Jeff Wignall's Travel Guide: Great Places to Photograph

Antique Machinery Festival in Kent, Connecticut September 26-29

I've always had a special affection for both country fairs (especially in autumn in New England) and antique engines, so a festival of antique machines is something I'd find hard to resist. That's why I'm psyched that the 24th annual Fall Festival sponsored by the Connecticut Antique Machinery Association (CAMA) www.ctamachinery.com is coming to Kent, Connecticut September 26 to 29th.

Antique machines (Iike the old red steam engine I shot at the Goshen Fair last year--above) are usually fascinating to watch and photograph. At this festival you'll get a chance to get up close to a variety of antique machines, including rock crushers, well drillers, steam saws, narrow gauge train engines, vintage motorcycles and lots of other early mechanical wonders of the past.  The fair will be held on the grounds of the Sloane Stanley Museum on Route 7 in Kent, in Connecticut’s Litchfield Hills. And if you've never been to this area before, trust me, you won't see a prettier area in all of New England.

According to the organziers, new for 2008 will be an expanded Blacksmith Shop with smithy demonstrations, added exhibits in Connecticut’s only Mining Museum, and installation of a newly acquired Nagle-Corliss steam engine.  The Mining Museum also has an impressive display of minerals.

Also, for antique railroad fans, an antique engine known as "old Hawaii #5" will go into motion on the museum's old narrow gauge railroad tracts, belching smoke and steam and the trusty Plymouth Diesel locomotive will power an open car for a nostalgic ride into the past.  Tractor rides are another popular feature.

CAMA’s goal is to educate today’s public about our early industrial and agricultural machinery that once powered America and set the stage for today’s innovations.  Their non-profit museum next to the Sloane Stanley Museum has a host of exhibits year round that are put into operation for this special weekend. Along with exhibits and demonstrations, visitors will find vendors and plenty of good food, including the legendary “engineers steam cooked soup.”

For more information about this festival and other nearby fall events, and a free copy of UNWIND, a 112-page color guide to lodging, dining and all the attractions in the Litchfield Hills of Northwest Connecticut, write to the Northwest Connecticut Convention and Visitors Bureau, PO Box 968, Litchfield, CT 06759, (860) 567-4506 or visit the web site at www.litchfieldhills.com.

Be sure to bring a lot of memory cards and your tripod. If you can spare more than one day, think about booking a room for a night or two. I'm sure the visitor's bureau will be glad to help you find a place to stay.

Acadia National Park & the 27 (not 30) Mile Loop Drive

If you're planning a trip to New England and you haven't included a few days in the Bar Harbor area of Maine to see Acadia National Park, it's time to rethink your trip plans. Acadia, which is incidentally the first national park created east of the Mississippi, holds some of the most spectacular and unblemished landscapes in all of New England. I've been to Acadia many times and this place is so huge, so mystical and so visually powerful that it's almost impossible to describe. And while I will always think of the southwest when it comes to expansive views and far horizons, Acadia can hold its own against any western landscape destination. It's that incredible.

One of the best ways to see the park is to take the 27-mile park loop (which is often informally called the "30 mile drive"), one of the most extraordinary scenic drives in the East. The ocean views from the high points on the loop (like the scene here) are just awe inspiring. But beware, in high summer on a sunny day, you won't be the only person on the drive (or anything close to that) and while you won't have any competition for places to put your tripod, it might take you a few minutes to wrangle a parking spot on the side of the road.

Visit the "photos" section of the official site and then do some Flickr searches on the park name and you'll find lots of great photos. There is lots of fine camping in the park but if you're an inn person, there are some wonderful places to stay in Bar Harbor and my favorite (and it's one of my favorite inns in the world) is the Ledgelawn Inn. And before you leave Bar Harbor you must visit Cool as a Moose, the most fun t-shirt store in Maine.

