Bogged
Southeastern Massachusetts is cranberry central. There are dozens of working bogs in the area and I spend a lot of time walking the dog on the paths around them. More often than not I bring a camera.
Here’s a small collection of bog shots taken over the course of this year, including some this week. I always enjoy the colors and how they change across the seasons.
Under the Golden Dome
Our latest foray with the Duxbury Camera Club was to shoot up on Beacon Hill. We spent an afternoon in the Massachusetts State House. Here’s a gallery of some of my shots.
Staff were very open to our group shooting away and one of the security folks even opened up the House Chamber for us. I used the Leica SL3 with a Sigma 35 f1.2, as well as the Viltrox 16mm f1.8. The Sigma is a little big and heavy but both lenses performed well with the interior shots.
Snow, snow and more snow.
It’s been quite a winter here in coastal Massachusetts. Very cold and lots and lots of snow. Shoveling was tough and it was no fun going days without power. But all that snow was perfect for black & white photography.
It seemed like a new fresh coat would arrive each week, keeping the ground cover clean and camera-ready. And then, as February ended, it was all gone in a single week of warm days and now all we have left to remind us of the snow are the photos.
Shine On
I had not planned to shoot the Harvest Moon, but I was out walking the dog near the North River and just before heading home I remembered that the Harvest moonrise would be tonight — and in only a few minutes. I had the SL3 with me and a Sigma 20-200mm that I had been testing, so I decided, on the fly, to head up to the North River bridge and see if I could see the moon come up. And there it was.
As mentioned, it wasn’t a planned shoot and I was barely able to check my settings as I rushed around to catch the moon near the horizon from a number of different perspectives. I caught it over the lobster shack and out over the spit. A big thanks to the woman who pointed out the Great Blue Heron on the post behind the marina.
Also to Uma, who waited patiently for me in the car.
Westworld
Just back from a long road trip from Phoenix to Rapid City, via the Grand Canyon, Bryce, Jackson Hole, the Tetons, Yellowstone, the Bighorn Mountains and the Black Hills of South Dakota.
Beautiful scenery, varying along the way, from desert to canyon to plains to rich forests.
I took a limited photo kit, centered around the Leica SL3. Most of the time I had the good old 24-90 Vario-Elmarit attached but I also leaned on the 21mm APO. As I get older I find myself optimizing for lighter weight over having all the tools. It would have been nice to have a long lens in the bag for the bald eagle shots but it would have been too heavy for my old bones on those long hot hikes.
So anyway, here are some images from the trip.
Concord & Lexington
The April 2025 Duxbury Camera Club field trip was to the towns of Concord and Lexington on the heels of the 250th anniversary of the historic battles. It was a beautiful spring day with maybe a bit too much direct sunlight to be ideal for photography. But I shot anyway. (None will be heard around the world, I’m sure.) An enjoyable day nonetheless. Click through the header photo for more images.
Bilbao in the rain
On a rainy day, more than twenty years ago, I took some shots of Gehry’s Guggenheim in Bilbao. I didn’t like the photos and filed them away. Recently, I decided to go back and reprocess those images with the most recent Lightroom tools and I liked the results much better. Moral of the story: don’t delete photos.
Duxbury Camera Club November Field trip
This month we headed up to the Metropolitan Waterworks Museum near Cleveland Circle and then to the Lars Anderson Auto Museum. Interesting locations and a good day out with the group. Both places were good spots for detail and object study photos. Here are a bunch that I took.
Moonrise Sunset
Over a decade ago, while in Istanbul at the end of a day of walking and taking photos, I sat down on the docks to rest and pack up my gear. The sun was going down and I noticed across the water that the moon was also rising over Selamsiz, on the Asia side. I grabbed my camera and reached for a long lens.
(August 2010, Nikon D300s, 400mm )
I usually don’t chase moonrises so it’s rare that I happen to see one in an interesting setting — and rarer still when it’s before sunset and there’s enough light for a handheld shot (did I mention that I hate using a tripod.) In this case luck prevailed. I was in the right place at the right time to get the above shot.
Jump fourteen years forward. I happened to read that the October Hunter’s Moon, a super moon, was set to rise at around sunset the following day. So I thought maybe I’d give another moonrise a go. At the designated time I headed off to nearby Situate Light, a local favorite for moonrise photos.
When I arrived there were already a dozen of so photographers set up and waiting. One guy had even travelled from Vermont. They were all using tripods but there was plenty of light so I opted to shoot handheld. Eventually the moon appeared and the shutters started to click. I saw a figure off to the right and framed them in for a little added interest.
(October 2024, Leica SL3, Sigma 150-600)
I’m happy with the result. Not a world-beater but worth the fifteen minute drive over to Situate. Hopefully I’ll still be around to stumble across another one in ten years or so.
Into the west…
Photos from a family trip to Connemara using the Leica SL3 and 21mm APO.
Just returned from a family trip to the west of Ireland. It was a chance to see old friends and newly discovered relatives. And to take some photos. We had good weather. The light and landscapes never disappoint. I also took the opportunity, on a clear night, to shoot the Milky Way, something barely seen in the light-polluted skies of eastern Massachusetts.
I carried only one camera this time, the Leica SL3. I didn’t want to get too weighed down with lenses so I limited myself to the 24-90, 21 Summicron APO and a Sigma 35 f1.2. I would have liked something longer but I don’t think my back could have taken the strain.