Vermont Photographer Benjamin D. Bloom

This past Saturday, I spent the morning at Oakledge Park in Burlington with Courtney, Kinsley, Andrew, and Connor . We had a great time wandering around the park, taking a combination of posed and candid photos. When you have an almost four year old involved, you never know what you’re going to get, but both kids were in good moods, very well behaved, and we had a great time making some photos.

We started on the swings, spidering, which turns out to be one of Kinsley’s favorites things to do. It was a good way to relax and get into the swing of taking some photos.

Then we settled into some posed photographs for a little while

Totally unprompted, and they struck almost exactly the same pose.

If you go to Oakledge, you can’t miss out on the giant treehouse, so we headed up there next.

What’s Cody drawing in the sand?

“I love you, Dad” of course.  What a great kid!

I think this is my favorite series from the whole day!

It’s hard to argue with a quote like this, “The pics are SOOO great THANK YOU!!!!  It really was fun shooting pics! The best part was the kids thought so too!”  I had a great time, too, Courtney!  Thanks for the opportunity to hang out with you and make some great photos.

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Early last month — you remember, then the temperatures were in the mid 90’s and the humidity matched — I connected up with Miranda Ferriss Jones to take some photos for her upcoming album. She was back in town visiting her family and had a vision for some photos contrasting the vintage dresses she performs in with the rustic farmhouse, barn, and tractor she grew up with. So, Tawny & I hopped in the car and drove down to Monkton from Burlington. It was a welcome road trip because it meant we had a brief reprieve from the heat in the car’s AC! We spent a couple of hours walking around using a few locations, one of which included the upper floor of the old barn which had to be well over 100° and filled with bat guano. Despite the heat, we had a lot of fun and came up with a variety of looks.

If you haven’t heard of Miranda before, I recommend visiting her site. She described herself as a singer-songwriter when she contacted me, but it’s a bit of a misnomer. While she writes and performs her own material, she’s got a heavy Jazz influence which is quite refreshing in today’s world of mediocre pop. Give her a listen!

It was nice to meet & work with you, Miranda.  Best of luck with the new album; I’m looking forward to hearing it!

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The Burlington Free Press recently posted an article about algae growth in Lake Champlain triggered by the recent heat wave and lack of winds.  As soon as I saw their photos of milky-blue water, I was transported back more than 4 years to a quick trip we took to Iceland.  On the day we arrived (on the red eye from Kennedy airport) we booked an afternoon at the Blue Lagoon to relax in the hot springs and try to recuperate for the next three days. When we arrived at the spa, the water rendered us speechless.

The next day we toured around and saw some of the other natural hot springs that are close to Reykjavík. Amazingly, many of these other pools of water had similarly mystical colors. The second shot below doesn’t really capture the vibrancy of the water – it almost glowed when contrasted to the yellow/gray rocks surrounding it.

Incidentally, if you’re headed to Iceland I recommend taking a half day or so at the Blue Lagoon to adjust.  Heck, if you’ve got a layover in Keflavik, I believe they run shuttle busses for those folks that want a quick dip or massage.  If you’re staying a few hours, though, why not just extend your trip and stay the weekend or longer.  Iceland was wonderful to us and we’d go back again in a heartbeat.

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I woke up this morning with a laundry list of tasks to finish.  Paint some trim, prep some doorways, patch some drywall, mow the lawn.  It’s humid here in Vermont; the gentle rains last night and the morning dew meant that I couldn’t yet mow the lawn.  Those same rains left some treasures on the irises that line my driveway, so after doing a little sanding, I took some time to appreciate the little things in life. I have photographed these plants and droplets in the past, but somehow they never get old to me.

I remain perpetually fascinated at how perfectly round the water droplets are some mornings, and how on other mornings they cling with all their might, flattening down to hug the leaves.

If you like these, please take a look at some of my other macro & floral photography, or look at my general gallery of artistic photos.

