Arctic Blast!

The last month or so has been pretty interesting with all of the snow in New England. A lot of people seem frustrated with the weather, but these winters are what we've come to expect in this part of the country. It can be a little discouraging knowing these mounds of snow are going to be here for what seems like an eternity, but it's also pretty exciting to see the consistency of this whole thing. It seems that just about every Monday we're hit with some new pile of fluff from above.

I guess what has made this winter a little more enjoyable than some of the long, cold winters of the past is the adventure that has been given to me. I moved to Providence from Boston a little ways back, so this is my first winter in this city. I really love Boston, as I enjoy meandering through the streets and find it to be a tremendous walking city. I'm still trying to get a feel for Providence, however. I like it here, but I haven't yet developed a deep connection with this place. The storms are beginning to change my feelings. I've seen what normally appears to be a quiet city, finally come to life. It's been so great to see people snow-shoeing and cross-country skiing (see below), and out walking on the streets during and after the storms. I've also seen people opening up more by smiling and saying hello, something we should all do anyway, but doesn't seem to happen in this part of the country too often. This place is starting to grow on me!

Each of these arctic blasts has provided anyone who is interested with the aforementioned adventure. My muse (Angie) and I have gone on countless, mostly nighttime walks through the untouched snowy streets of the city, just sliding along and playing. No cars on the roads, walking in the streets and abandoning sidewalks is a really fun way to continue to discover a new city. I'll be happy when the warm weather arrives and we can get back to hiking and enjoying the rest of the outdoors, but for now, I'm going to make the most of these snowy adventures.

Sometimes I bring a camera along for these journeys. Here are a few photos. Enjoy the day! -Josh

song of the moment: "Happy Idiot" by TV On The Radio

Sun Drop

This winter seems more unbearably cold than I can remember recent winters being, but every now and then you get a glimmer of hope and the temperature doesn't start with a 0, 1, 2, or 3 and it hits the 40s! We had one of those days recently in Boston. It may have even hit 50 at one point in the day. Needless to say, I was excited and got to wander the city with my camera and my incredibly patient girlfriend, Angie.  She knows I like to look around and see how the light is playing off of a building, or through a tree, or (her favorite ... right?) shining on her face. On this particular day we were walking midday through dusk and I was really enjoying how the harsh sun was beaming down on the city.  I've included three photos below; all very different from each other.  Angie proved her high level patience once again while we caused a detour on the sidewalk of Boylston Street.  The sun was shining directly through the street blinding everyone walking westward and creating a silhouette of everything.  Typically, one wouldn't want to be photographing a whole lot in this situation, but with using Angie's pretty head as a light shield, I was able to create a nice, heavenly, warm glow around her with the wind blowing and have a "sun star" emerge from her head.  We had a lot of fun and laughs creating the shot.

The other two shots were all about shutter speed. If anybody has seen much of my work, you know I'm a bit obsessed with trees, particularly those that are dead or have lost their leaves for the winter. The sun was a bit higher (midday sun) for the second photo and shining directly through the branches of this hibernating tree.  On these days, I like to experiment and even though I didn't necessarily have to be at a shallow depth of field for this shot, I wanted to be in order to shoot at very high shutter speed that I wouldn't normally have the option of shooting at. 1/6400 of a second was the resulting number and created a nice little flair from the sun and a natural framing from the branches.  The final shot also came from a very fast shutter speed (1/3200 of a second). This time the shallow depth of field was important for my finished product and I wanted to create a shot to look as close to night as I could even though there was still about an hour and half of daylight remaining.  Hopefully you like the result as much I did creating it. Enjoy the day! - Josh

song of the moment: "Love Like A Sunset" by Phoenix

Snow Day!

It's been a cold, snowy winter here in the city of Boston.  That can be a hindrance for some things, but it's a real blessing for many other things.  For me, it's a great opportunity to go out with the camera and see what interests my eye.  I've had some really long days recently working on a variety of photos in Photoshop and watching the world through the window.  I'm not living in a Howard Hughes long fingernail scenario, but I haven't been able to get outside as much as I'd like, so I had to take a quick break from some work and go out with my pal, Canon, and play for a bit. 

I went out in early morning light the day after we were hit with a large storm accumulating to about 12 inches.  There was some really nice light that spoke well to pretty color photography, but I was in the mood for some black and white photos, so I hope you take pleasure in the couple of examples I've placed below.  Enjoy the day!  - Josh

song of the moment: "Snow Day" by Matt Pond PA