Shooting my Universe

Eastern Point in the snow

2010-01-03T05:55:00.000-05:00

This was Eastern Point Light on New Years Morning. The temperature was in the 30s and the wind was calm, perfect for going out to the breakwater to see what is out there.

Don't you know you're floating with the King? III

2010-01-02T09:32:00.006-05:00

On December 28th, after I shot the sunrise over Thacher Island, I drove over to Bass Rocks and found the King Eider biding his time. Here he is in the morning light. He is looking dapper after completing the molt that he was going through last November.

Forgotten Photo Friday, bringing in the catch

2010-01-01T17:16:00.004-05:00

This was taken last January during one of our wonderful Cape Ann sunsets.

The Last Frame of the Decade

2009-12-31T17:27:00.005-05:00

Can you believe it? It seemed like just yesterday that we were worried that air planes were going to fall out of the sky, our bank accounts would be lost and the end of the world was coming. Yes Y2k.

Here it is, December 31, 5:30PM and I'm editing the last photos of the decade. The lighting today was pretty dismal. But I wanted to take some time and practice shooting Harlequin Ducks. They are social ducks and are fun to watch. They make a sort of squeaky toy sound.

It is tough to get in close because they are diving ducks and they stay off shore. On top of that, they don't like bipeds. But nevertheless, I just wanted to enjoy the day and get some practice. Just as they were settling down, the snow came in, dropping the light even further.

Harlequin ducks are social but the males do squabble a bit. However when the boys get their eye on a girl they put on their best behaviour, line up and try to impress her as a group.

The snow picked up to the point where I decided it was time to go home. Here is the last boat shot of the decade.

And when the snow stopped I took this, the last frame of the decade.

Happy New Year. Becky has the bay berry candles ready to light. It's just going to be the two of us tonight with a movie. Remember;

A bay berry candle burned down to the socket
Brings joy to the heart and wealth to the pocket.

Take care and thanks to all my friends and followers. Without you, I'd be wondering if a tree fell in the woods, would it make a sound?

So that's why they call them Purple Sandpipers

2009-12-30T19:55:00.005-05:00

I met up with Kim The Curious Birder and Alan today to go out on a rare birding trip around Gloucester. "Steve!", you may exclaim, "your blog is full of birds. Rare birding trip? What are you talking about?"

I very rarely go out just for the pleasure of birding. Those of us that have these dual hobbies know that it is tough to photograph with birders and it is tough to bird with photographers.

As a birder, I want to be on the move, get the checks on the list, count the species and/or individuals depending on the purpose of my outing. When I'm photographing, I can sit and marvel at a Gadwall for hours.

I struck a brilliant compromise with Kim and Alan today as we went out birding. It was a blast. The cool birds of the day were King Eider and Black Guillemot and of course a SMU favorite, Purple Sandpiper. Kim and I worked with this flock of Purple Sandpipers for a while as Alan found us a Black Guillemot.

In today's light, I can show you why these are called Purple Sandpipers. My dictionary of American bird names states that they are named for the purple tones on their backs. Sure enough!

Earth, Air, Water and Fire

2009-12-30T06:50:00.000-05:00

Bass Rocks as Sunrise

2009-12-29T08:13:00.006-05:00

Often I will have a picture in mind before I go out for a shoot. Good Harbor and Bass Rocks are good places to shoot the morning sunrise because there are items there that add interest to the photo.

There was a cloud bank forming off shore which can be friend or foe when it comes to shooting a sunrise. It can do a couple of things. If the bank is long and narrow, it can allow the sun to rise below it and light up fiery red. If the bank is thick, the sunrise can fizzle.

When I arrived on the scene at 6:30, I was it didn't look too promising. Since I could watch the show from my car, I decided to stick it out.

This morning a third possibility presented itself. The cloud bank was far enough out where the sun came up that it allowed some yellows to develop as it rose over the clouds. I took my first frame at 7:09 and wrapped up the shoot at 7:19.

These images are straight out of the camera. Tips? The picture that I wanted was a silhouette of the house with lots of popping colors. The wind was blowing pretty hard so a tripod would not help me steady the camera. No worries, using my 18-200mm zoom, I was shooting with shorter focal lengths. This gave me lots of depth of field and plenty of light at a moderate aperture. I have a spot meter mode on the camera. I metered off of the areas that I wanted to pop. In the case of the second picture, I put the spot meter on the thin cloud above the sun. This gave me the silhouette I wanted and kept the highlights from blowing out.

The Gloucester Calendar has been a hit with the friends and family. I'm going to keep it available through January.

