Lenny Rumpler has lived in Barrington for more than 50 years, but only recently did he discover the Barrington Land Conservation Trust.

Mr. Rumpler said the nonprofit organization, which manages dozens of properties in Barrington, approached him last year and asked if he would be willing to photograph some of the trust's land. Mr. Rumpler agreed and spent nine months visiting and revisiting the BLCT properties, capturing the landscapes at different times of the year and in all sorts of weather.

"I was just so taken by what I saw when I went out to the land," said Mr. Rumpler, who recently turned 90 years old. "I said (to the land trust members) 'You might think you're getting a favor from me, but I'm getting a favor because I found out about this land. It's just unbelievable what's out there."

Mr. Rumpler took hundreds of photographs of the BLCT properties and recently displayed 30 of his pieces inside the Barrington Public Library. The display fills a hallway on the first floor of the library and a section of the second floor space outside the auditorium.

There will also be a reception for the exhibit on Sunday, Jan. 26 at the library. It is free and open to the public, and Mr. Rumpler's framed photographs are all available for sale. Proceeds go directly to the Barrington Land Conservation Trust.

Visits, visits and more visits

Mr. Rumpler started his project with a special guided tour of some of the land trust properties with Peter Burke, a longtime member of the trust,.

"Every one of these places he went out with me and I didn't take any pictures," said Mr. Rumpler. "I just took in as much information as I could, made some notes and made sure I didn't get lost. I mean, there's so many trails…"

Mr. Rumpler, who has worked as a photographer for decades, watched closely the details of the parcels: a massive red oak tree at the St. Andrew's Farm Field property; the way clouds filled the sky above the Johannis Farm property; an old metal fence that was all but devoured by a tree at the Pic-Wil property.

"I went out many days and there were just no clouds," said Mr. Rumpler, standing in front of one photograph of Johannis Farm. "Or I was there in the morning and I should have been there in the afternoon. Or it was high tide and I needed low tide."

Before long, Mr. Rumpler found himself focusing on the tides and the weather and the color of the changing leaves. 

"Some of the places I went back many times," he said. "In photography, that's what I always do."

His diligence and persistence is evident in many of the photographs, including one picture highlighting the Rayner Refuge property at Nockum Hill. The backdrop of farm fields and abutting woods is overwhelmed by a soaring Monarch butterfly in the foreground.

Two women stood surrounded by Mr. Rumpler's framed photographs on the second floor of the library and asked the longtime resident how he was able to capture the butterfly so perfectly.

"It was not photoshopped. I didn't have to," said Mr. Rumpler. "The butterfly flew into the picture while I was taking it. That was one of those things that you can't explain because nobody believes you. I knew they (butterflies) were around. I had seen them. But to try to catch a butterfly is pretty hard."

Patience, however, prevailed in that photograph, and others as well. A framed photo of Johannis Farm is highlighted by a classic late afternoon sky, filled with clouds about to dampen an otherwise dry day.

"It looked like just clouds, just the way I wanted them," said Mr. Rumpler. "And I was way out in this field. I was trying to get out to a certain place and all of a sudden it started to pour. I had never seen it rain so hard. And I had my tripod and my equipment and all of my stuff, and I started running…"

Mr. Rumpler said the three-foot tall grass filling the farm property slowed his retreat, although land trust member Cindy Pierce, who lives nearby, spotted him and helped him out.

"We got back to my car … I was so tired. I just turned 90," he said.

What did the trust want?

Mr. Rumpler was not sure what the land trust was looking for when they requested his assistance photographing the properties. Did they want close-ups? Were they looking only for horizontal landscapes?

"I wasn't exactly sure what my target was," Mr. Rumpler said. "I went with my feelings of what I thought they liked and what I liked."

Mr. Rumpler was fascinated by some of his photographs, but when he showed them to the land trust members the reaction was a bit less excited. 

"I showed them a lot of different images and they said 'That's too different,'" he said. "We went back and forth."

For example, Mr. Rumpler is particularly happy with his photograph showing a closeup of a tree that, over years, enveloped a metal wire fence at Pic-Wil property. His picture shares the details of the tree smothering the old rusted wire. Members of the land trust were not as keen on that photograph, Mr. Rumpler said. 

However, there were landscapes that thrilled the trust members a bit more than the man who snapped the pictures.

"In the end, we came up with enough images," he said. 

Framed, on screen

In addition to the 30 framed photographs lining the walls at Barrington Public Library, there are more than a dozen other images that are featured on a large flat screen monitor. The wall-mounted screen is on the second floor of the library, and Mr. Rumpler decided to position the monitor vertically while featuring his photographs. Those who have already viewed the display said the digital images on the monitor are very impressive. "Oh my gosh, they're beautiful," said one resident as she watched the photographs rolling through on a slideshow.