Slush, sleet and freezing rain have always struck me much like a porcupine – pretty useless in the greater scheme of things. Porcupines eat the bark off trees – adding to the tree’s demise rather quickly.
Slush takes winter’s beauty and does a number on it, rendering a winter wonderland into a sloppy mess. Too heavy to shovel, it still grabs your car tires and sends the car places it didn’t want to go. (more…)
I’m no student of meteorology, but it seems to me that because of the influence of the ocean it’s impossible to predict the severity of the winter storms that hit the area. The weather folks issue warnings, alerts, talk about accumulations in feet instead of inches. Really it’s all a big crap shoot.
So tonight they’re talking about 1 to 2 feet of snow, schools have already cancelled, the grocery stores are packed like it’s the end of the world. There are lines at the gas stations, everyone is prepping their generators – OK, I’ll admit I’ll probably dig out the camp stove just in case, it’s the best I can do … no generator to get ready. (more…)
My parents are buried in a small rundown cemetery on the top of a hill in Wheeling, West Virginia. It’s not far from where I grew up, but it isn’t exactly around the corner from New hampshire, so I don’t get back there a lot.
When I do, there are two things that always happen – I have long tearful conversations with them, take stock of where I’ve been, where I’m at and where I’m heading. I suspect a therapist would have a field day if these conversations were recorded … thankfully they stay at the cemetery. (more…)
Fortunately hair color lasts more than a day. . . fortunately for me at least.
Tuesday Meg came to school with the brightest shade of pink I’ve seen – and me without my camera. A brief conversation ( I love your hair, I really want to do a photo shoot, Great, how about tomorrow) and visions of how I would shoot it occupied too much of my mind the rest of the day. (more…)
Decided that since the beach is a favorite for me, it was the place to start 2013. Up at 4:30am, out the door by 5, coffee steaming and a thermos full for warmth later. At the beach and on the sand before 5:30 – more than hour to kill before false dawn, wind blowing and guess what…it’s not exactly balmy out!
Doesn’t matter, the air is crisp and clean, just what I need for a start to a year. (more…)
So not all wildlife rehabilitation is about animals tangling with motor vehicles – and getting the short end of the deal.
Got a call recently from my wildlife buddy Jane Kelly – she was returning a fledgling barred owl to its nest – apparently the little ball of feathers had ventured out too far … and fallen 30 feet to the forest floor. (more…)
Sometimes when opportunity knocks, you actually get a second chance. Last week I got a phone call from a volunteer at the Center for Wildlife; she was going to be releasing a saw-whet owl. Unfortunately, I was in the throes of the flu and had to watch the chance go by without me. I was more than a little bummed out. I have always had a fascination for raptors – at one point in my life I even investigated what it would take to get a falconry license. Needless to say, I didn’t have what it took! (more…)
I’ve started this blog post about a gazillion times – usually I’m pretty focused about what I want to say – but I’m thinking this time I’m trying to say too much and it keeps coming out as jumbled mush.
So I’ll just cut to the chase – here’s a selection of senior pictures I did at Great Bay Charter School. Unlike the ordinary senior picture shoot that involves going to the woods, beach or some other exotic location for a few hours, these were kids that needed senior pictures done, were at or near ( or past!) the yearbook’s deadline, and had to be done in 5-6 minutes each. (more…)
Eleven degrees, wind gusting to 45mph, wind chill around -15….bleary eyed, coffee brewing, wind blew the door open last night, no wonder the house felt so cold.
Look out the window, watching the branches sway, rock and roll actually – big limbs still even in the wind gusts, smaller ones doing the dance though. (more…)
Yesterday I had the opportunity to photograph Karen. She needed new headshots for a theater resume and approached me about shooting them. We ended up working in a really tight space, the back of the Lonely Little Thrift shop in Newmarket since the store was closed Monday. The setup was simple – a black background to accentuate her hair, two small lights, one shooting through a white umbrella and the other just bounced with a dome to diffuse the light. (more…)