Evidence

I was on the way to the bank late in the afternoon today, and saw this when I got to the harbor.  So I parked the car, and got my camera and headed over the the railing.  I only had my little Sony Rx II with me which was difficult because the sun was shining in my eyes when I was looking on the back of the camera, because it doesn't have a look-through viewfinder.  So I thought I was framing things correctly but I couldn't be sure.  So here is my best shot, but of course I try other views and different compositions as well.

I really liked this image, showing the long, thin icicles as the sunlight was melting the ice, but then it apparently was re-freezing.  It is an interesting photograph because it is not clear what the subject is exactly, but it makes for a nice second shot, not as the main shot.  This ice accumulation happened because the temperatures were so cold - 11 degrees at night, with the wind blowing the spray from the waves in the harbor blowing up on the railing and the chain.  Oh, "Evidence?"  Evidence that it has been really cold here!

 

You Wouldn't Want to Sit Here

This is yesterday morning, and it had been snowing since the night before.  The snow was really light and continuous,  but the wind was howling.  You would definitely not want to be sitting here while the storm was going on.  I do love how everything on the porch is covered in frosting.  The snow continued until early afternoon, but the snow was really light and easy to shovel, and the snow blower was throwing the snow half way across the side yard!

 

The Delicate Nature of Trees

When I woke this morning, the first thing I did was look out the east side bedroom window to see how much snow had fallen.  The first thing I noticed was how delicate the tree branches are!  I would not have noticed how fine the ends of the branches are, if I was not looking at them silhouetted against the white snow.  You would not notice this if you were looking from underneath against the sky, or at least I never noticed this.  Perhaps because I would be so close to a branch only two feet over my head.  So I celebrate again, that magnificent beauty of nature!

 

Feeding the Gulls

I was on my walk today, photographing, as I have lately, inanimate objects, which can be fun for me but boring to all of you readers.  I was taking a slightly different route that went through the parking lot at the beach and Then I saw this woman feeding the Gulls.  I saw the cloud of gulls first, and then noticed that this woman was kind of jumping up as she threw food at them.  I immediately went in to my "action shot" mode and started shooting.  At least it is something different for all of you!  But then...  I think I remembered that it is not a good practice to feed Gulls.  I looked it up, and sure enough, it is not healthy to feed them.  The Masachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation says:  "Feeding gulls may be fun and appear beneficial for the birds, but this food threatens their well-being as well as presenting a threat to drinking water supplies. Before deciding to feed the gulls, please consider the following impacts. Gull Health - Foods like breads, crackers and french fries are commonly offered to gulls, but these items are nutritionally inferior and poor substitutes for natural foods. Gulls with a highly artificial diet may suffer long-term health problems. Disease - Lower nutrition and crowding together promotes the spread of disease among gulls, other native birds, and humans. Gulls are best left alone to forage naturally."  Wow, I got more than I bargained for!  But there it is!

A Different Time of Day

I have walked this mile of harbor shoreline more times than I can count.  And I have photographed this shoreline every step of the way.  But this is a different time of day for me.  And I have my new Sony a7 III which is really great for low light situations like this.  It was an accident that I was out this late but I found some different photographs as a result.  You have already seen my street corner in the dark which you saw first.  I do love the feeling of the night coming on in this photograph.

 

I Understand the Sentiment...

There is a commercial airline pilot who has a channel on YouTube where he analyzes aircraft accidents of smaller aircraft, and he is really brilliant.  I love watching his detailed analysis of accidents.  The other day he was ranting a bit about  a particular safety issue and he said this:  "At the risk of sounding like the old guy which I am becoming..." and I laughed!  That would be me, ranting about something. So here I go:  I get the sentiment of this message, made up of bright orange plastic pieces tied to this fence down by the water.  But to me, this is ugly and like someone spray painting on a wall.  It is defacing this fence, and at this point, 20 years later, you are either not going to know what this is, or it happened and you saw all of it, and you will not, in fact, ever forget.  Time to clean up the fence.  End of rant.

 

Ancient History II

So since you are enjoying a photo from my past, here is another.  I set up a gray seamless background in the dining room and some big studio strobes with light banks and my 4x5 view camera.  I did individual portraits of Kathy and Liz and Amy, and then I had them do this shot of me.  I am pretending to be Indiana Jones, if you can't tell.  I think I have a bit of an actor gene in me and I love trying to be other people.  I think it runs in our family!  I realize that my hat brim needed to be wider but I got the leather flying jacket and two day beard growth right.