On Tuesday, March 17, the aurora borealis appeared in the sky over Marblehead, Massachusetts. I shared another image from this outing earlier in the day with a mix of green glow and purple spikes from the incredible light display. This image was captured five minutes earlier and shows a much broader and deeper green glow. I corrected the distortion in the lighthouse as it did not affect the aurora over Marblehead as in the other one.
It finally happened! I can't count how many times I have left the house late at night with the hope of capturing the aurora borealis over Marblehead Light. The northern lights occur when charged particles enter the Earth's atmosphere. On March 15, two coronal mass ejections sprouted from the Sun and headed towards Earth bringing with them a LOT of those charged particles. The strength of the aurora is measured in Kp values and, in Marblehead, we need to hit at least a Kp of 7 for any hope of seeing the northern lights. When the charged particles arrived on Earth [...]
This image of frostbite sailing in Marblehead Harbor comes from a pleasantly warm Sunday on March 3, 2013. The temperature had hit the lower 40s and I was out exploring Crocker Park when I spotted this group of sonars going through maneuvers within Marblehead Harbor. Frostbite sailing is such a unique tradition for Marblehead and I highly recommend experiencing it in person from Crocker Park or Marblehead Neck. Sailing takes place on Sundays typically starting on November 11th and continues until the end of April.
On Friday, March 13th, I drove home by way of Leggs Hill Road and noted the ice along the Forest River had started to break up into large chunks. I decided to return to the spot at sunset to capture the unique view before the upcoming warmth and rain obliterated this remnant of the Winter of 2015. When I arrived at Leggs Hill Road closer to sunset, I found the view looking back toward Lafayette Street to be drab due to the overcast conditions. However the view toward Loring Avenue held far more promise and was one I had never [...]
I can't believe that I have never shared an image of the Annual Horribles parade on my site. Granted, when I go, I'm more often shooting my own children racing around to collect candy. This image comes from July 4, 2012 and seems to perfectly capture the combination of tradition and fun that makes Marblehead the greatest place to spend the Fourth of July.
On July 2, 2014, I was fortunate to be invited to the top of Marblehead Light. The climb was more difficult than I imagined with a sharply winding staircase within the small diameter of the lighthouse's central column. Once atop Marblehead Light, the view more than made up for any difficulties. I've shared a number of images from this unique vantage point but none in this direction. I was fortunate to have some clouds to offset the blue sky of this Summer day and, for a brief moment, the clouds blocked the sun leading the sun rays forming below. I [...]
If you have followed my site for at least the past year, you would know that cherry blossoms are forever tied with thoughts of Spring in my mind. After a number of years spent living in Washington, DC, I don't feel that Spring has sprung until the cherry blossoms begin showing their pink flowers. In 2014, I found that my favorite patch of cherry blossoms at Harris Street cemetery had hit an incredible peak bloom and I captured the view over a span of several days. In this image taken on April 25th, I decided to put the camera against [...]
On September 9, 2014, I witnessed one of the most incredible sunsets of my life. The view was made even more amazing by my choice of Devereux Beach to serve as backdrop. Some combination of storm and incredibly low tides had transformed what is normally a fairly rocky beach into this beautiful smooth sand version. I'll bet many longtime 'Headers would have been hard pressed to name this as Devereux Beach based on the conditions. More images of Marblehead without snow coming throughout the week. Stay tuned...
On Sunday, March 8, I awoke at 6:30am completely confused about whether I had gotten too little or too much sleep as we entered Daylight Savings Time. Whichever the case might have been (it was too little by the way), I decided to take advantage and rush out of the house to capture the dawn and sunrise. The last time I had captured images of Marblehead Harbor was the morning on February 18th when I found the harbor had frozen for the first time in years. With that in mind, I headed to one of my favorite spots for a [...]
One week after yesterday's image of a frozen Redd's Pond, the temperatures dipped to previously unseen lows and I headed out at dawn in hopes of capturing sea smoke. Since first witnessing the phenomenon of smoke rising from the ocean, I have ventured out at every opportunity to capture the incredible sight. However, until this day, I had never witnessed sea smoke within Marblehead Harbor. I previously shared a wider view of the sea smoke in Marblehead Harbor with the pink-purple sky of dawn over Marblehead's skyline. This image was taken a few moments later when the sun had risen [...]