Norman Rockwell Museum: Stockbridge, Massachusetts

Norman Rockwell was probably America's best known illustrator and almost everyone is familiar with his great Saturday Evening Post covers. But Rockwell was also a much more profound artist--in terms of both skill and political convictions--than most people give him credit for. Rockwell had an ability to take ordinary and extremely familiar situations and turn them into iconic images that reflected, I think, the character and the true emotions of the events they depicted--everything from a Thanksgiving dinner to racial events in the American south (look at his great work Southern Justice (Murder in Mississippi).

Rockwell lived much of his life in Vermont and Stockbridge, Massachusetts and the Norman Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge is worth a trip from anywhere. The museum holds the single largest collection of Rockwell's works (more than 700 paintings) as well as an archive of more than 150,000 photos, letters, etc. The lower floor of the museum has a gallery of all of the Post covers and there is a continuous biographical video playing. The main floor is a beautiful collection of galleries that showcases many of Rockwell's finest paintings. My favorite is a long panorama of Stockbridge at Christmastime (you can even see the Christmas tree shining from the artist's own livingroom window)--it's a soulful, masterful painting. There is no better painting of an American town.

Just a short walk across the beautiful museum grounds you'll find Rockwell's actual studio (see photo) that was moved to the grounds from town. You can go inside the studio and see the room where the great artist painted most of his famous works. Fascinating. The grounds are beautiful too and very photogenic--rolling Berkshire Mountains and pretty gardens all around. The museum also has a great gift shop and cafe.

The museum and the town of Stockbridge make a great weekend getaway and the place to stay in Stockbridge is the Red Lion Inn--easily one of the nicest inns you'll find in New England (or anywhere else for that matter) and the food and service are superb by any standard. The inn is literally awash in fascinating antiques and there are Rockwell paintings and prints on almost every wall. In fact, Rockwell used the inn as the setting for many of his most famous paintings, including his famous "Freedom from Want" (one of the Four Freedoms series).

Vacations that Come to You: Carnivals & Fairs are Everywhere

With the price of gas edging ever closer to the $5/gallon mark (at least here in Connecticut), the cost of gas is really having a profound effect on summer travel plans and impromptu shooting trips. It can cost as much for a tank of gas now as it does for a night in a motel. It's nuts. And if you're shooting photos for a personal project or for your stock files, it's hard to justify expensive trips these days.

One way to beat the high cost of travel is to wait for the entertainment to come to you. As summer approaches, carnivals, fairs and farmer's markets will be popping up in  towns and cities everywhere--and they offer lots of great photo opportunities. While working on my book Exposure Photo Workshop (Wiley; March 2008) last summer I didn't have a lot of time to travel and needed some interesting new photos, so I spent all of my spare time haunting local carnivals and country fairs. I probably spent 20 nights at parking-lot carnivals just photographing the colorful rides. I did a lot of experimenting with different night techniques and had a great deal of fun creating brilliantly colored abstract shots with long exposures and motion techniques (you can read more about night photo techs on my web site). The shot of the Ferris wheel here, for example, was created using a 15-second exposure.

You will need a tripod for night shots and very long exposures, of course, but to be honest, I rarely ask permission to bring a tripod into carnivals (state fairs are different, they're a bit more organized) because no one seems to be in charge. Once I get past the main gate, I'm rarely asked not to use a tripod. I do make sure that I find out-of-the-way vantage points so that I'm not tripping people in the dark. During the day I usually travel light with a single zoom (I use my 20-120mm Nikkor zoom more than any other lens at outdoor events) and a monopod. I rarely carry a flash, even when I'm shooting in large agricultural barns (which are notoriously dark for some reason) and  if I find a really interesting animal (like a prize rabbit), I'll often ask an exhibitor to bring the animal outside to photograph. You can also find interesting shots near barn doors and in the shot of the cowboy watching the merry-go-round, for example, I used the contrast of the dark interior against the brightly colored ride. 

You can find listings of local fairs and carnivals quickly on Google--just search under the name of your town and/or state and add the words "carivals" or "fairs." The entertainment section of daily papers, local arts weeklies and even the bulletin board at the local 7-11 are pretty good places to find out what's happening locally, as well. I was really surprised how many events I found and there wasn't a single weekend when there wasn't some type of fair coming to a neighboring town--and those events really bailed me out in finding interesting subjects to shoot for the book. So don't let the high price of gas keep you from shooting creative photos this summer--just let the entertainment and the photo opps come to you!

