Exactly What Was Needed
On September 15th, 16th, and 17th Sophie and I lived out of a garage attic we found for cheap on Airbnb. Not only was this weekend host to the MONSTROUS Hurricane Lee. But it also featured two back-to-back jaw-dropping New Hampshire sunsets and to cap it all of a calm and serene sunrise. Throughout this post, I’m going to bring you along for all three.
The Sunset of September 15th
The attic we were staying in allowed early arrival. The early bird that I am, instead of getting there in the evening and fighting horrendous traffic I drove the two and a half hours there at 7 AM. I arrived around 9 and spent my whole day there.
After logging off, Sophie and I walked down to the lake, taking in the views. After that, we made trip to the local high-end luxury (/s) food store Valuland Grocers, we needed dinner. Where we were staying didn’t really have any cooking amenities, so we were looking at eating out. The options were either:
- Go to the local pizza bar, with wait times reported of being over an hour.
- Go to the local brewery and see what happens.
We went with the latter and visited Hobbs Tavern & Brewing. I got a Hi, Jack! beer and Sophie got a blueberry sour of which she only drank two thirds (and spilled the other two thirds). While the beer was good, the star of the show was the food. Both of our meals were exceptional, and I’d happily go again if I’m in the area.
Excitement starts here.
As we left the brewery, I couldn’t help but notice that the sky was a vibrant shade of pastel pink. The glimpse of the sunset that we didn’t see was bittersweet. I didn’t have any camera on me. It wasn’t until we were half-way back to our home that we realized sunset hadn’t even begun yet.
Learning this our excitement and any bittersweet feelings flew to the wayside. We raced back to our house. Upon arrival, I grabbed my backpack and SPRINTED the quarter mile to the nearby beach and whipped out my camera. I began shooting like a man possessed.
While I was running, I had seen the sky take on an even more explosive scene. Gone were simple pastel shades, replaced with explosions of cascading orange clouds catching the setting sun and igniting the whole valley in a wonderful symphony of color.
Eventually, after having shot the scene from the only vantage point I had (trying to compose different scenes the whole while) it was time to head home. End Of Night One.
Leading to the Sunset of September 16th
The next sunset is one of decisions and filled with “Oooh” and “Aaah” of a couple who can’t decide what to do. Enjoy.
The morning of September 16th, I woke up and poked my head out the window. I was looking to see what the sun was doing to decide whether I’d be shooting sunrise. Seeing nothing but gray, I crawled back into bed and salvaged a few more hours of sleep.
There’s not much more to say about the morning it was quiet, and Sophie and I relaxed. Eventually we decided we’d been at home for long enough and visited Chocorua Lake, where we met two nice people vising from Chelsea (Jean & Jeffrey). We chatted with them for a bit before they hit the road and Sophie and I hit the shoreline, reading for a while before leaving the lake.
From there, we went to Backwoods BBQ in Freedom, New Hampshire and grabbed lunch before going back to our house. From there, our evening was thrown into turmoil. Neither of us could decide what we wanted to do. We toyed with the idea of getting pizza and eating it at the lake, going to another local restaurant, getting McDonalds, or driving the Kancamagus Highway to Lincoln.
After enough indecisiveness I decided we should drive the Kanc, we were in the area and had nothing better to do so may as well enjoy the views. I’m so unbelievably glad that we did.
You may not know this, but I’ve gone to Lincoln New Hampshire regularly with my family for most of my life. For the last few years, I’ve been attempting to photograph the sunset or rise from the Kanc for the last several years of that, but never got the weather for it.
This time, I did.
The Sunset of September 16th
The first shots I got were of the edges of the valley along the Kanc. This was called “Scenic Overlook 3” on Google Maps. I’ve driven this part of New Hampshire several times, but never explored this side road. The views of the valley were stunning, and we got to witness the light slowly flood the valley.
Eventually we decided that we should head back towards where we’d come from (west on the Kanc towards Lincoln) and I cannot stress how happy I am that we did. The compositions this angle offered were far better, with Sophie and I catching a few shots here before continuing on one more minute up-the road to the look-out facing the other way.
The views offered from this angle were equally stunning, and the sunset was far more vibrant in this direction. Shortly after these images were taken I turned around and saw the like “table” cloud formation I’ve shot below. It was really gorgeous and held onto the light long after all of the other clouds had dissipated, or seen their colors turn to more muted shades and hues.
The Sunrise of September 17th
This final New Hampshire morning was perfect. It was quiet, still, and I was able to take in the beauty of the reflection at complete peace.
While the image shown here is nice, I don’t really think it’s great. I was more taking it to get out and exercise the muscle. On the way home however, I did take a nice image. Some stunning light hit a composition that I’d seen a few days prior.
