Last Saturday, we headed out with our former neighbor for a dinghy ride around the harbor. As we made our way around the fort, I couldn't help but grab a few images with great light and clouds positioned perfectly above the outcropping of land. With COVID-19 restrictions and the cancelled fireworks show, it really is perfect timing for Fort Sewall's huge renovation. I can't wait to see it when it reopens.
Look what I found when digging through unpublished images from past Junes - that old tree at the Fort! At the time I didn't think much of this shot with a simple composition split between the tree and a solitary sailboat on its mooring. At the time, I was using the tree to help balance the focal point of the sailboat. Now, seven years after the image was taken in June 12, 2013, the view of the Giving Tree with its full canopy steals the eye and is a wonderful reminder of the majesty of this now lost symbol.
I hadn't been back to Fort Sewall since the day after the storm that took down large pieces of what I affectionately called the Giving Tree. I had woken up early this morning for a different shoot after noticing the Hotel Marblehead's new paint job (watch for that shot tomorrow). I finished shooting from Pleasant Street and was disappointed in the lack of fog or a nice sunrise and was all set to turn back home when I decided to continue down to Fort Beach and see what had become of the tree. Last time I turned onto Front Street, [...]
Since moving to Marblehead in 2008, I must have made the drive up Front Street toward Fort Sewall hundreds of times. Last night as I drove up, I felt like I had been punched in the gut - the tree at the edge of the Fort was broken. There are lots of trees at Fort Sewall but I bet you knew immediately which one I was talking about. The great canopy of Marblehead's Giving Tree was instantly recognizable from land and sea as one looked out toward Fort Sewall. It has formed the focal point of many of my images [...]
One more shot of the full moon that rose on the first day of Spring. I had decided to shoot the moonrise from Fort Sewall and was really hoping it would appear low on the horizon to frame it behind Childrens Island. Thick haze forced me to shoot a different composition which I was happy with and, after capturing the shot, I decided to head back to my car. On the way down the hill, I kept looking back over my shoulder and stopped in front of Fort Beach when I spotted the moon positioned behind the great tree at [...]
Shortly after moving to Marblehead, I captured my favorite image of Fort Sewall with I found the red arches and this tree perfectly coated in fresh snow. I entered that image in the Marblehead Festival of Arts in 2008 and realized too late I had misspelled the title as Fort Sewell. Too late to change it, the photo was rejected - it still hangs over my desk at home. I returned to Fort Sewall during each snow storm to try to recapture that scene with a better camera and without the snowbank that always bugged me but never found the [...]
In the past week, my wife and both kids have celebrated birthday - needless to say, I haven't had a chance to shoot lately and especially not the recent full moon. Thankfully, I captured several images of the Harvest moon that rose on October 4th and haven't had a chance to share them yet. I had decided to capture the Harvest Moon from along Front Street. I started off at Lovis Cove and then walked along Front Street toward Fort Sewall as the moon rose in the evening sky. At this point I had stopped at Fort Beach to take [...]
A few weeks ago, a picture perfect sky dotted with cumulous clouds passed over Marblehead and I decided to fly my Phantom 4 Pro to take advantage of the conditions. I had shot over Castle Rock and the Neck earlier in the day and returned home to recharge batteries and grab a quick bite. As the clouds were still plentiful at 4:00pm, I headed out again - this time to historic downtown. I was trying to decide an a location from which to fly as I drove down Washington Street and pulled into the Old North Church parking lot which [...]
This image is the perfect example of the archive that I have built up over these past six years. On July 24th, a perfect rain cloud passed over Marblehead and I was fortunate to have the camera in my trunk as I drove back into town. I chased the cloud and great light from 7:30 until 8:10pm capturing a rainbow, beautiful sunset and a variety of images of this rain cloud. Here, I sought to include the great tree at Fort Sewall with a view out towards Marblehead Harbor and the golden light reflecting off the rain cloud. The small [...]
On February 21st, I visited Fort Sewall to capture a full moon and ended up being treated to a nice Winter sunset. I began shooting on the far end of Fort Sewall looking out toward Gerry Island and slowly made my way around as the sun set and the colors built up in the sky. As the light began to fade, I found this vantage point from atop Fort Sewall looking out over Fort Beach and the waning light of sunset. This is one of the few spots where a lack of boats can be helpful to the scene. In [...]