New York Botanical Garden: A Little Bit of Paradise in the Bronx

While we're on the subject of New York City, if you've never been to the New York Botanical Garden in the Bronx, you're missed one of the prettiest and most interesting natural places in the city. There are more than 250 acres of beautifully landscaped acres that look more like a wooded landscape in Vermont than they do a Bronx park. In fact, just strolling through the wooded hills and exploring the many "hidden" gardens is a wonderful way to spend an afternoon. But the gem of the garden, of course, is the very impressive Enid A. Haupt Conservatory (pictured here)--a flamboyant Victorian-style greenhouse that provides a beautiful tropical escape in any season.

There's not a lot of light in the conservatory because of the dense plantings, so you may have to turn up the ISO a bit or pop on the flash (which is allowed).  Also, while I wasn't as impressed with the plantings I saw (there are rotating shows in the main conservatory) as I have been with the indoor gardens at Longwood Gardens, it's still quite an impressive collection and a very pleasant place to spend a few hours.

There is also a nice cafe and a gift shop. The gardens are an easy 20-minute train and a short walk from Grand Central Terminal. Hours, fees and directions are listed here. (Photo Copyright 2008 Jeff Wignall, all rights reserved.)

New York's Chrysler Building

You don't have to go far to find great architectural photo subjects in Manhattan--all you have to do is look up. The Chrysler Building--easily one of the most photographed buildings in the world--shines above the east side of midtown Manhattan like a glowing steel tribute to Art Deco. The building is actually located on Lexington between 42nd and 43rd Streets, but you can see it for blocks and blocks and light and weather play some fantastic tricks with that view. I shot the bright sunny view here from 42nd Street in front of Grand Central. One of these days I'm going to train into the city and just shoot the Chrysler Building from a variety of different angles and see how many different shots I can come up with--a great self-assignment idea. 

Nubble Light: One of Maine's Prettiest Lighthouses

If you're heading up the Maine coast this spring looking for scenic overlooks, be sure to hunt down Nubble Light (also called Cape Neddick Light) near York, Maine. This is easily the most accessible (and most-photographed) light in Maine--there is a parking lot right in front of the light, so you can almost do a drive-by shooting. Actually the light sits on a small island, but the tidal canal in front of the island can be used nicely in compositions. The side of the lighthouse facing the parking lot (there is a lot of room for you to set up a tripod and lawn chairs and have a picnic while you wait for the best light) is facing almost due west, so the best time to shoot is late in the day. In the shot here the setting sun was casting a beautiful golden glow on the scene and illuminating the lighthouse radiantly.

Meter the building carefully and use exposure compensation if you think it's necessary; that white paint will fool your meter into thinking there is more light than there really is and the lighthouse will underexpose (one trick: meter the blue sky and use your exposure-lock feature to hold that reading). (Visit my main site for more exposure tips.) Also, keep the lines of the house parallel to the sides of your frame because the island and house have a pretty good lean going on. I use the tower of the lighthouse itself as a guide and turn on the guide lines in my Nikon D70s viewfinder. A great place to visit, just be patient looking for the tiny local road that leads to the parking lot.

Mystic Aquarium & Institute for Exploration

The Mystic Aquarium, just off of Exit 90 on I-95 in Mystic, Connecticut is a great place to spend a day shooting if you're a frustrated photographer waiting for spring to bring some life back to the landscape. I'm not a big fan of zoos or aquariums (in fact, I hate most zoos for the miserable way that animals are treated), but the folks at Mystic have done a very nice job at creating an environment that is truly educational and seems to be considerate to its living residents (at least I hope that's true).

