Keene Valley

Great New Photo Guide by Carl Heilman II

Carl Heilman book cover

The Adirondack Park is an enormous place, some of it reachable only by boat (or kayak, etc.), some only by a lengthy hike. There are parts of the Adirondacks that I know very well, especially

The Noon Mark Diner in Keene Valley is a popular landmark along the road to Lake Placid.

The Noon Mark Diner in Keene Valley is a popular landmark along the road to Lake Placid.

the area around Lake Placid and the High Peaks, shown here in two photos from my most recent trip–in November of last year–that I’ve only just got round to uploading to my Zenfolio site. Then there are other areas that I know fairly well — and then there are vastly more parts that I would never have been able to discover at all without the help of Carl Heilman II’s new book, Photographing the Adirondacks: Where to Find Perfect Shots and How to Take Them.

Carl Heilman II has lived and worked in the Adirondacks since the early 1970s. He has had the opportunity to find and photograph everything from the well-known iconic places to the more obscure ones. Now with the publication of Photographing the Adirondacks he generously shares his knowledge with us, offering descriptions of the places, directions on how to get there, suggestions for what to photograph and how, including the best times of day.

The book is divided into eight chapters devoted to specific sections of the vast Adirondack Park –

Fall yields to winter over the High Peaks seen from the Plains of Abraham.

Fall yields to winter over the High Peaks seen from the Plains of Abraham.

very useful since, unless you’re fortunate enough to be spending a month or more there, you’ll undoubtedly want to choose one or perhaps two places on which to concentrate. The front of the book even has clear maps that include numbers corresponding to the numbers of each of the sixty-four sites described by the author. You can hardly get more practical than that.

In brief, Carl Heilman II, one of the most prominent photographers working in the Adirondacks today, has saved you and me a great deal of time and legwork. Whether you’ve never been to the Adirondacks and are planning a trip there or, like me, you have your repertoire of favorite places acquired over the years and are eager to explore something new, Photographing the Adirondacks is a very valuable book to have.

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Book coverOur new photo book Historic Hudson Valley is now officially published!

Noon Mark Diner, an Adirondack Gem

The Noon Mark Diner is, of course, named for the mountain that towers over this part of the Adirondacks: the diner is located along Route 73, the road that leads from the Adirondack Northway (a.k.a. I-87) to Lake Placid, in Keene Valley. It’s a mecca for anyone wanting good, tasty, Ed IMG_0362 snonpretentious food and friendly service, whether hiker, local, or tourist. The management also has a sense of humor: don’t you love this photo? (I couldn’t resist buying one of the pens.)

I stopped there to get a take-out lunch on my way home from my most recent trip to Lake Placid, and while waiting for my grilled cheese sandwich to be ready I pulled out my Canon Powershot G15 and made some images for my Diners and Restaurants series. Here is the first one I’ve processed (been busy processing images from my New England trip in October).

This was all done with the jpg in Photoshop–still don’t have Raw processing software that supports the G15. After lightening it a bit in Levels (232, down from 255) I increased the Vibrance, then brought it into Topaz Adjust 5. Using the Spicify preset, I chose Medium Contrast under the Curve Tool in Global Adjustments. Back in Photoshop–sometimes I can get this far and then decide that something is overdone (or underdone). So I decreased the saturation by -10 and increased the lightness by +2. Here is the result.

Ed IMG_0358 s