Hampshire Life: Stop ... Look up ... View the Valley's striking architecture

A community's architecture, no matter how spectacular, can slip into the background. Architecture, says Zane Lumelsky, who gives walking tours of downtown Northampton's buildings, is something people aren't always aware of, but it affects us anyway. "Design is an expression of a culture, whether they're conscious of it or not," he says. Here is a sample of buildings local architects find interesting and why. Stop. Look up. And see something fantastic.

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Gordon Daniels’ images have chronicled life in Hampshire County for 45 years

NORTHAMPTON - Gordon Daniels took his first photograph for the Daily Hampshire Gazette in January 1966. The assignment was to get a shot of the newly elected Northampton City Council. Daniels went to the council chambers and got the group shot, which ran in the paper the next day. Things have changed. "Now they don't want groups," Daniels said the other day. Daniels, 69, known to many as Gordie, has not yet taken his last photo for the Gazette, but that time is coming. He says he will likely retire sometime this year and relocate with his wife to Florida, where they have family.

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• Related: Show at Northampton Center for the Arts

Photographs reveal richness of Pioneer Valley

Gordon Daniels’ photographs reveal richness of Pioneer Valley

Growing up in West Whately, Gazette photographer Gordon Daniels says he always enjoyed spending time outdoors. That may in part explain why he has been especially well-known for the countless nature photos he's taken that have appeared on these pages over the years.

Northampton Center for Arts shows Gordon Daniels' work

NORTHAMPTON - Longtime Gazette photographer Gordon Daniels, accustomed to his behind-the-scenes role focusing his attention and his camera lens on others, initially opposed the idea of a retrospective exhibit devoted to his work.

Throughout the region, work crews and residents cope with downed trees, wires

Across the region Monday, communities continued to cope with trees and electric lines blocking roadways and sidewalks, as well as the dangers that accompany multiple days without power. Easthampton Director of Public Works Joseph Pipczynski said he is concerned about the casual way people are driving through or walking over wires. "People should stay away," he said. "Eventually the power company will put power in these lines and then we won't know which ones are live." In Southampton, Highway Superintendent Edward Cauley said he was warning his workers not to touch the wires even if they seem to be safe. "People are running generators, and they can feed power back into the power lines, so you have to be careful," he said.

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Rare October snowstorm wreaks havoc in Northeast

Mission accomplished: Local veterans' trip to Washington, D.C., full of emotion

NORTHAMPTON - When Leeds resident Brad LeVay got off the bus from a trip to Washington, D.C., last week and saw a crowd of local Elks Club members waiting to greet him, he said it felt like "my first real homecoming in nearly 60 years." That's how long it had been since LeVay, 79, returned from combat duty as a U.S. Marine in the Korean War - a stint in which he earned a Purple Heart for wounds he suffered in March 1953. "Nobody really noticed when we got back," said LeVay, a retired maintenance worker for the Northampton School Department. "It was the forgotten war. You put it all behind you, or you try to. You never talk about it."

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