It started as a simple morning bike ride from Sunapee with a big loop around the lake and a stop at my favorite bagel place in Henniker, the St. George Cafe. I left early and figured I could finish the 65 miles or so before lunch. But near the end of the ride I got pulled into the Sunapee Lions Club Antique Auto show at the Mount Sunapee resort.
The adventure started innocently when I stopped near the northern shore of Little Lake Sunapee to take a few photos with the only camera I had with me, my trusty LX5. It is basically point-and-shoot with some quite advanced features—like a nice fast (f/2) wide angle (24mm equivalent) lens that focuses to less than a half inch. I don’t use it in a point-and-shoot mode but rather set things like aperture, focus spot, and exposure compensation. And, of course, I’m always shooting raw.
I was standing near my bike when a cute car came speeding by. I grabbed a quick shot and didn’t notice until I saw the picture later that the car was on the English side of the road.
After a bagel and a water bottle refill in Henniker I headed up Rt 103. I say up because Henniker is definitely at the lowest elevation on this loop. The road climbs gradually to Bradford, but from the “Chicken Farmer rock” to Newbury the up is pretty unrelenting. All along 103 I was passed by antique cars. So I figured it must be the weekend for the annual Lions Club show. Why not, I thought, forgetting how much of a climb it is from the Mount Sunapee traffic circle to the resort. One doesn’t notice this when in a car, but near the end of a bike ride one certainly does.
I was going to spend perhaps 20-30 minutes walking around—I wanted to get back for lunch—and the $5 price seemed a bit steep per minute. But I had worked to get here so I wasn’t going to get cheap now. For a while I wheeled my bike with me. Then I decided it was safe if I leaned it against a fence if I kept an eye on it occasionally. Eventually I realized I must look funny wearing a helmet so I took it off and put it on my bike. There was a lot of color to photograph so I got to work. I wished I had a longer lens, to narrow the viewpoint and in that way minimize the scope of the backgrounds. And I wished I had a polarizer to tame the reflections. But I had what I had and didn’t let the shortage of gear deter me. And I soon realized that reflections in the autos were half the fun and challenge anyway.
As I was leaving I met some people from the new, very dynamic Quechee Area Camera Club. One was an old friend who gave me some good advice as I was just getting into digital. Two were former students. They had come intentionally to make photos of the event, not accidentally like me.
When I eventually looked at my pictures I was pleased with how colorful the event was. So I decided to start “playing” and edit some. I went wild at first creating significantly altered reality. Then I picked some to only slightly enhance. The images that follow are arranged in rough order from reality to fantasy. Every element of every photo is from the show, except for one small dragonfly. You can see me with my orange and black biking outfit in a number of the reflections.
