The first – and probably only – draft of a panoramic stitch of four 35mm film images from two decades ago.
I had a thought about heading north to revisit (but first find) this scene and shoot it again with my current digital equipment – but that seems to have passed.
BTW, the rooflines of the barn were really that lopsided (which may mean that it is no longer there). Also, shooting this scene with a 35mm digital might require only one shot – and cropped at that – to match the quality of this entire 35mm film sequence.
The term “freakism” was probably coined by the man jumping off the building here in 1970, Bart Howe. It was mostly a name we used for each other, a nod to those parts of us not in the mainstream. It grew to be a genuine “ism”, and also: a mantra, a rebel yell and outright babble at times.
Three decades have passed since we spent any time together; the last being a midwinter hike to the summit of Camel’s Hump, and an overnight stay under a Wolf Moon, where we fed the fire – literal and metaphorical – all night long.
Fast forward: I play music in nursing homes, and after one performance I emailed this little anecdote to a friend of mine:
“As I was packing up, this old gal with a rolling walker comes by, smiles and says ‘… nostalgic..’ and walks on. Inscrutable Zen Master, throwing down a koan !!! Yikes !!!”
And so I say there is more to nostalgia than first meets the mind’s eye.
This is one of my favorite end-of-winter shots, taken over twenty years ago with a 35mm film camera, and probably EPP film. It’s been a long time coming onto the blog here, even though it’s been in a show or two over the years.
More (film captures) to come, as I revisit and reorganize the archives.
Howard and his wife Lisa are the co-owners of High Meadows Farm, the oldest certified organic farm in VT. They have been farming this land (and using the front porch, see below) since purchasing the property in 1979. This photo was taken in the farmhouse kitchen, a large open room with a big old cast iron Jotul wood stove keeping things warm.
He’s a pretty amusing and articulate guy, and the subject of a great interview by Chris Blanchard in a recent “Farmer to Farmer Podcast” here. See also my PUBLICATIONS page (tab above) and the article on the Brattleboro Area Farmer’s Market.
Deep in VT hill towns, where upwards of two feet of snow has fallen in the past two weeks, the signs of Spring don’t seem as prominent as down country. But even residents of this town feel the inexorable pull: “…these piles were twice as high a week ago..”
The first – and probably only – draft of a panoramic stitch of four 35mm film images from two decades ago. 
