This morning’s record low temperatures (the coldest Marblehead has been in over a decade) meant that sea smoke was likely to occur. Since moving to Marblehead in 2008, sea smoke has become one of my favorite subjects to photograph. While I’ve taken photos of this incredible phenomenon of steam coming off the relatively hot ocean (with air temperatures of -10F above it), I’ve never seen a display of sea smoke as occurred this morning.
After dressing appropriately for the arctic temperatures (it must have been -20 something with the wind chill), I left the house and made my first stop at Riverhead Beach to get a sense of the sea smoke that had formed. The scene before me was nothing short of incredible and I took a few photos of the rising steam before driving straight to Fort Beach. I began shooting along Front Street but quickly moved up to Fort Sewall when the sun began to rise. With the backlighting provided by the sun and the warm glow as it remained near the horizon, the sea smoke was washed in a golden color.
I composed this, my favorite shot from the morning, to include Marblehead Light as well as Marblehead Rock. You can see the smoke surrounding Chandler Hovey Park and even pushing onshore to the base of the lighthouse. More photos to come of sea smoke all week…