I made this image in August of 2017 on a day trip to the Bethel Quarry in central Vermont.   I had been here earlier in 2017 with Jack Holowitz and this time Peter Dylag joined both Jack and I.  Peter is not only a fine large format photography but also has done all the video work for my Power of Process tutorial video series.

     It’s unusual to return to a location once photographed where conditions are actually better the 2nd time around, that’s exactly what happened this particular August morning.  After picking up both Peter and Jack we were on our way to Vermont before 6 am.  We arrived at the quarry around 8 am and after getting permission to photograph were ready to go as the sun was now quite high in the sky but in and out of thin cloud cover. 

     The accomplished photographer can use composition and spatial relationships to affect a sense of 3 dimensions in a 2-dimensional photograph, however, nothing rivals what directional side light can convey in a photograph, random shapes and texture seem to come alive with the impression of a 3rd dimension !  That thin cloud cover would provide an almost perfect soft yet directional light as it skipped across the fluted and etched face of the massive and irregular granite wall.  The white granite was interspersed with black staining which would provide a host of differing grey tonalities in the image seen above.   The above image is a rare confluence of magnificent lighting, subject matter, tonalities and technique that is better appreciated seen than described.

Video from our visit   Bethel Quarry video

     The reference to “Bethel Granite” somehow struck a chord with me and after a bit of remembering I recalled that Hartford City Hall completed in 1915 is built with brick and almost entirely faced with Bethel White Granite.   I have an extensive portfolio of work from the interior of Hartford City Hall, an excellent example of the beauty of City Hall and Bethel White Granite is seen here in a 7″ x 17″ contact print.

     Dating back to the 1800s, the Bethel White Quarry in Bethel, VT, is now owned and operated by Rock of Ages Corp. The Bethel Quarry was among the first commercially operated quarries in the U.S., and material from that site was used for a range of historic buildings and national landmarks. These include government facilities such as the Wisconsin State Capitol in Madison, WI, (among several other state capitol buildings), the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History.   Bethel Quarry employs 16 workers over 2 shifts and produces over 6000 cubic meters of granite in a year’s time.

      The New England Large Format Photography Collective will host a group show of 70 +  large-format photographs at the Valley Photo Center, 1500 Main St. Springfield, MA for the entire month of April.   The Bethel Quarry image at the very beginning of this blog post is titled Rock Concert # 2 and is one of the images I have in the Springfield show.   The 24″ wide Silver Gelatin print is also split toned for a greater sense of depth.  A closing Artist Reception is April 29th from 1 – 4 pm free of charge to the public in Springfield.   Later this year in July more of my own B&W images and that of the New England Large Format Collective’s work will be at the Lyman Allyn Museum in New London, CT for 3 months.