On The Verge of Another Autumn

We are on the verge of another Autumn here in New England - that place synonymous with the season.  Just last week I caught a glimpse of a bright fiery red tree off to the side of the road behind a line of pine trees.  I had to break suddenly much as I do when I see a cemetery (no one was behind me) and turn off to see if I could get an angle on it. 

No luck.  

It was well protected by pine and oak as well as smaller bushes growing around it on the edge of a swamp.  Soon though, as I see other trees with branches tipped in red are starting their transformation, I know Autumn will be in full blaze. I have seen over 50 Autumns.  I had not thought of my life in seasons before and that number does not seem nearly a large enough number of times to view the brilliant color changes.  I grew up in the Midwest and felt an early draw to New England.  I am pretty sure I was the only teenage girl in my town who had copies of Yankee Magazine mixed in with my Tiger Beat issues.  (And I am talking about the original, small format Yankee - the best!).  

Autumn in the Midwest is quite stunning.  It is full of golden shades that glow in the sun.  New England draws more folks to visit and "leaf peep", I believe, because there are more of the amazing reds and blushy oranges as well as the golden yellows. 

I love cemeteries in Autumn!  How can I not?  As a nature photographer, I find many of my best subjects in Cemeteries (ponds full of frogs, moss full of mushrooms).  In the Autumn at a garden cemetery, the trees are simply stunning and generally do not have the issue of power lines and other things getting in the way of a great image.  

This image from Mount Vernon Cemetery in West Boylston, MA was taken in mid-morning on a sunny October day in 2018.  This tree is one of my favorites.  There is no time of year that this tree fails to present its glory as it stands guardian over the surrounding graves and monuments that date from the 1800's to the present.  

You will hear me downplay my photographs and my abilities.  I use a "point and shoot" Sony camera which I love in spite of its heft. I do get wonderful results when I am calm, patient and thoughtful about the composition.  Don't rush yourselves when taking photos of anything.  Take your time and take a lot of options from a lot of angles.  I am ecstatic when I get one great image out of a hundred.   Am I the only one that remembers the old days when you had to pay for processing?  Digital cameras and now phone cameras becoming so sophisticated can make anyone a great photographer. 

The following three photos were taken in 2012 during my statuary obsession.  All three of these are from cemeteries in Worcester, MA and show how amazing Fall color can provide a stunning backdrop to a subject.  To the right is a detail from the "zinkie" or white bronze monument  of the LaFontaine family.  Isn't that face beautiful?  I have found at least one but sometimes as many as four zinkies in most larger New England garden cemeteries.  Some even have the footstones still in tact.  It's become a gift to me, to see one and generally I see their blue green finish from a distance (even when driving by).

 

2012 was a great year for color in the Autumn.  Every year isn't always what we hope in terms of Fall color. Every year of our lives isn't always what we hope, now is it?  If 2020 has taught us anything, it is that we have to roll with the punches or "pivot" as is the popular term now.  Being a bit of a loner, I found that quarantine did not prohibit me from going to cemeteries (except for Mount Auburn in Boston which did close to visitors except for family members).   Some walking areas were also closed but it's a big place out there and I found many trails I could continue to wander.  I even found some new cemeteries to visit.   

 

I am looking forward to seeing what this fall has to share with us.  Will it be full of bright reds?  Will it devastate us with orange?  Will the trees hold their colors or will they change and suddenly fall?  I realize there is a lot of science involved - temperature, precipitation levels from the previous Spring, etc.  but I wait and I drive out and check my favorite spots.  I know there is a spot along the Ware River where the white birches seem to be the first to change.  They create a startlingly beautiful reflection in the river that lasts only a day or two.  Timing is important and we don't always have it, do we? 

Go outside.  Enjoy yourself, whether in a cemetery or not.  You can acquire a nice sense of peace in nature. Even if you don't have a photo in your camera to represent the day, you have the image in your memory.  I expect an Autumn full of potential and discovery.

If you are new to my blog I hope you will consider sharing it with like minded, cemetery obsessed people. 

