News Update

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As the COVID pandemic continues, working for the Valley News at home or in the office with few co-workers is the new normal. Being out in the community to do photography is a nice relief, even while distancing and wearing a mask. Here are a few of my recent favorites:

Jim Kibbe, of Greenwich, Conn., photographs a farm along Cloudland Road in Pomfret, Vt. Following COVID-19 protocols, Kibbe and his wife are on a week-long trip to see the leaves in Maine and Vermont as he is between jobs. “We’re trying to make the best of it,” he said.

A passing rain shower falls on Norwich Police Cadet Evan Burke’s face shield while waiting to direct the next voter in their car at the outdoor polls set up at the transfer station in Norwich, Vt.

Upper Valley’s Kobe Benoit, center, is mobbed by his teammates after his game-winning walk-off hit in the seventh inning defeated Nashua 9-8 to win their best-of-three semifinal series in the New Hampshire COVID Baseball League tournament in Lebanon, N.H.

The Windsor field hockey team finishes a warm-up lap around the athletic fields at the start of practice in Windsor, Vt. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, players are required to wear masks while on the field.

Linda Muri, of Hanover, N.H., works for the first time as a ballot clerk at the primary polls in Leverone Fieldhouse in Hanover. “I knew they would have a hard time getting volunteers,” she said of why she signed up.

Valley News photographs copyright © Valley News
May not be reprinted without permission

Reunited

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Talya and Justin hired me to photograph their family in Stowe, Vt., while they got together with Justin’s parents to celebrate his mother’s 70th birthday. It was the first time they have seen each other since the pandemic started in March – I was happy to be there! Follow this link to see more photographs in the Galleries section of my website (and to purchase prints and downloads).

Kate & Mat

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I recently photographed Kate and Mat’s wedding in Landgrove, Vt., in the town’s beautiful meetinghouse. While the pandemic reduced their guest list to immediate family, the wedding was still a touching testament to their union. Follow this link to see more from the wedding on my Facebook page and click here to order prints and downloads.

Back in the News

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As soon as the coronavirus hit New England and drastically altered everyone’s lives, my work life also changed. The Valley News has had its struggles with losses of advertising and staff reductions. I’m proud to continue to work with a dedicated groups of journalists covering the Upper Valley. Here’s a few of my favorite photos I made over the past few months.

Weathersfield Elementary Principal JeanMarie Oakman waves goodbye to students leaving on four buses at the end of the school day in Ascutney, Vt., on March 16, 2020. Under the direction of the governor, students will be working from home through the end of the school year.

Hartford Selectboard member Alan Johnson raises his hand to be recognized in the chamber by chair Dan Fraser while meeting remotely as CATV Tech Coordinator Thomas Bishop watches in White River Junction, Vt., on March 25, 2020. Changes to the state’s Open Meeting Law allow for boards and commissions to meet from different locations due to COVID-19 concerns.

Instructor Lisa Dumont, of Rockingham, Vt., demonstrates an exercise for students during a Fit Body Boot Camp workout in the PowerHouse Mall parking lot in West Lebanon, N.H., on March 31, 2020. Dumont, who owns the business and another in Rockingham, said the response to the social-distancing workout in West Lebanon has been positive and she hopes to do the same soon at her other location.

As Enfield Police Chief Roy Holland, middle, and Officer Mike Crate load groceries into her car, Dorothy Braley, of Canaan, N.H., tells them it is her last time for weekly food at the police station in Enfield, N.H., on April 7, 2020. Braley is a dental assistant and her hours have been cut back to one day a week during the COVID crisis – her unemployment check had just started arriving. “This has been a massive help,” she said of the food for herself and her husband.

Quinn Thomashow, right, of Strafford, Vt., projects her camera-less film onto her family’s home as her relatives Julia and Rachel Norton, of New York City, watch while listening to the audio track Thomashow recorded on April 22, 2020. Originally intended to be part of an installation at Hampshire College for her senior thesis, Thomashow is instead sharing the project with friends and family in their cars due to the coronavirus pandemic. The Nortons temporarily moved to Strafford weeks earlier to shelter in place.

On the first day back in business on May 11, 2020, Colonial Barber Shop owner and barber Tracey Barber disinfects the shop’s door following a customer’s departure in West Lebanon, N.H. The shop and other New Hampshire hair salons were allowed to reopen, following restrictions due to the pandemic.

Jacqueline Springwater, of Norwich, Vt., moves soil delivered to her home one bucket at a time on May 15, 2020. Springwater, 86, is growing a garden this summer for the first time because travel is limited due to the coronavirus pandemic. Springwater will be growing herbs and greens for dishes she likes to cook. “I’m not only prepping my garden but also prepping my body,” she said of the workout required for gardening.

