Epiphany Tree Burning in Marblehead

We moved to Marblehead in 2008 and did not get to experience the Epiphany tree burning until this annual tradition returned a few years ago. The image of hundreds of Christmas trees being set aflame on January 6th with hundreds of people gathered around was awe inspiring and I've tried to capture it from various angles over the years. This image comes from the 2017 Epiphany tree burning which I chose to view and capture from Redsteps on the corner of Cliff and Chestnut streets. The 2018 tree burning has been postponed due to arctic cold and thus will take [...]

By Eyal Oren|2018-01-07T20:25:55-05:00January 6th, 2018|Categories: Traditions|Tags: bonfire, epiphany, tree|17 Comments

Goodnight 2017 – Frozen New Years Eve Sunset

This was truly a frozen New Years Eve sunset as I braved an insanely cold wind coming off the frozen harbor to capture my last sunset of 2017. I decided to head out in part to capture the chunks of ice that had formed along this part of the harbor and hoped the clouds would break for a nice sunset to help say 'Goodnight 2017'. I started off shooting around 3:40pm and only lasted 10 minutes before the cold forced me to retreat into the car. Despite dressing warmly in multiple layers, the 20 mph winds (and -15F wind chills) [...]

By Eyal Oren|2017-12-31T17:57:48-05:00December 31st, 2017|Categories: Sunset|Tags: causeway, frozen, ice, sunset, tree|27 Comments

Top 10 of 2017 – #1 Christmas at Sea

How can a tree on a small boat be my favorite image of 2017 after passing up sunrises, sunsets, the harbor illumination and two shots of lightning? I'm not sure but there is something perfectly Marblehead in the simplicity of this small boat and decorated tree with a starfish on top floating in Little Harbor on the first snowfall of the season. The title Christmas at Sea is one that I thought summed up those elements quite well. I captured this image on December 9th at 11:33am so the feeling of walking across the slippery rocks in front of the [...]

By Eyal Oren|2017-12-20T12:18:17-05:00December 29th, 2017|Categories: Favorite|Tags: boat, Christmas, favorite, Little Harbor, tree|20 Comments

Christmas at Sea

What an absolutely picture-perfect first snow of the season! Once the flakes started falling at 11am, I headed out of the house to capture some scenes around town with freshly falling snow. My first stop was Little Harbor and a favorite tree floating in the waters just off shore. I parked in front of the Marblehead Lobster Company and headed down to the water's edge from where I played with compositions as this small boat with its beautifully decorated tree floated gently amid the fresh fallen snow. As the boat turned towards me, the starfish above was displayed and a [...]

By Eyal Oren|2017-12-09T14:27:10-05:00December 9th, 2017|Categories: Snow|Tags: boat, Christmas, Little Harbor, snow, tree|101 Comments

Welcome to the Neck

The Mathers family recently moved to this beautiful house on Marblehead Neck where the causeway splits into a Y. As the calendar turned to December, they hired a local landscaper to decorate their grand tree and serve as a welcome to drivers crossing the causeway onto the Neck. I first heard about the tree before actually seeing it because the Mathers family were sent a letter disparaging the holiday display. With the community offering their support of the family and their grand tree, I had to see it for myself. I drove home from work tonight and headed directly across [...]

By Eyal Oren|2017-12-08T18:14:54-05:00December 8th, 2017|Categories: Aerial|Tags: aerial, causeway, holiday, light, Marblehead Neck, tree|34 Comments

Flash of Color at Abbot Hall

On Sunday, I finally found some foliage around town and will share five favorite images from two outings this week. Today's image of a flash of color at Abbot hall quite literally snuck up on me as I was driving along Washington Street out of historic downtown on my way home and spotted red foliage on this tree backlit by the 11:00am sun. I quickly turned and pulled over to try to capture this beautiful scene. I decided to use my circular polarizer on my widest lens and started off shooting from directly under the tree but found the composition [...]

By Eyal Oren|2017-10-22T21:55:50-04:00October 23rd, 2017|Categories: Fall|Tags: Abbot Hall, Fall, foliage, tree|24 Comments

Weathered by Time

I captured today's image at the end of June but have been staring at the color version of it for a while wondering why I hadn't bothered to share it. Last week, as I converted another image to black and white, I decided to do the same with this image of a tree weathered by time and flanked by benches on Chandler Hovey Park. The black and white served to accentuate the textures in the tree, bench and sky while helping with the too bright light of this pre-sunset image.

By Eyal Oren|2017-09-17T20:39:42-04:00September 19th, 2017|Categories: Marblehead Neck|Tags: bench, black and white, Chandler Hovey park, dramatic sky, tree|6 Comments

Framed by a Tree at Parker Lane

I was working on my 2018 calendar yesterday and think I have it almost finalized. As I went through images from the past year to use for each month, I stumbled upon this photo in my 'to be published' folder. I had gone out to a familiar spot at the end of the public way on Parker Lane in early September for what turned out to be a very nice sunset. Rather than running to the stairs and shooting the unobstructed view, I decided to stop and compose an image framed by a tree. The full canopy of leaves worked [...]

By Eyal Oren|2017-08-02T21:17:37-04:00August 3rd, 2017|Categories: Sunset|Tags: Parker Lane, sunset, tree|8 Comments

Chestnut Tree at Crocker Park

I wanted to share something other than a harbor scene and found this image of the chestnut tree at Crocker Park in my archive. I had gone out at the end of May to Crocker Park only to find this tree in full bloom. The blossoms kept me busy trying to find compositions from every angle. In the end, I had three favorites and shared two in the Spring. Here is the final image of the chestnut tree in full bloom at Crocker Park. I wonder if its leaves have changed colors for Fall yet...

By Eyal Oren|2016-11-06T12:03:27-05:00October 6th, 2016|Categories: Park|Tags: Crocker park, tree|1 Comment

Under the Spreading Chestnut Tree

I shared an image of the full canopy of this blooming Chestnut tree at Crocker Park the other day. Immediately after taking that image, I moved around to a familiar spot and set about composing this shot of Abbot Hall against a perfect May sunset from under the spreading Chestnut tree. I couldn’t have asked for better light as I clicked the shutter and was thrilled with the final image showcasing the unique pyramidal flowers of the Chestnut tree against the familiar landmark of Abbot Hall. Something about the term Chestnut tree triggered memories and I googled the phrase when I arrived home. [...]

By Eyal Oren|2016-11-06T12:03:31-05:00June 1st, 2016|Categories: Park|Tags: Abbot Hall, Crocker park, sunset, tree|3 Comments