Photographic icons are popular because they are beautiful. Some people travel great distances attempting to photograph as many as possible. Personally, I like to find my own subjects to photograph. If I happen to be in the area of an icon I will certainly stop and take a photo. But I rarely go out of my way to get to one unless I am leading a workshop.
This article is about the photos you might make very near icons without walking far from the icon and sometimes without moving your feet at all. It features two dozen icons or almost-icons.
There is a QUIZ embodied in this article. In each case I will give you some hints as to where the photo was taken but leave it until the end of the article to show you a photo of the icon at that location. See how many you can guess. Answers are at the end of the blog. NO PEEKING.
Next Door to the Icons
- Island Lighthouse
There is one icon I did travel to, sort of. I went to the New Hampshire coast to photograph Snowy Owls. I planned to stay overnight along the coast to try to get a photo of the Milky Way. But I could not find a decent foreground in New Hampshire, so toward the end of the day I headed north, not sure where I would wind up. I remembered that decades ago I had taken a couple of really crummy shots mid-day of a famous lighthouse that I barely remembered. But I headed there to scout it a bit before sunset and figure out how to get to it in the dark and where I might stand. When I arrived to scout, there was a snowy owl sitting on the small island next to the lighthouse Just before sunset the owl flew toward me! I walked a short distance and got this photo.
- Mountain View
There is another place I traveled to because I was leading a four-day workshop in the area. We arrived at our destination well before dawn, only to find many photographers already there. I walked down the hill a bit and took this photo looking up at them with the moon in the background.
- Harsh Sun but great reflections nearby
I had planned our next three or four stops on that workshop, but one of the participants suggested we go first to a nearby lake. Although it is a somewhat iconic lake, we were going to be looking directly into the sun and blank sky. I knew the photos would not be very good. But we headed directly there anyway, not wanting to say no to a participant. I was taking a few photos, trying to make the best of the scene, when the person who suggested we come here said I needed to go down a path to see a Great Blue Heron. I figured it would be gone by the time I got there, but I hurried down the path. I found the bird standing in amazing reflections as hikers, joggers, and bikers passed by fairly near. I got the photo below, which has been used on the cover of a birding map.
- Another Lighthouse
In the last two years I have traveled twice to an island to photograph birds. I tend to arrive at places earlier than needed, and since there was an icon nearby, I drove there while waiting for the boat. Below the icon I saw some amazing rock formations. One can only imagine what had happened over millions of years to create this formation.
- More Rocks
There was another set of interesting rocks near an icon along the coast. I was in the area for a non-photographic reason, but that didn’t stop me from heading there to get a photo of the famous scene before dawn. Later I took the photo below.
- NH Hike
About a year ago I took a fall hike with a friend and his dog up a very nice trail in New Hampshire. It was an easy 5 to 6 mile round trip. I carried my small hiking tripod, hoping there would still be water in the stream we would follow uphill. There was some water flowing — a little. I like the photo below better than the photo I got of the icon. This is just a tiny “waterfall” a short distance below the main attraction.
- Another Waterfall
Staying with the theme of waterfalls, I photographed this interesting piece of a larger waterfall in New Hampshire. This one can be seen from the road.
- Steep part of the Appalachian Trail
The icon above shares a name with a beautiful pond in New Hampshire. Above the iconic spot, along a very steep trail up the neighboring mountain, is the inlet stream. The cascades along this stream are very dramatic. Here is a view of a portion of them.
- Photography meeting near a prime photo spot
Last year I attended a gathering of a small photography group, the New England Photography Guild. I arrived a day early and wandered around the area taking photos. Below is one of the images I made very close to an icon.
- More moving water
Driving through New Hampshire last fall, I happened to be near a popular and picturesque spot. So, I decided to stop and take the short hike to it. Nearby I made this photo.
- Bridge between two lakes
During another somewhat aimless wandering through New Hampshire, I passed near a very iconic spot. There were a lot of folks around photographing the obvious scene, but I wandered away from them and found something else that was pleasing to me. The photo I took is below.