Kacey Knight singes remaining hair from a pig slaughtered at Vermont Packinghouse in North Springfield, Vt., on May 19, 2020. Knight supervises an eight-man crew on the “kill floor” at the 30,000 square-foot meatpacking plant. Due to the demand for locally raised beef and pork because of COVID-19, the slaughterhouse is booked through the end of 2020.

Spaced at least six feet apart, Hanover High School sophomore Ian Hedgepeth, right, and his teammates stand at the ready to sprint on coach Rob Woodward’s signal during their first practice for the new summer New Hampshire COVID Baseball League in Lebanon, N.H., on June 1, 2020.

Valley News photographs copyright © Valley News
May not be reprinted without permission

Kate & Mat

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Last weekend I got together with Mat and Kate to do engagement portraits and talk about photographing their August wedding in Landgrove, Vt. They’re a sweet couple and I’m looking forward to being their wedding photographer later this year!

The Year in Pictures

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The past year has been one of change, which generally means more time for me to be behind the computer instead of the camera. I still love photography and my role in documenting life around me. Here are a few of my favorites from 2019, with notes:

It was a bittersweet moment to see the last issue of the VALLEY NEWS come off the press in West Lebanon, N.H., at the end of January. The press crew moved to a new facility in Penacook, N.H., which also meant a full redesign and the newspaper’s deadlines have been moved up by several hours.

When one of the reporters at the newspaper heard the Tunbridge Fairgrounds had flooded following a sudden January thaw, she was blown away. While it was amazing to see, fair officials accessed the situation with a big shrug. Happens every year, they said.

Finding a fresh angle on any assignment is always a challenge. In Northern New England, high school baseball season always starts indoors because the fields are too soggy. I’m sure the players thought I was nutty for laying on the floor, taking a picture of a ball.

With a huge field of Democratic presidential candidates this time around, we have been seeing them more often. On a Saturday in April, I covered Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s campaign stop at a Lebanon, N.H., house party, where she did a video for Twitter before departing. The standard question for getting credentials these days is “what is your Twitter handle?”

My daughter played on Sharon Academy’s Ultimate team for the first time. Ultimate is a sport recently sanctioned by state officials and Sharon is the only school in the area with a team. I was there for Senior Day, one of our daughter’s last school activities I photographed over the years.

With fewer weddings to photograph, I spent a lot of my time off over the summer crawling under and around my project car, a 1979 Fiat 2000 convertible. While I felt overwhelmed at the prospect of rebuilding the whole brake system, I did it and the car is close to being fully roadworthy.

When our daughter graduated high school, she not only had a long ceremony to be part of, but then a party with family and an overnight excursion with her classmates at the school. Organizers didn’t want students driving themselves home, so I picked her and a friend up and we went out for breakfast at Eaton’s Sugarhouse. I can see why I was driving!

Our annual VALLEY NEWS Athlete of the Year portrait sessions were spread amongst the staff this year, a relief to me. Of those I did, one of my favorites was of Kiana Johnson, a senior at Thetford Academy. Kiana had to change schools for her last year after Chelsea Public School closed due to consolidation. She brought the ball she was given for scoring 1,000 points in her high school career, signed by her teammates.

Over the summer, Ben Canonica asked me to document the removal of a dam along the First Branch of the White River in Royalton, Vt. The first order of business was to push over a cinder block shed, creating an eerie photo as decades of flying dirt and debris went airborne. Greg Russ of the White River Partnership, shown, and I were amazed at Ben’s expertise in maneuvering his machines to return the river to its original state.

After covering Plainfield’s Fourth of July parade for the VALLEY NEWS, I added this photo of John Yacavone at the last minute because it grew on me (I love how the flag blends into his pants!). He is an enthusiastic Uncle Sam, leading the traditional parade for the past six years.

Protestors told the VALLEY NEWS they were planning to picket Gov. Chris Sununu’s appearance at a Lebanon, N.H., senior center due to the budget impasse between the Republican and the Democratic-majority legislature. As Sununu was leaving the event, he suddenly decided to speak with them and I was happy to document it.

My wife and I were fortunate to be invited to stay for a week in July with her cousin’s family at the Adirondacks camp where we spent our honeymoon. The original building has been around for over 100 years and we stayed in the smaller and newer cabin where her late grandmother spent many summers. It was so relaxing!

Daylight is long enough in the first week or two of the high school season that you’re able to mix in sunsets with the action, as I did at a Woodstock, Vt., game at the end of August. Peak light instead of peak action!

Valley News photographs copyright © Valley News
May not be reprinted without permission