Being Prepared

I've been shooting pictures of entire cemeteries in the Barre, MA area this past year to upload to findagrave.com.  Most recently I found Riverside Cemetery, which is definitely what I would describe as off the beaten trail.  More accurately it is off the paved trail.  It is located in a wooded recreational area about a mile and a half from Route 62 in Barre (for those not from New England, you pronounce that 'bear - eeee').  Generally I would not have driven off down a dirt road - walked yes, but driven in a vehicle not meant for off - roading - no.  I'd already shot two cemeteries that morning and didn't want to wander aimlessly in the woods when I wasn't even certain this was the correct road.  I've been warned by enough friends that I need to not wander around in the woods alone.  Wolves, you know.

The narrow one lane road wound through the trees, up, down and around.  To my surprise there were a few homes tucked into clearings - that's privacy!  One was appropriately a log cabin.  Recent rains were evident in the erosion and I wondered how far I could or should continue.  Just when I had decided that I was going to turn around in the next possible spot and go back to research the location better, my "cemetery sense" tingled.  Off to my right, down a rutted path and through the sun tickled woods, I could make out a clearing that I felt could be it.  I couldn't see a gate or the headstones, just the hint of a clearing on a rise of land.  That usually means "Cemetery" and usually gives me a burst of energy. 

There it was.  Riverside Cemetery.  It was much larger than I had anticipated with a large white arch at the entrance. I had not planned to stop, but considering it was so far in the woods and I didn't know when I would be back that way, I thought I should start shooting the images of it as well.

Having already shot two cemeteries that leads me to the title - "Being Prepared".  I am generally, in spite of the fact that I was never a girl scout, very prepared.  I get that from my mother.  At her funeral it was said that she was a woman who would produce the makings of a picnic, including a cake from her purse.  It's a bit of an exaggeration, but there was always a spare iced cake in the freezer in case of company.

In general being prepared for shooting the cemetery means to me having at least the following tools in addition to the camera:

• Extra charged batteries (one or two) How many you need depends on the battery life.  Batteries for newer cameras seem to me to last longer - I get four hours each out of the Sony Lithium battery pack for my CyberShot if I am shooting stills (far less if shooting video).  I'd been out shooting already four hours, so these were very useful.
• Extra memory card(s).  When I first started I was using a 1 GB card.  Now I am using 8 and 16 GB cards and have never filled a card of that size in one trip.  For whatever reason, that morning I put an extra in my pocket.  And as luck would have it, halfway through the cemetery, the card in the camera was reportedly full, so I did need it. 
• Soft brushes - to brush off dirt or dust from the face of stones, especially those that are flush to the ground surface.  I am no stranger to grave dirt under the nails though.  I use soft make-up brushes for cleaning up things like mushrooms but for headstones a larger soft brush that will not do any damage to the surface of the stone is useful.
• Food - munchies and water primarily.  I lose track of time and cemeteries do not have concessions.

Those are my basics, but there are more items I have learned are very useful:

•  Mirror or reflective sun shield - With my graceful nature, it is best I do not carry a large mirror in the car, but using a mirror or reflective shield (the foldable sun shield in the car works) you can reflect light against the surface of a stone and hopefully make the lettering on a weathered stone appear with more definition in a photo.

• Spritzer - bottle of water to spritz the stone.  This can help to clean off dirt or tell-tale signs of visiting birds or, in some instances, the water on the stone surface sometimes brings out the stone color in the photo or brightens it.

I don't do restorations or repairs on stones.  My "job" is strictly to digitally record their images and carvings. Restorers have many other tools and skills in their kit.

The one thing I hadn't thought of needing, I did not even own that day.  I do now.  Unbeknownst to me, hunting season opened that day.  Not being a hunter of animals, I hadn't really been paying attention.   I should have been and it is important to pay attention when in "lost" cemeteries, tucked into places such as this one, where hunters are enjoying their time out as well.  I now own a lovely and extremely stylish BRIGHT ORANGE DON'T SHOOT ME I AM NOT A DEER vest to wear over my tan jacket.  

I am thankful that the hunters out that day were more aware than I was.