Last night's storm brought to mind this outing in mid-August when gathering clouds made the sky nearly as interesting as the harbor. I had arrived at Riverhead Beach just as a storm approached and shot a few frames before heading out for other locations and lucked out with a great sunset and rainbow at Castle Rock. Here I decided to include more of the sky than the harbor but love that I could fit both Abbot Hall and Marblehead Light in the composition.
I didn't get a chance to shoot the Halloween Race this year but happened upon this image in my 'to be published' folder and figured it would make for a good start to the day. I shot the race in October 2018 from along Foster Street and mostly tried capturing the boats with their colorful sails as they criss-crossed the harbor. When I spotted two men on a float talking and then stopping to watch the boats pass by, I quickly recomposed and included them in the final shot. Instead of a two layered image with boats against the backdrop [...]
I drive by this view four days a week and keep wishing that someone would expand the small bridge crossing Leggs Hill Road where it meets up with Loring Avenue so it was easier to stop and grab a photo or just stare out at the Forest River Park. It really is a great spot for a view but a terrible spot to stop a car and I've passed by views that put this one to shame but been unable to pull over and capture the moment. Maybe those moments are all the more precious for being so fleeting...
I was at my office in Salem today when I started to notice the light change and took a quick peak at the webcams lining Marblehead harbor to find an incredible combination of fog and light developing. I was stuck til 5pm and with sunset before 4:30 I could only sit and watch the sunset unfold. With that in mind, I wanted to revisit my foggy shots in my 'to be published' folder and immediately stopped at this one captured on July 5, 2016. One of my all time favorite outings with countless 'keepers' took place on this night. At [...]
As the month of October came to a close, I happened to have several great outings and posted new content day after day through the weekend. It felt great until November 3rd and then it all stopped. I can't be the only one who refreshed my iPhone, tablet and desktop every few minutes literally for days waiting for an answer to an election that really does feel like the most important one in a generation. With this country divided, a decision needed to be made on which way we would move forward and, after days of counting, that decision finally [...]
And this was the view of the Halloween blue moon rising over Children's Island on October 31. I arrived at Crocker Park more interested in trying something new with focus stacking using a small pumpkin but, once the full moon appeared, I found myself in awe of the sight. There was something about this moment with the moon not yet cleared of Children's that made me immediately mark it as a favorite. The two boats moored in the harbor helped with a foreground element and broke up the otherwise empty harbor. I ended up with multiple outings between October 29 [...]
On Halloween night, I headed out to view King Kong moving through the wonders of Tom Saltsman's animatronics and then continued to Crocker Park where I hoped to capture the rare blue moon. I had an idea in mind to stack focus and combine a foreground shot of a pumpkin on the rocks with that of the full moon rising near Marblehead Light. While the moonrise was a wonder to behold, the stacking didn't quite work out as planned. So here is a sneak peak of tomorrow's moonrise only with the pumpkin stealing focus from the brilliant blue moon.
In 2018, Tom Saltsman and his crew brought a dragon to life. In 2019, a ghost ship appeared at their home at 32 Pleasant Street. And in 2020, when we needed this the most, the King of the Jungle...KONG! I had driven down Pleasant Street last week to run a quick errand at Crosby's when, out of the corner of my eye, I spotted a huge black ape squatting in the front yard on Pleasant Street. I had to stop and gape in awe at the sheer size and incredible detail of the work. This is the fourth year in [...]
Remember how I was lamenting Thursday's mediocre sunrise in this morning's post? Tonight's sunset after the first snow of the season more than made up for that morning! I arrived home after work and grabbed my wife and kids to drive down Pleasant Street and view Tom Saltsman's latest Halloween masterpiece...King Kong. After that we headed home and I quickly turned around to drive across the neck as I had spotted a small opening in the cloud cover near the horizon. I arrived on Foster Street and, sure enough, sunset light had snuck through and lit up the clouds. The [...]
This is my favorite time of year for sunrise shoots. The sun rises at 7:15am usually with mild temperatures and the frequent storms often bring great light. With yet another storm forecast for Thursday afternoon, I figured conditions were absolutely perfect for a vibrant sunrise. I woke up at a reasonable time, headed to Hammond Park, and found still waters reflecting a whole lot of nothing... The scene was kind of boring with lackluster skies and I kept hoping for some light as the timing of sunset approached. Just as 7:15 rolled around, a working boat decided to head out [...]