Thacher Island Dawn

2009-12-28T10:56:00.005-05:00

Since I'm not working this week, I can look out the bedroom window, see the stars, toss on some cloths and go up to Rockport to catch the sunrise. This is Thacher Island with the north-south aligned twin lighthouses.

A little Vermont Rime

2009-12-27T10:33:00.007-05:00

What would traveling to relatives for Christmas be without a little bad weather? We cross Rt 9, the Molly Stark Trail across from Bennington to Brattleboro, VT. There are some very beautiful vistas along the route, especially at Hogback Mountain, which is a stop along the way.

Here is a great vantage point to see mountains in Vermont, Massachusetts and New Hampshire.

But not yesterday. There was a cyclone over the Mid West pumping a storm system into the area. The mountain top was fogged in. I've been telling B that the view from there is quite impressive, but every time we've gone over the mountain, it has been dark, rainy, snowy, foggy or just hazy. Maybe some day.

Rime ice is formed when fog freezes out on objects. It builds out into the wind. Here the wind is blowing from the left onto an apple tree.

Merry Christmas!

2009-12-25T06:11:00.001-05:00

Merry Christmas to all of my blogging buddies, friends and followers.

This is when I do my Forgotten Photo Friday. Today I pulled up a joint project that Becky and I did in 2005.

Gloucester!

2009-12-23T21:21:00.005-05:00

It's Christmas Eve. Don't fight the malls. Do your shopping right on Main Street. Here in Gloucester, we have lots of gift shops, local artist, emporiums, bodegas, clothiers, stuff for the guys and and things for the galls. I personally did all my shopping in Gloucester and Rockport. We are so lucky to have a great downtown. Plus my money stays working in my town.

Purple Peeps

2009-12-23T06:27:00.001-05:00

Shot at high tide when the seaweed is submerged, these Purple Sandpipers are resting and socializing with each other.

Jean Elizabeth

2009-12-22T06:13:00.002-05:00

It is now winter, the sun has stopped its march south and the cold is settling in. Most of the lobstermen have pulled their pots from Gloucester Harbor, some are still fishing. The lobsters have migrated to deeper, warmer waters.

The Jean Elizabeth is still pulling lobsters out around Dog Bar. Dog Bar, as it is listed on the charts, is an underwater sandbar that extends off of Eastern Point. Around the turn of the century, the breakwater was built on the sandbar, protecting Gloucester Harbor.

Purple Sandpipers on the Wing

2009-12-21T07:37:00.002-05:00

Stranger on Dogbar

2009-12-20T05:58:00.002-05:00

We had wonderful sunrises and sunsets all week long. I resolved to get out of the house and shoot something interesting in the morning light like real landscape photographers do. But alas, when I got up at 5:00, I couldn’t see the stars. Crap, there would be no wonderful sunrise this morning. Back to bed.

Later at 6:00, I dreamed that I got up to see the sunrise, pulled the curtain aside and saw a beautiful Bavarian seen out my window. That is strange, I usually see the harbor. Realizing that I was still asleep, I convinced myself to wake up. I pulled the curtain aside for real and saw that it was indeed cloudy, but the cloud layer was thin and the light was diffused. This is excellent for going to Dogbar and shooting Purple Sandpipers again.

Dogbar Breakwater runs east-west across Gloucester Harbor with the rough sea side is to the south. Photographing winter peeps on the breakwater puts the sun behind them and makes shooting tough. But today, with the diffuse light, ah…it will be perfect. And it was.

I think and shoot “A” or aperture priority mode. When I got there, the light levels on the dark birds and rocks gave me 1/30th of a second shutter speed, so I bumped up the ISO to 200. I was able to shoot at about 1/80th of a second. This would do, but there wasn’t much margin for shivering, getting blown around by the wind or hanging precariously from the rocks. Yes, I better sit down on the (very cold, wet and gull pooh covered) rocks and do what I can. But this is all technical stuff and tends to make the post clinical. Enough of that. All’s I’m saying is that I changed my plans and made do with what I had.

Last week I talked about Purple Sandpipers flying to Gloucester for the good life in the winter. Many of my more northern friends mentioned that they see them in the summer months in breeding regalia. I don’t expect to see too many shorebirds on Dogbar Breakwater in the winter. When I saw this little guy, I thought that he must be a juvenile.

Then I saw this Ruddy Turnstone and realized that I was dealing with a mixed flock. Well, what the heck was that other guy?

Finally, he turned around and I got a look at the face and bill. Wow, it's not a Curlew, but what a long bill!

This Dunlin is at his most northerly winter range on the east coast. Hey little dude, you have wings. Although Purple Sandpipers make great companions, you can go further south, it's okay.

