Recon-Recon Mission

Posted on September 1, 2012 by Howie Motenko

Brenda and I invited Tom and Marguerite out for an early morning boat ride. Tom and Marguerite met us at 8:30 and we decided to skip the boat due to strong winds that could lead to heavy seas. I suggested we go out and see how the seas were, but everyone else knew better and persuaded me to try again on Sunday. While we were all sitting on the porch, we started discussing the next bridge to shoot and how I wanted to do a ‘reconnaissance mission’ for the recon-mission. Brenda thought I was out of my mind, but my trusty photography friend Tom completely understood. I wanted to know what equipment I would need to assist taking the shot and be prepared with the equipment when we did the recon-mission.

After a quick change into our hiking gear and photo bag packed (with various tools including gaffers tape), we started out on our recon-recon mission. We were headed for Little Harbor Brook Bridge with a stop-over at Cliffside Bridge to see what was involved in shooting that bridge – heck, it was on the way!

We spent a fair bit of time at Cliffside Bridge and finally settled on a shooting location, best way down to the bridge, lighting locations and some ideas about safety concerns. Here’s the shot from the location.We wanted to be sure and include the weep hole and the cliff under the bridge in the picture.

We continued to Little harbor Brook Bridge, keeping in mind our ‘hard-turn-around-time’ of 11:50. After looking at some pictures online, I knew what shot I envisioned. I was hoping for a high shoot at an angle to capture both walls with the ends offset. To get that shot my tripod needed to be higher. I broke out the gaffers tape and proceeded to tape our Leki hiking sticks to the tripod legs. It worked as a proof of concept and the image is very close to what I envisioned. After reviewing the image and the scene in front of us, we identified a number of locations requiring lighting. Though this is a small bridge, there are some complex lighting challenges. As a bonus the date stone is visible too.

We took the Asticou Trail back, which turned out to be a nice hike and quicker than the carriage road. We realized that in the future, maybe we could recon two bridges in one day and we didn’t have to do it during dusk, now that we understand how to light a bridge.

Gatehouse Invitation

Posted on August 31, 2012 by Howie Motenko

Some residents of the Jordan Pond Gatehouse have graciously invited us to paint the gatehouse and offered their help with the project. This is another demonstration of the community helping with this project. By working with the gatehouse residents we will have greater access to the the building and grounds which will dramatically improve the final image. We will be able to light area that would otherwise be inaccessible. I’m really excited to be working with them and very grateful for their generosity. We’ve set a date in October with them for the shoot. This is a big house, we’re gonna need lots of light painters!

West Branch Bridge Painting

Posted on August 29, 2012 by Howie Motenko

Our fourth bridge painting. The single greatest concern and challenge was getting everyone safely in place. After the recon-mission, we realized that we would need ropes on each end of the bridge to assist folks(including me) down into the ravine. On one side we tied a rope to a tree and on the other side we tied it to one of Rockefeller’s teeth. I said it was like flossing his teeth. We asked everyone to arrive earlier than usual to traverse the terrain in daylight. We had fifteen light painters including five first-time painters; thanks for spreading the word. Here’s the before shot.

After switching lights and adjusting the lighting a few times, here’s the final image.

Everyone made it safely in and out of the ravine and we took the group shot on top of the bridge.

We enjoyed Brenda’s home-baked brownies (Howie’s recipe). I heard afterwards that Kevin doesn’t usually like brownies, but this time he had two! Lenny won the raffle of a Hemlock Bridge print. We all enjoyed the walk back as the carriage road was glowing with an almost full moon and the evening temperature was delightfully cool.

Hemlock Bridge Painting

Posted on August 15, 2012 by Howie Motenko

Our third bridge painting and the largest undertaking to date. This is a large bridge and we needed a lot of light painters. We put out the word and we had 11 first-time light painters! Brenda felt a bit frazzled with having to explain the process to the first-time folks, coordinate everyone and run back and forth every time I needed a light adjustment. It was all worth it, in the end we were rewarded with another beautiful image. Kim was stoked to use her new 3 Mega Lumen Q-Beam flashlight, she affectionately refers to as her ‘deer jacking’ light. We had some trouble lighting the background tress, but Joel figured out the problem and changed his angle. Everyone did a great job of hiding just out of sight. Here’s the before shot.

Here is the final shot. This is the first bridge shot taken with my new full frame camera. This project pushed me to a full frame camera sooner than I expected. I’ve been hearing rumors of the D600 coming out around December or January, but I (uh, I mean the project) couldn’t wait. These images deserve a full frame camera.

Here are all the light painters.

We held the first raffle of the previous bridge print and Kim won! Gayle came to visit and brought a couple of quarts of blueberries. So, Brenda and Gayle baked blueberry and oatmeal cookies for the snack.

Cobblestone Bridge Light Painting

Posted on August 1, 2012 by Howie Motenko

After our success at the first bridge, we set our sights high and tackled Cobblestone Bridge next. Partly because it is a favorite of so many, and partly because we wanted to see if we could be successful shooting a large bridge. We scouted it out with the help of Tom and his sister who was visiting. She gave us some hints on lighting, since she has worked in theater in the past.

The before shot.

The night of the shoot, we were happy to see 15 light painters. Brenda’s sister and nephews were visiting, that’s three extra people we could count on. Brenda was still new at setting up the light painters, but with the help of Tom, we got everyone set. We had to reposition a few people, and rearrange lights some, but we ended up getting a great shot.

I set my camera in the middle of the stream to get the shot. There is no way we could have done this shot in the spring – I would have ended up under water!

The light painters.

We all enjoyed whoopee pies made by Brenda and her sister; a family recipe.

Bubble Pond Light Painting

Posted on July 18, 2012 by Howie Motenko

Our first bridge painting was a humble beginning. After scouting out Bubble Pond with Tom and Brenda, we decided that my crazy idea of light painting all of the carriage road bridges might actually work, however unsure of the concept and process that would unfold. We’d figure it out as we pressed the shutter release.

The before shot.

That night we had 7 light painters show up, mostly friends from work. Brenda positioned people where we thought they should go, and tried the shoot. We had to reposition Joel after we asked him to run back and forth over the top of the bridge and that didn’t really work. We were very happy with the results, considered the image a success and looked forward to the next bridge light painting.

We decided to document the light painters with a self portrait of sorts after every shoot: have them hold their lights on themselves. Our first shot of the light painters (and the only light painter picture with Howie).

We enjoyed Brenda’s first homemade treat: chocolate chip cookies, along with watermelon slices.

Painting Bridges

Uniting Community with Art

Author Archives: Howie Motenko