Tag: Belle Mead

The Contact Sheet

This month's #WE35 expedition is ‘The Contact Sheet’. Apparently back in the day[^1], film photographers would make a print of all the images they had shot on a roll of film. The images would be printed, thumbnail size, on a single sheet of photographic paper. The photographer could then review the images and pick the one or more images she wanted to print.

I have never created a contact sheet.

#WE35 is a global visual survey and creative research project conducted by explorers from around the world. The goal of #WE35 is to push your creative boundaries, share in each other’s artistic development, and forge friendships that will last a lifetime. All of this, using nothing more than a single 35mm lens. We will achieve this goal through monthly assignments designed to expand your creativity like never before, foster an encouraging community where we can discuss one another’s work and provide opportunities for critiques and constructive feedback.The Photo Frontier

I took these images during a still life and tabletop photography workshop hosted by Princeton Photography Workshop. Photographer Frank Veronsky instructed our small group on lighting and staging before we set to work photographing anything we could find in his studio. I decided to shoot some squash and a vintage film camera brought by one of the students. I considered the exposure, the composition, and what message I wanted to convey.

I used Frank's homemade reflectors to bounce light coming in from his studio windows. It was a fairly cloudless day so we had a great deal of light. I also tried blocking the light using dark coloured and black painted surfaces. One thing that I had to pay special attention to was the focal length of my lens. My Nikon D5100 has an APS-C sensor and I do not own a 24mm (~35mm full-frame equivalent) lens. I used my AF-S Nikkor 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G VR DX lens and set the focal length to 24 mm. One of the restrictions of the expedition is that photographers must shoot as though they were shooting film. I only had 36 negatives on my roll so I had to slow down and concentrate on what I was doing.

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Making the pick was also a slow process. None of the images was post-processed. I re-considered the exposure, the composition, and what message I wanted to convey. The image I picked from the contact sheet conveys, in my opinion, the idea of fall. The orange-red-yellow of the squash match the orange-red-yellow of the autumn leaves that one sees in New Jersey during that time of year. One thing I would have liked to add is a few sticks of cinnamon to invoke the memory of the spices that one might smell in the house when someone is baking the squash.

Opie's Grist Mill at Night, Belle Mead, New Jersey

The first grist mill, built in 1721, was destroyed by fire about the end of the 18th century.

Since I moved with my family to the Skillman section of Montgomery Township in 2001 I have been interested in the history of the area. What are all these names I see repeated on street names and buildings even in Princeton? Names like Harlingen, van Zandt, and Skillman.

Belle Mead was part of the Western Precinct of Somerset County before the creation of Mercer County. Until 1838, the Montgomery Township border went as far south as Nassau Street. Portions of the town and Somerset County were later ceded to Mercer County and Princeton Township. The township was settled by land speculators from the former New Amsterdam (Long Island) after the land area was ceded to the British.

The first grist mill, built in 1721, was destroyed by fire at about the end of the 18th century. The second grist mill was built in the early 1800s.

Bhavana and I showed up at the Grist Mill site about one hour before sunset. We chatted while I walked around looking for the "right" composition. She wanted to know why we got there so early so I explained to her that sunset to blue hours occurs in a very short time and rushing around while the light faded was not what I wanted. I think she was annoyed by the bugs that were buzzing around. She walked back to sit in the car.

I had some challenges with cars driving over the bridge in the middle of my exposures and soon I grew tired of being bitten by mosquitoes and other insects. After about two exposures I packed up and joined her in the car to head back home.

I think I'll come back another time, perhaps in the early morning, to shoot some long exposures of water flowing over the small dam. It's at an odd angle but I may be able to set up the tripod near the foot of the water.