Leave a Light On at Mud Puddle

With the parking ban in effect and unseasonably warm temperatures, I've wanted to capture images of historic downtown Marblehead for a while now. Unfortunately, the light has been terrible with heavy cloud cover blocking any semblance of light on the streets. Finally on Saturday morning, the weather looked promising and I left the house at 6:00am hoping for the best. This week I plan to share images of historic downtown Marblehead captured on this early morning. My very first stop was this one on the sidewalk in front of Haley's Cafe to capture the intersection of Pleasant and Washington Streets. [...]

By Eyal Oren|2016-11-06T12:03:52-05:00December 14th, 2015|Categories: Old Town|Tags: Arnould Gallery, Grace Community church, historic downtown, holiday, light, Mud Puddle Toys, Washington Street|1 Comment

Empty Streets in Historic Downtown – Parking Ban is in Effect

The Winter parking ban is in effect! I might be the only person in town (apart from the snowplow drivers) who actually gets excited about the annual Winter parking ban in Marblehead. I realize it can be a major pain for those who live downtown with little access to parking but, apart from the safety benefits, it allows me to view and capture images of Marblehead that are truly timeless. It's amazing how easily a car or other modern item can cement a scene in a particular decade. During the Winter parking ban, the streets remain devoid of any cars and [...]

By Eyal Oren|2016-11-06T12:03:53-05:00November 30th, 2015|Categories: Old Town|Tags: historic downtown, snow|0 Comments

Plein Air Painting the Old Town House

I feel like I have fallen into a 'rut' of mostly capturing and sharing images of the water in and around Marblehead. With that in mind, I dove into the archives and found this image of a plein air painter capturing Old Town House that was taken on June 30, 2012. The feeling of a warm Summer day spent walking along Washington Street seems to spill out of this simple image and hopefully gets your weekend off on a good foot.

By Eyal Oren|2016-11-06T12:04:04-05:00May 29th, 2015|Categories: Old Town|Tags: Old Town House, people|0 Comments

Through the Gate of the Jeremiah Lee Mansion

On Monday, I shared an image of Abbot Hall taken from the Jeremiah Lee Mansion and had mentioned that the cherry blossom tree had yet to bloom. I noted that the photo might be very different with that element. On Tuesday morning, I woke at sunrise and hoped to replicate the image (I scouted the tree the night before and was pleased to find it in full bloom). I set up the tripod and camera in the same spot as before and waited for the light. Unfortunately, the forecast for partially cloudy skies was wrong and much thicker clouds blocked [...]

By Eyal Oren|2016-11-06T12:04:06-05:00May 6th, 2015|Categories: Old Town|Tags: Abbot Hall, cherry blossoms, Jeremiah Lee Mansion, Washington Street|0 Comments

Pink Shutters and Abbot Hall

Since starting Wednesdays in Marblehead in 2010, Abbot Hall and its iconic tower have featured in well over 100 images shared on the site. And yet, until this past week, I had never tried to capture the facade of Abbot Hall tower from this angle. I was attending a closing reception at the Marblehead Arts Association and happened to have my camera bag in the car (having been too lazy to remove it the other day). As I looked up from my parking spot along Washington Street, I noted the simple composition of Abbot Hall towering over the houses below. [...]

By Eyal Oren|2016-11-06T12:04:06-05:00May 4th, 2015|Categories: Old Town|Tags: Abbot Hall, dramatic sky, houses, lamp post|0 Comments

A Magical Night on State Street

Lately I've been sharing a lot more images of the sea and, with that in mind, decided to look through the 'to be posted' file in search of an image that broke the recent trend. This image was captured on a particularly magical night on State Street on December 5th, 2013. This is one of many black and white images of fog that came out of the evening's shoot throughout town. I had a tough time deciding between color and black and white for this particular image as there is a decorated tree at the bottom right that seems to disappear [...]

By Eyal Oren|2016-11-06T12:04:16-05:00December 16th, 2014|Categories: Old Town|Tags: black and white, fog, State Street|0 Comments

In a Fog on State Street

This image marks the start of 'fog week' with black and white images taken on an incredible foggy night in early December. I shared a few color images from this night last week but have to admit the black and white ones ended up being my favorites. I had six in particular that stood out and am sharing five of those this week. The benefit of black and white, especially when it comes to images of light and fog is that it removes the distraction of color and forces the viewer to focus on textures, lines and gradients. I hope [...]

By Eyal Oren|2016-11-06T12:05:47-05:00December 16th, 2013|Categories: Old Town|Tags: black and white, fog, people, State Street|0 Comments

A Foggy Night in Marblehead – State Street

On Friday, December 5th, Marblehead was enveloped by an incredibly thick layer of fog shortly after sunset. I headed out at 7pm and spent the next two hours capturing scenes of a foggy night in Marblehead. While most of the resulting images were converted to black and white, I kept a few in color. This one of State Street is the first I'll be sharing. You might recognize this composition as it is very similar to 'A Shining Star Over State Street' taken after a snow storm. This was one of the last images I captured in the fog [...]

By Eyal Oren|2016-11-06T12:05:47-05:00December 12th, 2013|Categories: Old Town|Tags: fog, State Street|0 Comments

Patriotism on the corner of Harris and Mugford Streets

It's hard to believe that the Marblehead Festival of Arts took place two weeks ago. On July 6th, I walked with my family around the streets of Old Town to shop and look at the many varied exhibits. As we made our way from the Unitarian Universalist Church towards Old Town House, I looked to my right and noted the abundance of patriotism on display. These house are situated at the corner of Mugford and Harris Streets and, between the bright colors, beautiful landscaping and Betsy Ross flag on display, the scene was too nice to pass up. The photo [...]

By Eyal Oren|2016-11-06T12:05:54-05:00July 18th, 2013|Categories: Old Town|Tags: American flag, houses, Old Town|0 Comments

A Foggy Night on Mugford Street

Some of my favorite photos have been taken in the fog and we had some great fog in mid-February as a result of a warmup after the Blizzard. I have a number of images from that night (some already shared) and decided to bring this one out to finish up the week. As I made my way down Washington Street, I decided to turn around at Old Town House and look to see what Mugford Street might look like in the foggy conditions. It turns out that the street lamps were producing great diffused light as the road curved beyond [...]

By Eyal Oren|2016-11-06T12:06:00-05:00March 29th, 2013|Categories: Old Town|Tags: black and white, fog|0 Comments

Old Town

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