Today's image comes from July 18 and a trip to Gerry Island. Low tide occurred as the sun set and I headed over to the land bridge connecting Gerry Island to the mainland in hopes of a decent sunset. Ironically, this image captures the spot from which I took Tuesday's image of sunset over Little Harbor. While great clouds and light never materialized, the still water in Little Harbor served as a perfect mirror to reflect the houses of Fort Sewall Lane.
Well, it's over...Summer has officially ended. I thought I would post this image captured on the morning of August 29 (taken 30 minutes after Monday's image) to commemorate the end of a picture perfect Summer in Marblehead. We couldn't have asked for better weather to make up for the historic cold and record setting snow of Winter. I figured that an image of Marblehead Harbor filled to capacity and lit by the golden glow of sunrise would make for an appropriate End of Summer image. Here's to a great Autumn.
On July 24th, I chased a rainbow and then a rain cloud before finding myself on the edge of Fort Beach Way trying to capture the last colors of sunset. The location offered a unique vantage point of the boat yard that makes up the Little Harbor boathouse. Despite this shot being taken in the midst of a picture perfect Summer, there were still a few boats to be seen dry docked in the boat yard.
On August 29, while out capturing the moon setting near Abbot hall, I witnessed a beautiful orange dawn from Chandler Hovey Park. I had a super zoom lens mounted on the camera and therefore looked for new compositions that I had not previously explored. One of my favorite images from the morning ended up being this one of Marblehead Bell with its beacon illuminated sharing the frame with Cormorant Rock and a single lobster boat. The sky was filled with the orange glow of dawn which added the perfect dimension of color to an otherwise simple image.
As sunset neared, I drove up Washington Street, wondering what new compositions the ultra wide lens might offer me. One of the limitations of capturing buildings is that any angles off center introduce perspective shifts causing buildings to appear to fall back or loom overhead. At 11mm on a full frame sensor, the full height of Abbot Hall could be captured even from this vantage point below it. I took advantage of that and included the blue sign proclaiming Abbot Hall to be the home of the Spirit of 76 painting. Enjoy the Weekend!
Continuing with the week's exploration of Marblehead using a super wide lens, I headed out to Castle Rock at low tide hoping that this lens would allow me to capture the entire beach from a vantage point other than the overlook. One of the tricky parts of this lens is that it is so wide you have to be careful of including your own shadow in the final image. With the sun behind me, I walked along the rocky beach at Castle Rock and ended up in the shade afforded by a large rock formation. I used the nearby rock [...]
So the theme for the week seems to be ultra wide shots taken with the new Canon 11-24mm lens I received on loan for the week. Right after capturing the facade of the new Glover School, I headed out to Chandler Hovey Park with a few compositions in mind. I had heard that the Canon 11-24mm was capable of producing beautiful sunstars with 18-points and so I found this spot from which I could include all of Marblehead Light in the frame. I positioned the camera just on the edge of the shadow so that the sun abutted the lighthouse. This [...]
In February 2014, the new Glover School opened housing Kindergarten through Third grade. The former school was established in 1916 and had reached the end of its useful life (if you need a recollection, see the gallery below). The new school is beautiful inside and out but I had not been able to capture its full length with my current crop of lenses. As I tested out a new super wide angle lens from Canon, I made it a point to stop at the Glover school on a beautiful sunny September day. I couldn't have asked for better conditions (well, [...]
For the past 5 years, the Old North Church has resisted all of my attempts to photograph it. While I’ve shot from its cupola, the building is so tall and the street below so tight, that I was never able to capture the full facade of the beautiful structure before without angling the camera upwards and introducing horrible distortions. With Canon's newest super wide lens on loan, I was able to stand across the street and take an image head on capturing the full stature of Old North Church enveloped in clouds. I then wandered up and down Washington Street [...]
On the same night in which I captured an image of rocks along this section of Marblehead Neck abutting the harbor, I found a number of other interesting compositions. This one was taken just a few minutes earlier when I made my way past a private pier and noticed Old Glory flying high overhead. As I looked around for a composition, I found this spot where the Corinthian Yacht Club can be seen through the pylons of the pier and its flag can just be made out juxtaposed with Old Glory. The flying flag and warm light convey the heat [...]