Sheep - They Do Look Like Old Ladies in Night Caps!

In a little country town in New England lives a woman who tends her sheep with love.  The sheep, in turn, give her soft, albeit dirty, wool in spring, which she trades for wool yarn.  

I am invited to photograph her and the sheep.  I'll give her thanks and pictures.

I came the first time when the snow was deep and the sky overcast.  No pretty nature or travel photos here!  This is an environmental portrait of my friend and her pet sheep. 

It is time for the sheep to be fed out in their shed behind the barn where they live.  No green grass this time of year but plenty of light green grassy hay to eat.
They can hear us coming and poke their heads out.  Dinner time!

They can hardly wait for her to put the hay in the shed and start grabbing it out of her arms.
I found the sheep to be gentle and afraid of me.  They are very used to her and are like pets.  One of the white sheep is more curious and posed for portraits.

    

Eventually, they all settled down to chewing while my friend pet them and talked to them.

Spring came and the snow slowly disappeared from meadows and parking lots.  The sheep were shorn.  One early morning I came by to see how they looked minus their winter coats.
I realized that they really do look like little old ladies in night caps!

The Marsh - November and December - Vote for your favorite month!

East Meadow River Marsh: Haverhill, Massachusetts.  A beautiful, unspoiled and undeveloped piece of nature that became my photographic project for the entire year of 2014.  Busy Rt. 110 literally crosses over it on its way from Rt. 1 in Salisbury west through Haverhill and on.  

Every week (I missed a few, I admit) I stopped by the marsh with my camera.  As the year went on I felt a growing sense of propriety.  "My marsh" I would say to friends. 

Here it is!  My last blog post for the year - November and December.  Look back at the other marsh posts and vote for your favorite by leaving a comment!

Reflection of exploding, brown cattails. Nov. 4

Yellow leaves and berries almost gone from the oft photographed bush. Nov. 4

A foggy day, my favorite! Golden browns with a hint of green. Nov. 12

A dusting of snow and ice changes the scene entirely. Winter on the way. Nov. 26

The marsh becomes monochromatic in late fall and winter. Nov. 26 

December - will there be snow or a deep freeze?  Wish I could string holiday lights from branch to branch!  Or tie glitzy bows around the trunks.  What am I saying?  I love this marsh exactly as it is!

2 weeks later there is not much difference.  December looks like November! Dec. 12

A different perspective - all reflection. Dec. 12

Only the evergreens look alive.  Animals burrow under. Dec. 15

Dec. 15

The decay of fall is incased in ice.  Dec. 30

I will cast the first vote.  I vote for May!  I loved the changes that happened so rapidly in that month.  What do you think?  Vote!  What was your favorite month at the marsh?

Hunter's Beach - Hidden Gem of Acadia

The trail to Hunter's Beach is easy.  The footing is tricky.  Wet roots provide the biggest challenge.  It follows a lovely little brook through dense forest to a cobble beach opening directly onto the Gulf of Maine.  The beach is a great place to catch the sunrise and see smooth cobbles, chunks of bedrock polished by the tireless waves.
You cannot get there on the Loop Road.  Instead, take Rt. 3 south from Bar Harbor towards Seal Harbor.  Turn left onto a small road angling towards the ocean which later reconnects to Rt. 3.  Look sharp as you are liable to miss the tiny parking lot at the trail head.  Down the road a bit you can find the trail head to the cliff trails or you can start up from the beach and climb the cliff trail.

Hunter's Head will be to your left.

Hunter's Cliff trails to the right offer exciting views of the beach and the ocean.

Hardly anyone knows about this peaceful little corner of Acadia.  Finding it feels like wonderful discovery all your own.
The cliffs are not for faint of heart.  One can walk out onto to rocky ledges for a wonderful view.

View of Hunter's Head

Close up of the lichen and moss on the cliffs.

The Marsh - September and October

September 16

Autumn months arrive and the marsh colors are slowly desaturating.  Colors are a little browner and the cattails explode in fluffy beige seeds.  The foliage starts to fade away as birds fly southward maybe pausing at the marsh for a day or two.  The trees are beginning to turn to their fall colors and I am anticipating some bright fall photographs.

September 16

The red berries have popped out on the bush that I usually put in the foreground.  This shot at sunset shows how much of the grasses are starting to die away.  

In October I ventured into the woods that are off to the left of the shot above.  It's a little easier now to make my way off the path and explore what the marsh looks like farther away from the road.

October 3

This is fun!  A new perspective!  Yet I am within 5 yards of the water.  I wonder what it will look like back here in December.  I will have to wait.  

October 3

Here come the reds and yellows in the trees.  A nice contrast to the blue water.  It's amazing how different this shot looks from just 2 months ago.  

October 10

A week later the marsh looks almost exactly the same in the shot above but now look down to the foggy day five days later and the trees have lost many more leaves.  Fall colors are rampant!  The berry bush in the foreground turned to yellow and red.  I wonder why the birds haven't eaten the berries?

October 15

October 15

When it's a foggy day just grab the camera and go!  Easier said than done!  I have gone to work or appointments many times rather than shoot.  But I love to shoot on foggy days!

These are my last photographs for October.  I planned a trip to Acadia National Park to hike with the family.  We viewed the Milky Way from the top of Cadillac Mountain.  Fabulous!  I need a lesson in how to photograph stars! 

Senior Portraits at the Beach - Plum Island, MA

Ever been asked for pro bono photography work?  It's worth doing if it's not your normal thing as a photographer.  Portraits are way out of my comfort zone.  But natural light is not.
I had a blast with my friend's granddaughter planning what kinds of shots she wanted.
We didn't know where to start until I found a great webpage that gave us 47 Amazing Senior Portrait Ideas at Buzz Feed by a Buzz Feed staffer!  She picked the ones she liked.  We planned shoots around those ideas.
This is our version of the beach idea we found in the 47 Ideas article:

I picked her up at 6am and drove to the beach as the sunrise was just beginning.  It was cold so we brought blankets and warm clothes for in between shots in and out of the water.

Did I mention it was cold?!  She thought so too!

We ended the morning with breakfast at Friendly's.  I had fun doing this with her and she loves her photos.  It was an opportunity for me to grow as a photographer.

The Marsh - July and August

It's been a hot, rainy summer, which cleans growth periodically.  I have been spared taking photos of that dusty, gray, droopy look.  The lily pads, algae and cat tails are beautiful!

July 10

July 10

It was difficult to work up the motivation to keep looking for different perspectives on the marsh this month.  I want to show the transitions from season to season and find different views of this lovely area.  Can you hear the "but" coming?  Bored comes to mind and challenged!  There are only 2 July dates.

July 25

July 25

July 25

I regained some momentum in August!  It helped to start out the month with photographs of Canada geese.  The colors are starting to mature into darker greens with some dead or dying foliage.  August storms threatened the skies.

Aug 5

Aug 23

Beautiful sunny days with puffy clouds are beach days and give great reflections in the marsh waters.  

Aug 16

You know summer is ending in New England when the purple strife blooms.  Purple strife is an invasive species to our area and can change the ecosystem considerably.  Most people like it!

Aug 23 Purple Strife

Aug 27 sunrise

Fall is my favorite season.  I think I said that about spring too!  I have been photographing this place for 9 months.  Most of my photographs feature reflections.  There are two times of the day when lakes, ponds and marshes are still enough for reflections: early morning and early evening.  Prime time to get out there with a tripod and shoot!  I just wish I would figure out how to anticipate a beautiful sunset already!!

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!