Announcements, Horseneck Beach and Gooseberry Neck

Night Sky over the Dunes at Horseneck Beach

Before I get into the main blog, think tank as a new special offer to help organize your laptop case.

ORGANIZE YOUR LAPTOP CASE IN 2014

Our friends at Think Tank Photo just announced a limited special offer.  Between now and February 6, 2014, when you purchase a Retrospective® Laptop Case or a Retrospective® Camera/Laptop Bag you will receive for free your choice of a PowerHouse Air or a PowerHouse Pro clear organizer. 
These customizable clear cases fit power adapters, plus AC cable, pens, small cables, USB drives and other small items. Easily configure the dividers to suit your needs and stay organized.  Secure each item in its own dedicated space for easy access. Keep chargers organized with divided space for the power adapter and the cable inside a clear zippered pocket. Zippered organizer pockets on the back of the case hold small adapters and cables.  http://www.thinktankphoto.com/free-powerhouse-pro-or-pro-air-promo.aspx?code=WS-542

I spent an evening at Horseneck Beach hoping to see the Aurora. The Aurora Did Not Show up, however, the night sky was great. Orion was shining bright above the dunes and the bathhouse. As we were packed up and ready to leave a couple of nice meteors flew across the sky.

Night Sky and Bathhouse at Horseneck Beach

Night Sky and Bathhouse at Horseneck Beach

Night Sky Looking toward Gooseberry

The next morning I went out to Gooseberry, first to catch the sunrise and then to look for the snowy owl. As we went from nautical dawn to civil dawn, at the horizon there was a nice band of red sky. I said to myself hopefully we are going to have a great sunrise. Nature however is fickle and suddenly the sky turned completely gray. Oh well, no sunrise. My friend who runs his huskies every morning having just finished their run, told me there was posted be a half-hour burst of snow and that could leave up to a half inch of snow on the ground. He also told me where he saw the snowy owl.

Nautical Dawn Looking East from Gooseberry

Civil Dawn Looking East from Gooseberry

The Sky and Horizon Looking East from Gooseberry Just Prior to White out

I put my camera and landscape lens away and started walking up toward the towers on Gooseberry. I was utilizing my Nikon D800 with the 70-200 mm lens plus a 1.7 converter. A light snow started, it was very dry and the air was clean. Arriving at the area with a owl was supposed to be, I could not find it. The snow became heavier on a walk down the east side of the beach and took a few scenics. There were a number of peeps feeding on the wrack line in the snow. And further down, I large number of gulls suddenly flew in the air swirled around and then re-landed. The gulls did this a number of times allowing me to take some semi-blur photographs. I also caught a first-year great black-backed gull preening.

Sea Ice on Rocks in the Snow

Gulls in Flight

Peeps Feeding in the Wrack Line in the Snow

Ice and Snow on Rocks and Ice Flows

First-year Great Black-backed Gull Fluffing Its Feathers after Preening

Although again I did not find the snowy owls, it was a great day again.

I want to remind people, if they are interested that I am leading a photo workshop starting at 6 AM at Gooseberry Sunday, January 12, hoping for a good sunrise and then see what else we can find at Gooseberry. Then we will continue on to photograph Allens Pond and finish up at the stone barn. The cost is $25 and can be  paid that day. We will meet at the parking lot at Gooseberry.

I have been using Topaz plug-ins, especially Clarity, as a part of my post-processing work in both Lightroom and Photoshop. I highly recommend these plug-ins.



Join Amazon Prime - Watch Over 40,000 Movies & TV Shows Anytime - Start Free Trial Now

Snow Again, Day 2

View from the front

It is now 6 AM on the 2nd day of the storm.  Because we were above freezing.  Most of the day yesterday we did not get a large amount of accumulation, since the snow was mixed with rain.  Overnight, the snow became heavy and now everything is covered with snow, it looks at least 6 inches and it is still snowing.  The weather forecast is for the snow to continue into later today, so have no idea exactly how much snow we will get.  In fact, the snow was blowing so much that my windows that have screens in front of him, you cannot see out of because the screens are covered with snow.  Here are pictures of the front and back of my condo complex looks like this morning.

View from the back

Conifer covered with snow

Snow Again

View from my front door

It is now 6 o'clock on Thursday morning, here in southern New England in the another snowstorm is starting.  I I woke up just before 5 AM, and it wasn't snowing in the grounds and roads were clear and wet from overnight rain.  However, looking outside right now the grounds and roads are are covered with a light coating of snow.  This storm is supposed to last until Friday, and also is including high winds.  So what high winds and wet snow will see what happens.  Keep tuned.

View of the backyard

Beautiful Day after a Night's Snow

Lake Rico

Sunday, weather-wise was miserable with intermittent heavy rain, in fact, we got up too close to an inch of rain and if it was snow we would had probably close to a foot.  Around suppertime the rain changed to snow, which lasted until around midnight.  Looking out in the morning, everything had a beautiful coating of snow, and the skies were clearing.  I make coffee, filled my travel coffee cup and out I went to take pictures.  Here is a sample of some of the images that I obtained.

