I've walked along Glover's Regiment and captured their annual march in honor of General Glover's Birthday on three prior occasions but each year feels like a new experience. This year I was running late so missed the march but made it to Old Burial Hill in time to hear Seamus Daly recount the life of John Glover and then managed one perfect frame of the three volley salute. My ears are still ringing...
This is the first year in which I have had two sets of images captured on the same day make it into my top 10 list. On July 4th, I had made it out to Fort Sewall for the dedication of the newly renovated fort and to capture Glover's Regiment firing their new cannon. It was incredibly hot that day and I only had a few firings to make sure I had my settings dialed in correctly. As I quickly discovered, not every shot included a plume of fire as some were simple smoke shots. By the time the last [...]
So this may be my favorite shot from Glover's Regiment firing of the new cannon at Fort Sewall on Independence Day in Marblehead. I had envisioned the shot I ended up sharing first - that of the cannon firing with Marblehead Light visible behind the fire and smoke. But after capture that image, and with the cannon being fired 13 times at noon, I had the opportunity to explore other angles and compositions. This one was captured from directly behind the cannon and I started firing off shots as soon as one member of the Regiment placed a flaming torch [...]
At noon on the Fourth of July, Glover's Regiment fired off the new cannon at Fort Sewall 13 times while reading the Declaration of Independence between volleys. It was a perfectly Marblehead moment and I was lucky to be able to capture the incredible plume of fire from several of the cannon shots. Photographer's note: I'm really glad they fired 13 times as this was maybe number 10. I had overexposed the first two and then there were several after that they were mostly smoke with a very small of fire. This and one other were the best exposed and [...]
As they do every year for well over a hundred years, Glover's Regiment met at the Old Town House and marched up Washington Street to Old Burial Hill where three volleys were fired into the cold night to commemorate the life of General John Glover. This year featured a new recruit carrying a flag reading 'My Appeal to Heaven' as well as a first for me - the Regiment walked around Redd's Pond to reach General Glover's burial site due to the icy conditions along the steps leading up to Old Burial Hill. Here are images from the night: [...]
The complete opposite of the last shot - this was a really tough shot to get. It was really cold on this February evening, there was almost no light and we were all gathered between headstones at Old Burial Hill (with two newspaper photographers there as well). I had no room for a tripod so opened up the lens to its maximum aperture and adjusted the ISO so I could handhold and be assured of a sharp image. I used the lanterns as a focal point (partly because it was too dark to focus on anything else). With a shutter [...]
Earlier today, the sky seemed promising for a nice sunset so I made sure to get my gear in the car and headed out a little before 4pm with Crocker Park as my planned destination. I drove down Darling Street then to Front and could not find anywhere to park along the way. I continued to the State Street Landing where parking was plentiful and pulled in just as Glover's Regiment began marching towards me. I hadn't heard anything about an event but with, clouds thickening, quickly pivoted to this as plan B. I changed lenses and set up making [...]
As we pass six months of social distancing and mask wearing, I found myself drawn to my admittedly few environmental portraits that had yet to be shared. This shot of Glover's Regiment crossing Marblehead harbor as a tribute to simpler days was an instant selection. The shot was captured on December 1, 2018 and features the whole of the Regiment well within our now 6 foot distance. At the time I thought nothing of this shot and put it in the 'to be published' archive having favored some others from the outing. Now it carries so much more weight and [...]
On February 1st when I captured Glover's Regiment standing at attention in front of Old Town House, phrases such as 'social distancing' were not even in our vocabulary. For now, let's try to stay as far apart from one another as one of these muskets might reach and look forward to warmer days ahead and hopes of putting social distancing safely behind once more.
It's been nearly a month since I last posted an image here (the epiphany bonfire). I had decided to take a break or at least slow down the photography and, as it happens, I chose to do so during the least photogenic winter in the past 10 years... Tonight, however, I headed out before 5pm to join Glover's Regiment annual march from Old Town House to Old Burial Hill on the anniversary of General John Glover's death (from hepatitis I learned tonight). I remembered how difficult it was to shoot the lantern procession and gathering at Old Burial Hill when [...]