Regata Storica in Venice!

The Venetian Regata (Italian spelling) Storica is truly a festive and colorful race held every year on the first Sunday in September.  What a wonderful surprise to find out we would join local Venetians and tourists in watching the parade and races.

                                     
We were lucky to get seats with a view to the right of the beginning of the races near San Marco Square (below) and a view to the left of the Ponte dell' Accademia (bridge above).

The Regata Storica is the main event in the annual "Voga alla Veneta" rowing calendar. Rowing has been practiced in the Venetian lagoon for thousands of years and today it is particularly well-known for the spectacular historical water pageant that precedes the race.  It commemorates the welcome given in 1489 to Caterina Cornaro, the wife of the King of Cyprus, who renounced her throne to live in Venice.  Scores of typically 16th century-style boats with gondoliers in period costume carry the Doge, the Doge's wife and all the highest ranking Venetian officials up the Grand Canal in a brightly colored parade. The golden winged lion of Venice appears on numerous flags displayed on boats and villas lining the Grand Canal.

The races follow the parade.  There are five races beginning with young rowers in twin-oared pupparini.

Next is the women's twin-oared mascarete race.

Then the six-oared caorline race followed by the international universities boat challenge.

And finally, the most popular race of the twin-oared gondolini! What an exciting afternoon!

The Marsh - May and June

Spring arrived in May.  This is the month all us New Englanders wait for - soft breezes and and pale green.  Earth smells alive.  The marsh is alive.  What a joy to photograph this season.  Sunrise is early - darn it!  Let's begin with May1st - foggy and still and moody.

May 1

I drove out early the next day to catch a sunrise and was rewarded with this beautiful scene.

May 2

A week later the marsh is greener.  It smells greener and a little softer but the rotting stumps in the marsh are still spiky and offer great contrast.  This photograph so far is the only one I like in black and white.  Thanks to Nik Silver Efex Pro, which pays particular attention to each color channel and renders a beautiful black and white version.

May 8

Here it is in the original color.

May 8

Two weeks later the marsh is wearing a completely different look!  The green takes over and the trick is to contrast green growth with blue sky.  

May 27

The water flowing through the marsh is now murky and full of algae and new growth.  Interesting in its own way because the marsh flora seems to be falling over itself to get a drink.  There are now many sunny days and I avoid those for photography.  The light is too harsh and the shadows too deep.  Better a softer cloudy day.  Hint: if the sky is boring (grey) then don't include it in your photograph! Look at this one, no sky!

June 4

I cannot see the sunset from my house.  I also cannot figure out what conditions make a good sunset.  So I have asked my friends to call me if it looks good.  This evening I was sitting in a friend's gazebo and suddenly it was happening!  Raced to my car and I caught the color just in time.  Luckily my camera and tripod were in the car.

June 16

June 16

The last photo for June is to show you the street I am standing on when I photograph this marsh.  Pretty crazy right?!  Cars whizzing by and me trying to set up my tripod right on the bridge!  

June 24

A Lighthouse Day in Maine

 There are 37 historic lighthouses in Maine!  It's going to take me a few years to visit them.  This summer day in July I joined a group of photographers to drive the coast from Portland, Maine south to York, Maine.  We started and ended with 2 of the most iconic lighthouses of the coast of New England.  Above is a photograph of Portland Head Lighthouse.  Built in 1791, it is the oldest lighthouse in the state of Maine and sits on a head of land at the primary shipping channel to the entrance of Portland Harbor.  The midday sun was bright (2pm) but the clouds were wondrous!  Below is my wide angle photograph from the other side of the lighthouse.  In the span of half an hour the wind had transformed the clouds.

We drove south to Prout's Neck Bird Sanctuary.  Lovely pebbly beach and lots of ducks in the water.  I experimented further with my wide angle and I like the results.

Further on south to stop at Biddeford Pool.  Hiking out onto the East Point Sanctuary affords a nice view of Wood Island Light.  The wind came up and the sky filled with clouds.  No golden light yet as it was only 4:30.

Cape Porpoise, a lovely little town just north of Kennebunkport is a nice stop also where I took this picture of the leaning tower of lobster traps.  No lighthouse but a lovely little bay and a good restaurant.  

The weekend traffic through Kennebunkport conspired to almost make us late for a glorious sunset at Nubble Light.  Nubble Light is the nickname for Cape Neddick Lighthouse near York, Maine.  We caught the light and it was a stunning end to our lighthouse day.

The Marsh - March and April

 March 11

March is a month full of changes and weather surprises in New England: warmer days and occasional snow storms.  

  March 12

Only a day apart, these two photographs each give a very different feeling to the marsh.  The ice is starting to melt!  Then a week later it's cold again and still no new growth.

  March 19

  March 26 

Ah, finally!  Water and reflections add a new dimension to photographing this lovely place!  

  April 1

April brings the birds back north.  The Canada geese use this area as a resting place on their long journey north.  The ice melts and early mornings give me nice reflections.

  April 9

  April 18

With the melting of the snow I can suddenly walk off the road and onto the land around the marsh.  This is good because I am getting bored with the same perspective for each photograph.  In the May/June blog I will include photographs of very different viewpoints.  The marsh is coming alive!