Lake Rico

Great Quittacus Pond

Snow-covered trees lining the road

The marsh at the Bedford Conservation Area in Lakeville

Winter Storm, Plato

Well this winter storm is slowly increasing in intensity and the weather service has also issued a wind advisory starting later this morning for winds with gusts up to 55 mi./h.

My house is warm, no power outages as yet and I am taking pictures out my backdoor.  Here are two videos, one is just demonstrating the snow flying around in the other is of my old weather station (which has stopped transmitting) showing the anemometer spinning and wind direction indicator demonstrating the variability of the gusts.

Winter Storm Warning

We have progressed from a winter weather advisory to a winter storm warning.  Right now, at 9 PM.  It is not snowing, but the forecast could be up to 11 to 12 inches of snow depending on how the storm tracks.  What my plan is hopefully to be up at midnight and take some pictures of what is happening at that point.  The temperature is falling and is now getting below freezing, so let's see what the night will bring.  Here are the pictures from right now

WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY - Again

After last week's blizzard, we now have a winter weather advisory starting at 7 PM tonight with the possibility of up to 4 plus inches of snow in heavy wind.  Right now it is almost 2 PM and we have snow falling, I am going to try to post pictures of this snowstorm as it progresses.

The photos were taken of the snow falling in my backyard.  For these pictures, I used shutter priority and my flash set with 1 minus EV compensation and the camera set for rear flash.  This way, rather than getting streaks from the snow, I could freeze the snow.

Snow, Ice and Water

Water, Snow and Ice

Tuesday, after I left Plymouth on the way home I stopped at Oliver Mills Park in Middleborough Massachusetts to observe how the area was looking after the snow and freeze that we have had. One of the nicest things of the day, was that the sky was brightly overcast and I did not have to worry about harsh shadows since I was arriving close to midday. There was ice where the waters of the Nemasket River were flowing over the dams, which lent those areas to various photographic interpretations. Here are mine.

Close-up of water drops as the water rushes through a narrow opening. This photograph was obtained by leaning over the railing and utilizing my 70 to 200 lens for the close-up

Black and White processed photograph of water flowing over the dam with snow and ice

Water rushing through ice and snow

Panoramic View

 Video showing the force of the water

Nighttime Snow Event

The weather forecast for Tuesday evening and night was for snow with accumulations of the 3 to 7 inches depending on your location. When it was all over, only a couple inches fell, due to the storm staying offshore. Reading a weather forecasting blog the reason for this is this was a very small system and did not follow any of the normal computer models.

It did make for some nice photographs. I took a series from my front landing of my condo complex. The first picture shows what apparently is the snow coming down extremely fast and hard, but, this is due to a slow shutter speed. The snow was actually coming down very light and fluffy and there was really no wind.

The next picture is a composite which shows a car going by with its lights as a blur, overlaid with soft snowflakes falling.

Tuesday night, was when looking in the sky Jupiter will be the closest to the moon until 2026. The moon did show through the clouds, but no Jupiter.

The last picture is the peaceful night scene after the snow stopped.

Snowy Morning in Southeastern Massachusetts

Before I went to sleep yesterday, the weather forecast was just for some light snow. This morning when I woke up, there was a winter weather advisory in place and looking out the window it was snowing. So soon as it became light, my grandson and I set up our cameras, he used a storm-jacket on his and I used the LensCoat RS medium Raincoat on mine to protect them from the weather. We then went and cleaned off the car and drove slowly first to Lake Rico where we took our first set of pictures of the snow falling and then as it stopped how the scenery looked with snow cover. We then drove to Oliver Mills Park in Middleborough (very slowly, the roads were still tough and there was a lot of traffic) where we composed our next set of photographs.

I converted some of my pictures to black and white and left the rest in color.

Grandson in the snow photographing Lake Rico with a flock of geese approaching

Lake Rico, in this picture I decrease the highlights are hundred percent and pushed the vibrance up to 76%

Lake Rico, same picture as above but converted to a selective black and white, I wanted the red bench to stand out.

Remnants of the old mill at Oliver Mill Park

Water flowing over the dam at Oliver Mill Park after the snow

A different view of the remnants of the old mill with the water flowing down over a small dam

Overview at Oliver Mill Park after the snow

Sunrise in Bad Weather

The weather forecast for Sunday January 6 was for snow showers, so I decided I would get up before sunrise had tried to catch how the land and seascape at Allens Pond would look in bad weather.

Allens Pond Beach Loop in the Snow

Driving was a little slow due to the weather but the roads were not bad. I packed at the beginning of the beach loop and as it became lighter toward sunrise (no there was no sun present) obtained a series of photographs to try to show the mood of the landscape.

The closer we got to the actual time is sunrise, the snow slowly turn to some sleet then stopped. My series of pictures I've try to convey some of the different feelings that I had with the weather, from cold to the drama of the sky.

Allens Pond Beach Loop in the Snow

Rocks, Cobbles, Sean and Sky with Clouds

On the way home, we stopped in the state forest where I obtained some photographs of the marsh and snow and of a little stream running through the woods.

Marsh in B&W

Running Stream and Snow