A Spring thaw is finally upon us with temps possibly hitting 60 degrees today. That thought put me in mind of this aerial image of Folger Point and Naugus Head taken in early January as arctic air froze the waters in Salem Harbor. At the time, I saw the broken ice near the coast as 'not yet frozen'. Now it seems to represent 'already thawed'. Funny how that works...
As the days (slowly) warm, I didn't want to miss the chance to share images from this arctic winter including the incredible aerial view of a frozen Marblehead harbor. This image was captured in early January after almost two weeks of sub-20 F temperatures led to a nearly complete freeze of the harbor (at least to the BYC/Landing). It never froze enough to support weight as the harbor did in the 70s but the contrast of the iced harbor against the deep blue of the Atlantic ocean on this morning made for a compelling image.
The night before a blizzard quite literally exploded over Marblehead, I went out hoping to capture the sight of a nearly frozen harbor. While Salem harbor had frozen over several days ago, Marblehead's own harbor seemed more stubborn in succumbing to the arctic blast. Earlier on this Wednesday, I had made it out to Riverhead Beach and flew my drone over the newly frozen parts of inner harbor and knew that at least part of our harbor had finally frozen. As sunset approached, I headed across the causeway trying to think of a new vantage point having shot from just [...]
On Tuesday night I decided to head out to Stramski Beach before sunset hoping to capture images of a frozen Salem harbor only to find picture perfect pancake ice all around me. I spent an hour exploring compositions including the Stramski pier and close ups of the ice. As the sun set and the temperature dipped to single digits, the sky lit up with a beautiful and incredibly long sunset. I shot frame after frame but was immediately drawn to this one with the pier and bare trees framing the scene and the pancake ice reflecting the colors of sunset. [...]
I have had this image of pond skating at Redd's in mind for years and was so thrilled to have finally captured it. In 2010, Vincent Laforet captured an aerial image of skaters at Rockefeller center from a helicopter and what struck me about the shot was the shadows telling the story of what each skater was doing. I considered hiring my own helicopter or plane for a similar image over Redds Pond but that held too many complications and variables. A few years ago, drones came on the market but the early ones had cameras better suited for video [...]
This was truly a frozen New Years Eve sunset as I braved an insanely cold wind coming off the frozen harbor to capture my last sunset of 2017. I decided to head out in part to capture the chunks of ice that had formed along this part of the harbor and hoped the clouds would break for a nice sunset to help say 'Goodnight 2017'. I started off shooting around 3:40pm and only lasted 10 minutes before the cold forced me to retreat into the car. Despite dressing warmly in multiple layers, the 20 mph winds (and -15F wind chills) [...]
When it came time to decide on my top 10 images of 2017, I found myself eyeing several recent images for inclusion and ended up with 4 of the top 10 having been taken in December. I can't decide if that is due to some bias on my end to favor photos taken recently and thereby still holding strong memories of the shoot or a unique effect this year with some truly picture perfect conditions. For #7, I decided on this photos of a truly perfect morning at Redd's Pond. I've captured Redd's partially frozen before but never with such [...]
As I went to bed on Saturday night, I looked out the window and noted the freshly fallen snow was sticking firmly to the tree branches with very little wind that might ruin the effect by morning. With that in mind, I set an alarm hoping for a few snow-filled scenes to shoot on what promised to be a perfect morning. I was out of the house by 6:30am and headed straight to Little Harbor to see what the Peach's boat looked like with some snow atop the small Christmas tree. The view did not disappoint and I shot a [...]
I went out last night with camera and drone in hand hoping for good light at sunset to capture aerial views of Marblehead. I decided to try my luck at Redd's Pond and was disappointed with the light but happy to find the first freeze of the season had created a perfect layer of ice above the water. While the ice wasn't thick enough to stand on, it did serve as a beautifully reflective surface and, as luck would have it, a Christmas tree was glowing in the window of one of the red houses across the pond. With the [...]
Most years, Redd's Pond is frozen during the month of January and makes for a perfect spot to lace up skates and fly across the pond with family and friends. This year's very mild January meant that Redd's Pond never fully froze and those picturesque scenes never materialized. I drove to Redd's Pond on January 24th after a brief cold snap to check the status of the pond and found a beautiful scene before me. The water seemed to be caught in stages of freezing but hadn't quite made it all the way to the middle. You can see a [...]