Last night, storms were predicted to pass near Marblehead between 7 and 8pm.  Knowing that storms make for incredible light at sunset, I decided to head out after dinner and see if that might be the case on this occasion.  The clouds seemed to be coming from the direction of Boston and I therefore chose Chandler Hovey Park as my destination.

I wasn’t thrilled with the light when I first arrived at Chandler Hovey and stared up at Marblehead Light.  There was little definition in the clouds and they seemed too thick to allow any sun to shine through.  After a brief bout of rain, I decided to grab the camera and tripod and walk around to see if I could find any shots.  I made my way to the edge of the shore past the lighthouse and still wasn’t impressed with the light.  I turned back to see what the clouds were doing behind me and found myself staring at an incredible rainbow!  I actually did a double take checking back over the harbor to confirm that the sun was nowhere to be seen – I was perplexed as to how the light was getting through the clouds to light up the rain and create the beautiful sight.

Luckily, I had swapped lenses to my widest one and so I set about trying to find the furthest point so that I could fit the entirety of Marblehead Light and the rainbow in the frame while trying not fall into the ocean water below.  I kept moving as the rainbow shifted and strengthened until I stopped at this spot and captured the view of Marblehead Light at the end of the rainbow.  Well, technically, the lighthouse was in the middle of a nearly full rainbow but that’s beside the point.

I couldn’t wait to share this image but I still have an entire sunset to work on so look for those images next week.  It turned out to be an incredibly fun night to be out shooting in Marblehead.