly.
From top: Jason Bowen, left, of Topsham, Vt., keeps an eye on his competition while playing in the poker tournament. Dealer Sandy Benjamin, right, of Enfield, N.H., chats with players while running a table at the tournament. Benjamin has been a dealer the whole time the game has been at the senior center; Dealer John-Paul Hunt, of Woodsville, N.H., center, turns over “the flop” — the first three of the five community cards — at one of three tables of players during the tournament; Mary Ryan, of Norwich, Vt., checks her cards while playing.
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Kathy & Turhan
April showers held off for a glorious evening wedding I photographed recently at The Warren Conference Center and Inn in Ashland, Mass. I enjoyed being a part of Kathy and Turhan’s wedding day and also catching up with Kathy’s sister, who I worked with at the Valley News. More photographs from the wedding can be seen on my Facebook page.
Team Irene
After several days of rain this week, the softball team at Whitcomb High School in Bethel, Vt., celebrated the use of their new field with a 20-5 win over neighboring South Royalton yesterday. Both teams lost their riverside fields to several feet of silt when Tropical Storm Irene flooded them in August. The kids’ enthusiasm was great to see as I was there to photograph the game for the Valley News. More photos from the game can be seen in the newspaper’s online gallery here.
From top: Whitcomb’s Cambry Zullick, left, is congratulated by teammate Amanda Begin after Zullick’s third inning solo home run against South Royalton in Bethel, Vt. It was the first home run at the team’s new field, which replaced the old one, damaged by Tropical Storm Irene’s flooding last fall. Whitcomb won, 20-5; Whitcomb’s Lindsey LaPerle, right, waits for the call after the ball gets away from South Royalton’s Kim Lakin; Whitcomb’s softball team has signed their names in the new softball field dugout, calling themselves the Irene Team.
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Gone Fishin’
As the sun came up yesterday morning, I found many enthusiastic anglers in area rivers and ponds on opening day of Vermont’s trout fishing season. I was making pictures for Jared Pendak’s Valley News story. I haven’t cast a line since going with my grandfather as a kid, but I can see why so many are drawn to the sport. A few more photos from my morning can be seen in the newspaper’s online gallery here.
From top: David Mattern, of Tunbridge, Vt., right, holds up a string of rainbow trout while his friend Garrett Chrostek, of South Royalton, Vt., paddles their canoe out on McIntosh Pond in Royalton, Vt. The pair had caught four before taking a break to help Mattern’s father load his canoe on opening day for trout fishing season; Eight rainbow trout lie in a cooler after Wes Mattern, of Tunbridge, and his son Ben, 6, caught them at McIntosh Pond; Jason Ballou, of Bethel, Vt., shows his son, Kellan, 6, how to bait his line with a worm while fishing for trout on the Third Branch of the White River in Bethel. Returning to the same spot they fished last year, Ballou said the river channel was in a different place after Irene’s flooding; Sharon Waters, of Randolph, casts her line into the White River under the Royalton village bridge in the morning. Waters said she was looking forward to a day of fishing – including with her adult son in the afternoon – on her only day off in three weeks. “I just love being by the water,” she said.
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