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Normally, when The Sweet Remains comes to town they’re booked in the Flynnspace or Higher Ground.  For Jazz Fest, they came to American Flatbread to play an outdoor show in the back alley. I had never seen music there, and didn’t know what to expect.  The wait for a table was over an hour, but they had set up seating and standing areas near the stage so you could drink a beer and enjoy the music. It was a little chaotic as people jockeyed for position and figured out the pattern, but eventually it settled down as the sound check completed and the music started in earnest.  The alley way was jammed from the moment we arrived to the moment we left.

When we finally got a table, we enjoyed watching people walk by the alley, slow down a little, and many stop for a minute to listen to the music as the melodies and harmonies tickled their ears.

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The work day came to a close and on the way home I tried to figure out what I wanted to do tonight.  Initially it was just going to be a simple dinner and maybe a movie at home.  I turned on some music (Rich Price, Sweet Remains, Peter Day, and a few others) and turned up the volume.  As I drove home, I started thinking about the chatter from all the #BTV folks on Twitter and remembered that Jazz Fest was in town.  It’s Friday night, no where to be tomorrow, and good tunes on the radio really got me in the mood to go downtown for some eats, a beer or two, and some more good music.

After walking the dog and a very quick snack (we figured the wait was going to be over an hour no matter where we went) we headed downtown.  Church Street was slammed as we made our way down from the top of the block.  With no real destination in mind, we ended up at the Farm House Tap & Grill.  While they didn’t have live music, they were close enough to Church St. that we could hear some spill over and still have a conversation.

After dinner, we walked around the corner and watched the stage in front of Ken’s Pizza for a while.  From our Southerly location, we couldn’t see much of the stage, but the music was solid with exceptionally tight drumming.  As we rounded the corner of the stage, we discovered why: Russ Lawton was on drums.  If you haven’t seen him play, check out anything he’s listed on.  I haven’t seen him around lately, but he’s in town a lot this week and I’m looking forward to seeing more of him!

Of course, Dux The Balloon Man was out twisting flowers, swords, wands, and (of course ducks!) If you haven’t stopped to get a balloon, I recommend it.  He’s a fun guy, great with kids, and I’m always entertained just watching him effortlessly craft his work.  I hear he’s going to have something special lined up for the Independence Day festivities down on the Burlington Waterfront.

It was a B&W night, but he screams for color!

And finally at the top of the block, a good crowd was gathered for some funk. I didn’t catch the name of the act, but we enjoyed a few songs as we checked out the crowd and statue of Big Joe Burrell, well crafted and placed outside of Halvorson’s as a perfect tribute to the man.

Seeing Big Joe’s image while walking around Church St. during Jazz Fest really brought back some great memories of past years’ events with my Dad.  It’s a really great time of year in Burlington. There’s something new going on behind every door and on every block. Occasionally you’re surprised with something fantastic, but you’re guaranteed to at least hear something good and the atmosphere, with smiling faces all around, can’t be beat. We haven’t made it down much for the last few festivals, but I hope we make a few more events this week. See you down there?

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OK, so I’m mostly just testing a newly installed plugin… Please forgive the noise!

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I had the great honor of taking some engagement photos (I guess all the cool kids are calling them E-Sessions now) for a wonderful couple and some good friends of mine, Peter & Emily. We tromped around Burlington shooting in a couple of alleys on our way down to One Main St. and the Lake Champlain waterfront to enjoy a beautiful sunset.

Peter is a musician and he’s a frequent guest in front of my camera, but most of the time that I’m taking photos of him, Emily is in the audience listening to his melodies. Not this time!  We had a great time laughing with each other while we made these photos.  Near the end of the night, Peter said, “This is great! How often do I get to spend a few hours focused on being in love with Emily?” I can’t wait for their wedding this fall!

Here’s a slideshow with some more photos from the day:

Music: “Emily” by Peter Day

You can find this song on iTunes and more songs like it on The Grift’s website. A huge thank you to Clint Bierman for providing acoustic version!

