You have to look both ways in London for two reasons: One, if you don’t look left and right when you cross a street, you are liable to be flattened by the inexorable hurtling bulk of a big red double-decker bus, a cab, a cruising motorscooter or even a bicyclist, all coming from exactly the direction you do not expect them to. And, two, you have to look both ways because around you you can see not just the imposing history of centuries-old England: the architectural and historical record, the royal hoopla, but 21st-century London, a thriving, incredibly diverse city full of people from the far reaches of the former empire. I visited back in November (thanks Hannah, Ben, Dirk, Steve). Fuji X100F, almost pocket-sized. Click here for a gallery.
2019 US Paralympics
The 2019 U.S. Paralympics Nordic Nationals brought paralympic athletes from around the country to the Craftsbury, VT, Outdoor Center in January. It is always great to see the strength of mind, body and spirit these athletes — who compete despite impairments that range from partial paralysis to diminished sight — put into the competition. Top, Dan Cnossen, an Annapolis graduate and Navy SEAL who lost his legs to an IED in Afghanistan, competes on his sit-ski. Below, Greg Durso makes it up a hill with help from his coach; Joy Rondeau tucks and concentrates on a downhill; Dan Cnossen’s prosthetic legs; New Hampshire’s Nick Fairall, a former international ski jumper who lost the use of his legs after a jumping fall. Click here for a gallery. Click here for more on the US paralympic nordic team.
Keeping It Clean at the Imperial War Museum
Even, or perhaps especially, the Imperial War Museum in London has to deal with dust and smudges. Below, a group of middle school students deal with a Spitfire from the Battle of Britain in World War II, with a Nazi V-1 (or is it a V-2) rocket to the right. And below that the funeral ad.
Ask Us About Our …
Something about the photo or the approach to this subject doesn’t seem quite right. Is it the smiles? Or does the fact that they are blissfully piloting a scooter in London traffic suggest impending doom? Maybe you have to be British to get it. Brixton, London, UK.
Normandy & Britanny
The variety of landscape and people in France is staggering, and every part has its own beauty. For Americans Normandy is always a place of pilgrimage, to imagine what it was like on June 6, 1944, but it is also a beautiful rural landscape of winding roads, cideries, ancient villages, hedgerows, orchards and fields away from the D-Day memorials, museums and shops. I was there and in Brittany with friends for a few days in November. Above, a peaceful farm road outside of Carentan, where fighting raged during and after D-Day. If you read Band of Brothers, or saw the TV series, the battle for Carentan is unforgettable. Pictures at the link below also cover Omaha Beach and Pointe du Hoc, where US Army rangers scaled a 90-foot cliff from the ocean to take a German gun emplacement. The American soldiers suffered a 75 percent casualty rate. One of those killed was from my birthplace, Bethlehem, PA. Below, cider-maker with a very, very old bottle of cider at the Domaine Dupont cidery, where they make not only fine hard cider but famous calvados; the hilltop town of Dinan, Brittany; fresh shellfish from the Baie de Saint Brieuc in Brittany; and the Armistice Day observance in Dinan, marking the 100th anniversary of the end of the slaughter that was World War I, November 11, 1918. Click here for the gallery.
Nighttime at the Oasis
Night and snow settling on LBJ’s Grocery, Worcester, VT. You can get garam masala and basmati rice here in addition to Bud Light and Hershey bars.
It’s been a busy winter, and I haven’t posted much, but I have been posting more regularly on Instagram (@lazenbyphoto), so if you have Instagram, follow! Meanwhile, I’ll be catching up here.
Eastern Cup #1, Craftsbury
The New England Nordic Ski Association started its Eastern Cup racing season out Saturday and Sunday at the Craftsbury, VT, Outdoor Center. There were top racers from the East, eastern Canada and elsewhere as well as masters racers and everything in between, including kids in the Bill Koch League races at the end of the day. Click here for a big gallery.
Recent Publications: Faster Skier, Northern Woodlands
Sweden’s Stina Nilsson, Ebba Andersson, Charlotte Kalla and Anna Haag faced the cameras after winning the silver medal in the relay at the 2017 Nordic World Championships.
I really appreciate the recent article the Faster Skier web site did on some of my work covering the nordic ski racing scene. Above, one of the photos from the article, taken in Lahti, Finland, in 2017. You can reach the Faster Skier article by clicking here.
And I was happy that some of the photos of the Chaloux Brothers firewood business that I published in the blog back in July are in the Autumn issue of Northern Woodlands, below. The Chalouxs are great people and hard workers in a tough business. I photographed them and their firewood operation over the course of several months. Northern Woodlands is an excellent magazine focusing on the forest ecology and economy of the Northeast. Click here for my original gallery of the Chalouxs at work. Click here for a link to the Northern Woodlands article. And subscribe or buy the magazine.
Winter Jumps
After a long cloudy day, the sun came out and the kids started jumping off the mini-mountain of manmade snow at the Craftsbury, VT, Outdoor Center last weekend. The guy on the bottom started out facing the other direction and in this series is en route to a 360.
Post Bat Mitzvah Post
After the bat mitzvah comes the post bat mitzvah party!