Puffins

Making bird photos is not my thing.  And I have great respect for bird photographers! They need a lot of patience and BIG lenses.  Birds move quickly and unpredictably and they spook easily- it's difficult.  Yet I had fun sitting in a small dark blind with another photographer, whispering, "Oh, look at that one!" and "Did you get that shot?".
We were on Machias Seal Island Bird Sanctuary in the Gulf of Maine in early June for an afternoon of bird watching and photography.  Both Canada and the US claim sovereignity but Canada maintains a working lighthouse and researchers come to live for periods in the summer.  We took a boat tour with Captain Andy from Cutler, Maine.  The coming ashore is not always guaranteed.  It depends on how high the seas are.

   This is the island from the boat. Then it was necessary to take a smaller boat to the landing ramp which is tricky for folks with lots of gear.  Luckily the seas were calm enough and Captain Andy said it was a go.

 

We walked on boardwalks to the picnic area near the lighthouse.  Boardwalks are mandatory and still we had to watch out not to step on errant eggs as we later walked out to the blinds nestled smack dab in the middle of puffin territory!  We learned that if we were quiet and did not poke our lenses out of the windows then the puffins would come close to the blinds and you can see that they actually sit on the roofs!  We saw Atlantic Puffins, Razorbills, Common and Arctic Terns.

The puffins did come close!  This time of year they have their mating colors.  They make nests down in dark holes between the rocks and periodically check the eggs and keep them warm.  There were birds flying everywhere, skimming the surface of the water and bobbing about on the swells.

We got 45 quiet minutes in the blind to photograph.  I used my Canon 70-300mm lens.  Another photographer had a lens that zoomed to 500mm and she got great close ups.  I had to hope they would come waddling up closer, which rarely happened.  The light was very contrasty, there were shadows but, hey, we were shooting puffins!

I am still not a bird photographer but it's fun to push your limits now and again.

My Year at the Marsh

I drive by this marshy area everyday.  I'm always going somewhere - the gym, the grocery store, the mall.  It's right off of boring, ugly Route 110 in Haverhill, Mass.  Sometimes I see a great blue heron or a duck or two.  Most of the time I don't notice it at all.
I read about photographing in our own "backyard".  I read about going back to an area  many times to really discover what's there.  It doesn't seem that exciting.  But in between the WOW! workshops and the gorgeous sunsets of a scuba trip I want to have something to photograph.  I want to have somewhere I must go every week.  I want to have a project!

 East Meadow River Marsh - Jan 8

So this year my little marsh (yes, I think of it now as "my little marsh") is what I will photograph each and every week of this year 2014.  Having said that, I did that 3 out of the 4 weeks of January.  Oops! But I did not give up.  This is as much an exercise in discipline as it is in creativity.
I had decisions to make.  Should I stick with one view? One focal length? The same time of day?  The same day of the week? I started off by answering those questions with yes, yes, no and no.  I chose this view at 35mm.

Jan 15 - nice morning light.

The same time of day was impossible.  I want to explore the marsh in all kinds of light as I explore it at different seasons of the year.  I've also switched my perspective around a bit as you will see.  I regret I haven't written a monthly blog.  I will catch up in the next few weeks.

Jan 18

January was cold.  It kept snowing every other week.  February was no different.  The winter seemed never-ending.  But my little marsh changed every time I stopped to take a photograph.  Afternoon light, morning light and midday sun - all different.

Feb 6 - the midday sun washes out the color.

Feb 16 - trying to catch an interesting sunset.  How does one predict a sunset with color?

Feb 19 - more snow and the right side of the marsh.  Looks like a meadow doesn't it?

Feb 28 - a little warmth shows the river's direction.  Oops, the power lines cast a shadow in midday!

The next two months, March and April, show big changes in my little marsh.  It's definitely spring!  And I've learned much about photographing this scene.  

My First One Woman Show!

My first two shows as a featured artist happened this spring!  They were entitled "Landscapes" in memory of my mother who passed away this March.
In an earlier blog I wrote about the book of poetry and short stories I helped my mother publish using Blurb.  She named the book "Landscapes" and used my photographs as illustrations.  My mom was an ardent supporter of my photography journey and for that I am grateful.



A word about art shows: work!  I chose 20 of what I felt were my best photographs.  I decided how to print, mat and frame them.  I hung them in a sequence that flowed and made sense.  I advertised the event and had a reception party!  Many people and companies helped me along the way professionally: my printers, my framers, and my photographer friends who encouraged me to do this.  Also, I thank my daughter, Alyssa, who encourages me and is always honest, my friend, Don, who helped me hang and my husband, Geof, who puts on a great party!

CHOICE:  How do you choose your best photographs?!  Well, that is after all the important starting point.  I can say that I am my own worst critic and I am probably not alone in this.  I have thousands of digital images stored on my computer.  Most are crap.  The ones I keep coming back to are not and sometimes it takes a while to recognize a diamond in the rough.  I show them to family and friends and when I get a positive reaction then I know I'm on to something.

PRESENTATION: After choosing I have to decide how to print them.  What kind of paper?  What size?  How about canvas?  I have one image printed on fine art paper that everyone swears is a water color!  Another, a black and white Paris scene printed very large on canvas makes one feel as though you can step right into it.  My feeling?  If I wouldn't hang it in my living room then it isn't right.  So I tend to spend a lot of money on presentation.  These two shows cost me over two thousand dollars.  A photographer friend told me he liked that I was not afraid to use color when I matted and framed an image.  He's right.  I love finding the mat color that makes the image pop!

There are so many local venues for photographers: libraries, senior centers, restaurants, hospitals and annual town art shows.  Get out there and show your work.  It's fun!  I'm just getting started.