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The Green Mountain Derby Dames have certainly made a splash in the Burlington area over the last two years.  They have gone from competing for a minimal crowd in one of the smaller rooms at the Champlain Valley Expo to presenting a double-header bout in the large room.  The Black Ice Brawlers made their debut this past Saturday, skating against the Ithaca BlueStockings. Following this bout, the GMDD’s Grade A Fancy team skated against the Providence Killah Bees. Both teams skated well, but ultimately it was not GMDD’s night.

I highly encourage you to come to the next bout which looks to be a family feud on June 12th.

GMDD does a great job at mixing up the halftime shows by inviting in local teams, acts, or charities to perform or involve the crowd in activities.  We’ve had dodgeball and Zumba, but this week the Urban Dance Complex performed a hip-hip dance.

The Black Ice Brawlers returned from halftime an inspired team.  They stepped up their game skating hard and closing the gap on the scoreboard. Nice work, ladies!

With a quick intermission between bouts, GMDD’s Grade A Fancy came out for their warm-ups. It did not go unnoticed that many of the women skating in the second bout were helping make the first bout happen, and vice-versa. This stretch always impresses me; I have enough trouble doing this with street shoes on, and here’s The Silencer casually doing it with roller-skates on like it’s no big deal.

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This weekend, Vermont threw all sorts of weather at us.  Saturday morning I awoke to drizzle and rain, so I packed up my car with extra rain gear and headed to Shelburne to photograph the Race Vermont Half Marathon for SkiPix.com.  Rayne, the race coordinator, assured all of the volunteers that he had put in for no rain, so we should stay dry.  Well, it didn’t pour all day, but it definitely rained hard at times and I was glad to have a good rain jacket and umbrella.

Runners didn’t seem deterred at the registration table. There was steady traffic both inside when people were picking up their packets, and outside where runners were warming up.

Spirits seemed high during the pre-race pep-talk.  Apparently there were multiple events going on in Shelburne this weekend, including Lacrosse games and school open houses, all within a half mile from the Field House in Shelburne, making for a lot of extra people in the area. As usual, Rayne stressed safety over everything else encouraging runners to run without their iPods because of all the added traffic.  I would get bored, but I can see the reasoning behind the advice.

I set up shop near at Shelburne Farms, near mile marker 9 I think, just as people were exiting the grounds.  It was raining as I set up my camera and other gear, but when the first runners came through it had stopped and it looked like we were in for a few hours without precipitation.

It was interesting that some people were running past in tights, long sleeves, and some wearing gloves/hats/jackets, while others were in the bare minimum, coping with the cold, rainy, Vermont weather quite well.

As usual, there are always a few who are willing to pose creatively for the camera or at least give a friendly smile and a wave.

And then the skies opened up again, drenching runners.  This guy was running with his wife for their anniversary.  I can’t recall how many years, but I think it’s a great way to celebrate!

His wife was lucky; Vermont decided to stop raining by the time she got to me.

There are some stretches where it must be pretty lonely in the rain.

While the runners at least stay warm, if not dry, through the race, the volunteers get pretty chilly when the temperatures drop and the rain kicks up.  Race Vermont has a lot of volunteers at every race I’ve been to; the event couldn’t happen without them.  Many of the runners make a point to thank each and every volunteer they pass, which is a nice touch I think.

Even in the cold, the volunteers are cheering on competitors and generally having a good time.

As the last runners passed me, I packed up my photo gear and headed towards the finish to see if I could catch some expressions as people completed their race and were able to get out of the rain. Some people were happy, some were relieved, and others broke down in tears as they successfully finished their first half marathon.  Congratulations!

As is evident by the photo above, I wasn’t the only photographer at the event, but I bet I took the most photos!  You can see all of the Race Vermont Half Marathon Photos at SkiPix.com.

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