- Old pile of rocks
At the end of a five mile group hike over a mountain in New Hampshire, we reached an icon I had never visited before. Parents were there posing dressed-up, crying kids on the pile of rocks. Shortly before we reached it, we had lunch at this beautiful pond.
- Beautiful marsh
Although not really an icon, there is a spot in New Hampshire that should be. I recently saw three otters walk down a bank near me and play in the water not far away. I have also seen them, and other wildlife, from a kayak. One fall years ago, I walked a short distance from the put-in and got the photo below on slide film. Ever since I have been using it in my Photoshop classes to demonstrate black-and-white conversion.
- Covered bridge
There is a semi-famous covered bridge in New Hampshire that I have bicycled by a number of times. Below is a photo looking through one of the “windows” of the bridge.
- Minor icon near a major one
When people travel to an icon covered later in this blog, they often fail to go to a nearby spot that I think is even more beautiful. Below is a photo I took just up the hill from an iconic building located near the more-famous icon.
- This one is gone
There was a movable icon that is normally extremely unreliable. But in 2017, it drew thousands of photographers over about a one month period. There is a small airport nearby and, while killing time photographing the subject, I got this photo of what looks to be a homemade plane.
- An impressive covered bridge
My normal travels occasionally take me past an iconic covered bridge along the Connecticut River. A short distance from the bridge I got this photo of a flying wood duck.
- Several Lighthouses
A great photographer, who has become a very good friend, moved to New Hampshire a while ago from New Jersey. I was giving him his first tour of the New Hampshire coast, and we stopped at an iconic spot. I made this photo looking off to the side. Since that trip he has visited the coast many more times than I have.
- Small NH town with a famous name
A wonderful, relatively-unknown state park is just outside the village center of a town with a name all will recognize. I have hiked, mountain biked, and kayaked, doing loon photography, there. Here is a photo I took shortly before I launched my kayak one morning.
- Local Farm
There is a farm located about an hour’s drive from my home that draws many photographers, particularly in fall. But I bet few photograph the neighboring farm even though one can take the photo below from the same spot.
- Restful Scene
Not too far north of the previous spot is another scene that has also graced many magazines over the years. A friend’s parents owned it long ago, but that was well before it was purchased by a member of a famous band with a local founder. The best photos are from the road, but I suspect photographers rarely aim their cameras at the farm next door, as I did here.
- Field with a View
If you stand in the field above a beautiful farm in Vermont, you will get a wonderful view of the Presidential Mountains of New Hampshire in the distance. From the field you can also photograph this barn.
- Amazing constructions
In central NH are a number of examples of amazing stone work done years ago. Certainly one of the spots has been often photographed, although I have never seen another photographer there. One morning I arrived too late, the sun was already on the scene. So I photographed a small part of the stream that was still in the shade.
- Another long covered bridge
There is an impressive covered bridge in NH that spans a river above some waterfalls. Most photograph it from the road, but I like to climb down to the edge of the river, as in the photo at the end of this article. The bridge is no longer in use. But one can walk through it, as I did when I took the photo below.
Here are the real Icons — the Answers to the Quiz
1. Island Lighthouse
2. Mountain View
3. Harsh Sun but great reflections nearby
4. Another Lighthouse
5. More Rocks
6. NH Hike
7. Another Waterfall
8. Steep part of the Appalachian Trail
9. Photography meeting near a prime photo spot
10. More moving water
11. Bridge between two lakes
12. Old pile of rocks
13. Beautiful marsh
14. Covered bridge
15. Minor icon near a major one
16. This one is gone
17. An impressive covered bridge
18. Several Lighthouses
19. Small NH town with a famous name
20. Local Farm
21. Restful Scene
22. Field with a View
23. Amazing constructions
24. Another long covered bridge
Well there you have it. Two dozen New England Photographic Icons. How many did you guess? How many have you photographed? If only a few, perhaps you are like me and enjoy most the photos you find and create for yourself without putting your tripod in well-established tripod holes.