I have long prided myself on having a wealth of knowledge about the Southwestern corner of Vermont where I grew up. If you’re headed to the Northshire region I’ve got you covered as far as where to eat, drink, hike, swim, drive, fish, snowboard, golf and so on. The rest of the state, I’ve got my select spots, just as I do for the Connecticut River Valley, Berkshires, Hudson River Valley, and Catskills. These were not places I spent much time going to growing up, but rather places I got to know when visiting during my time spent living in Los Angeles. It took me awhile to not feel strange staying in hotels within a few hours of where I grew up or taking routes suggested by Google Maps as opposed to the ones I know so well. Both are examples of how much we can miss right in our own backyards if we just stick to what we already know. Over the next couple of weeks I’ll be refreshing my comprehensive NYC→ Vermont regional guides(a perk for paid subscribers) but in the meantime please enjoy this sampling of local intel in my “Manchester & The Mountains” guide.
The following photos were taken while walking roads I’ve driven countless times throughout my life. You think you know a town well if you grew up in it, but you don’t really know it until you’ve walked it. I suppose running or cycling counts too, but neither really allow the necessary time needed to linger and take in a scene. If Vermont is about anything, its simple pleasures and admiring someone’s freshly mowed field certainly falls into that category. In an era where inflation seems to infect every aspect of daily life, taking a walk and getting a fresh perspective on familiar territory is still free. I know for damn sure we could all use more of that right now.
Of course camera’s aren’t typically free(unless you’re influential or bonafide “ambassador”) so if you want to capture the sights when you’re out and about on foot, you’ll need to make a judgement call on how deep in the paint you want to go with equipment. I went through a long phase of thinking my iPhone was good enough and technically speaking, it is. However, leaving the phone in my pocket or better still, at home, that’s well worth the cost of a real camera. I enjoyed the hell out of the pocketable Ricoh GRIIIx I bought from one Michael Williams a few years back, but one unfortunate mishandling has sidelined it for the foreseeable future. Currently it is a FUJIFILM X100VI that is pulling daily duty for casual shooting and I have to say, it’s fantastic. I don’t review cameras, there are plenty of people who do with far more technical expertise than I have when it comes to the internal tech and underlying value. What I am comfortable saying is only a professional shooter booking high profile jobs needs anything more than this thing. I am blown away by the quality and functionality of the X100VI. It’s easily my favorite fixed lens APS-C camera I’ve ever used. Enough about the product, here are some results from walking around with no agenda other than to notice things I haven’t noticed before.
-Andrew