There are some great indoor displays, including a very beautifully designed and lit tidal pool recreation and some extraordinary sea life displays and aquariums. There is not a lot of light indoors and you're not allowed to use flash in most areas, but if you set a high ISO (I used ISO 1600 on my Nikon D70s) and haves steady hands (or a good IS system) you can still get fun shots. In fact, I used one of my indoor tidal pool shots in my new book Exposure Photo Workshop (Wiley, March 2008) and it reproduced beautifully. There are aslo some nice outdoor displays for beluga whales and another for South African Penguins (shown here); these are very accessible displays and if you have a 70-300mm zoom you'll be able to get close ups (and then some) of both the whales and the penguins. You can also go into the penguin house and shoot photos of them underwater through a thick plate glass (the lighting there is surprisingly bright).

The Mystic Aquarium is open daily except for Christmas and Thanksgiving and my advice is to call and ask when school groups won't be coming! I've been there when the kids on on field trips and it's a drag. Check out their visit page for lots more info.

Morikami Gardens: A Beautiful Japanese Garden in Florida

As long as we're on the topic of pretty places in Florida, I should tell you about one of my favorite "secret" places: Morikami Museum and Japanese Gardens in Delray Beach (on the southern east coast, just north of Boca Raton). I've always had a fascination with Japanese gardens and Morikami is one of the best outside of Japan; in fact, Morikami is ranked 8th among more than 300 Japanese Gardens outside Japan by the Journal of Japanese Gardening. It's a fascinating and extremely peaceful place to wander and it's a landscape photographer's dream--the park is loaded with broad landscapes, water view, intimate Japanese-inspired vignettes and very pretty gardens. There is even a beautifully landscaped manmade waterfall that I've photographed many times (and I'm using photos of it in my new book "Exposure Photo Workshop" that is due out in March 2008). 

In addition to being a great outdoor photo subject the Morikami Museum offers an absolutely fascinating house museum tour and the gallery has a rotating permanent exhibit of more than 5,000 pieces (many of which can also be viewed online). I was able to bring in a tripod, but always check first. I would plan on spending at least 2-3 hours at the gardens, preferably longer.

Photo advice: Bring a wide-angle to medium-telephoto zoom (a lens in the 28-105mm range in 35mm is ideal) and shoot early and late in the day when the lighting is soft and the colors of the gardens are most intense. Be sure to check the Morikami site for hints about what is in bloom and any special events happening.

The Black Point Wildlife Drive: Florida's Best Wildlife Drive

Despite the rampant development that has destroyed much of its natural beauty, Florida remains one of the best places in the world to observe and photograph birds and other wildlife. Certainly one of the most accessible and interesting wildlife viewing areas is the Black Point Drive in the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge in Titusville, Florida. This seven-mile long drive parallels a canal and provides amazing access to all types of shore birds, bald eagles, alligators, bobcats and other animals. The success of your drive has a lot to do with when you go (transitional months like October and March are great for seeing bird migrations--I've seen thousands of coots in a single pond area in October, for example), but I've been to the refuge in almost every month and while there are some very slow seasons, there is almost always something interesting to watch.

You can make the drive in any type of car (it's even big enough for moderate motor homes), but we always rent an SUV so that we're got good road clearance for the occasional rut and so that we can see above some of the roadside scrub. Visibililty is never a problem though, this is a very flat, open sanctuary (the photo here was shot from a car window at the beginning of the drive). By the way, the best way to photograph birds is from inside your car--so bring a beanbag camera support or roll up a sweater to rest the camera on in the window frame. And, of course, early morning and evening are the two best times to observe any wildlife. In addition to the main seven-mile drive, there are also a few extended drives into more remote areas, but these are not always open and do require four-wheel drive--the roads are rough (though totally safe).

The drive is "free" but there is a donation box at the start of the drive and trust me, this is a drive worth dropping $5 in the box to see. The Merritt Island Sactuary is a 140,000-acre preserve that was created by NASA and surrounds the outlying areas of the Kennedy Space Center and you can see the towering buildings of the Space Center in the distance from several points on the drive--very interesting! The town of Titusville, which is on the very pretty Indian River, is a small and low-key town with several nice motels of which the new Hampton Inn is probably the most comfortable and is only about 10-15 minutes from the drive, at most. Titusville is about 30-40 minutes due east of Orlando and very easy to get to.