Oops, that's the "I'm irritated" wing droop posture. Here is a tip about shooting Purple Sandpipers on Dogbar. Go when the tide is rather high. This will but the birds higher on the rocks and they will not be feeding. The problem is that when they are feeding they are very twitchy and active, making shooting much more difficult. They tend to feed at low tide because the seaweed is exposed and that's when the find all the goodies.

On another note, I saw my first adult Iceland Gull of the season fly by The Fort today. Yup, winter is here folks. As I write this on Saturday afternoon, we are expecting a storm. Bummer.

Ice on the Buoy

2009-12-19T08:28:00.005-05:00

One of the indicators that it is cold out is when we see ice on the buoy. This buoy is a green channel marker, G11 and flashes every 2.5 seconds. When it gets down in the single digits, ice begins to accumulate on it.

When we see sea smoke, we know to throw on a couple of extra layers of cloths.

Forgotten Photo Friday, Willet

2009-12-18T07:20:00.000-05:00

This is the time of week when I go deep into the shoe box full of photos and find shots that were either forgotten about and never posted or didn't get posted because they got bumped by something more timely.

This Willet was shot a year ago in California on some beach that Becky took me to and I have no idea where we went. But I do remember that later that day, I shot the Monarch Butterflies at Natural Bridges State Park. If you are new to SMU, then please visit this page. You will not be disappointed. It has just about everything cool that this blog has to offer except Gloucester.

Also this day, I shot Marbled Godwits, a Red-throated Loon and a Brown Pelican with a fish.

Since these photos are a little flawed, they didn't get posted. Now that I can step back and look at them anew, I remember having a great vacation day with my wife on the beach.

Sunrise, Sunset

2009-12-17T06:58:00.000-05:00

This was the scene when I was eating breakfast.

This was the scene when I came home from work.

Purple Sandpipers on Dogbar Breakwater

2009-12-15T22:03:00.004-05:00

Winter brings Purple Sandpipers to Gloucester. These birds come down from the north to winter here. I think that these are some of the toughest critters on the planet. Think about it. These little birds hang out on the rocks in the winter, making a living in a place that I will visit for a few minutes during the coldest months of the year.

Sunday, I went out to specifically look for these birds. They were on the north side of the breakwater taking it easy on the lower part of the structure.

This one flew over on the south side that was getting a bit of splash. He gave it a go for about two minutes and then flew back over to the calmer side.

In order to give you an idea of what it is like out on the Dogbar Breakwater on a "not-so-bad" winter day, I have put together a little clip.

I actually took one of my calendar shots when I shot this video.

Winter birds

2009-12-15T07:30:00.002-05:00

I'm reading my blogging buddies' posts about their winter birds; cardinals, nuthatches, chickadees, siskins etc. I have my winter birds too.

On a more serious note, the Common Mergansers are coming back, the Common Loons are here, American Black Ducks, Great Cormorants, Buffle Head, Gadwall and Purple Sandpipers are all here.

Coming up for air

2009-12-14T06:25:00.002-05:00

Yesterday I showed you some Harbor Seals from the west coast. Today, I have two shots of Harbor Seals from Gloucester. The first is one that came up for air in Saint Peter's Marina and the second came up for yesterday at the end of Dogbar Breakwater. Yes, I was out looking for Purple Sandpipers. Did I find any? You'll just have to check in later this week to find out for sure.

Harbor Seals

2009-12-13T07:00:00.000-05:00

If you drive down along 1 north of Monterey, CA be sure to look for the wildlife that may be hauled out on the rocks.

We received our shipment of the Gloucester calendar that I produced. I'm pleased with the service and product provided by Lulu.com. Since I have no aspirations of retiring on the money made from this calender, I've kept the price affordable. The calendar runs for 13 months, Jan 10 through Jan 11 and has some of my favorite locations. This calendar is available for international delivery and there are quantity price breaks if you need some for gifts.

So if you have visited and love Gloucester, live in and love Gloucester or just love Gloucester, you will enjoy this art calendar.

Tenpound Island

2009-12-12T12:13:00.005-05:00

Yah, I know, I've posted Tenpound Island before. But every day is different. Each hour the harbor changes with the coming and going of fishing boats, the rise and fall of the tide, and the changing of the seasons.

Forgotten Photo Friday, Great Egret

2009-12-11T06:37:00.000-05:00

Taken last June, this Great Egret flies by a lobster buoy.

All Blue

2009-12-10T06:30:00.001-05:00

Taken last Sunday Afternoon, these blue colors are a far cry from yesterday's rain and snow.