Discovering Retirement Through the Digital Camera Lens

Longtime Chester resident Lew Watters will be exhibiting a series of photographs at Whiting Library on Main Street in Chester during the months of December and January. The free exhibit, open during regular library hours, focuses on his rediscovered joy of photographing life in Chester, travel in the southwest, nature and wildlife, celebrating grandchildren, photography classes at Saint-Gaudens NHS, and capturing the art of handcrafted dolls made by his wife Bonnie. The public is invited to his opening reception on Wednesday, December 4 from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. in the computer and reference room.

Whiting Library is located on Main Street, Chester, Vermont and is open Monday, Wednesday and Fridays from 10 until 6 p.m. and Saturday 10 a.m. till 2 p.m.

In his retirement Mr. Watters began more serious photography with the gift of a Canon digital SLR camera and the creation of a light studio in order to faithfully capture the extraordinary dolls made by his wife Bonnie. Yearly visits to the southwest for winter vacations opened the vast horizons of the Colorado Plateau, tagging along with daughters Kate and Kelly shooting macro images of exotic dessert plants, long-range telephoto shots of wildlife, and farmers markets in bustling Tucson. Back home in Vermont in his beloved hometown, the endless scenes of the changing seasons, the family gardens and pets, craft shows, town merchants and events always await his interpretation.

Work experience in a HS computer classroom and his Park Ranger years fueled his passion for mastering digital photo editing using Adobe Photoshop. Saint-Gaudens in Cornish, NH is the perfect place to control natural light whether shooting formal flower gardens, or the subtle nuances of bronze and plaster sculptures of civil war heroes inside a meticulously preserved art studio.

After formal education and college in Colorado, Mr. Watters served in the US Navy during the Vietnam War stationed on an amphibious ship home-ported in Yokosuka, Japan. Equipped with his Nikon F, he could be seen photographing Marines landing ashore, or the temples, shrines and gardens in the ancient capital of Kyoto.

Photos (c) by Lew Watters: abandoned truck #0048 in Paria Canyon, AZ and #2319 William Techumseh Sherman Plaster Bust, Saint-Gaudens, NHS, Cornish, NH.