Falling Waters. June 13, 2012
Posted by littlebangtheory in Art and Nature.Tags: dam, dragonflies, Pelham Brook, Rowe, Sigma 50mm lens, waterfall
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This afternoon on my way up to a fen in Rowe, I stopped along route 8A to take this photo of a spillway at the head of Pelham Brook:
As I readied to clean up what I thought were sensor spots in the sky of this photo, I discovered that they were actually dragonflies hunting at the dam’s lip, so I left them. 🙂
This is a hand-held shot taken with Ziggy, my Sigma 50mm lens, which I mostly reserve for macro shots because it focuses down to about one inch.
Perhaps I ought to reassess that call.
It’s Cold. January 4, 2012
Posted by littlebangtheory in Art and Nature.Tags: frozen rivers, ice, Pelham Brook, Rowe
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Yup, it’s winter, and it’s cold.
Go figure.
I shouldn’t be surprised, you know, seeing as it’s January and I’m in Massachusetts. But we haven’t had significant snow since Halloween (!) and that two-footer lasted a whole two days.
So I’m stuck here freezing my butt off with nothing pretty to photograph, at least nothing white and sparkly and pristine like early winter is supposed to be.
Thank Gawd for rivers and streams, where at least the illusion of winter manifests in the details:
Pelham Brook in Rowe, a 2.5 second exposure on a cloudy afternoon.
Tomorrow will be in the ‘teens until at least noon, so I might try to snag a few more of these.
That is, if my fingers cooperate… 😉
‘Shoein’. January 15, 2011
Posted by littlebangtheory in Art and Nature, Love and Death.Tags: Pelham Brook, Rowe MA, snow shoeing
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Got out in a nice snow this afternoon – it was breezy and gray out, but the deep snow called to me, and who am I to snub Mother Nature?
So I headed up toward Rowe, bumper-plowed myself a parking space along a secluded section of Pelham Brook right about where it settles into a deep cleft in the woods, and ‘shoed up.
It was awesome. Through the deep, deep snow I plunged steeply down, the combination of aerobic effort and the knowledge that this would be a very bad place to catch a tip and launch into the broken-bone-zone keeping me focused and on my game.
The snow muffled every sound except for my thumping heart, and by the time I reached the brook I was plenty warm.
I could hear a throaty rumble from beneath the rolling white hummocks where I knew the stream to be, and chose my line carefully as I worked my way up, down and eventually across to the far bank:
There were a few long steps, and ultimately a leap down and across some tumbling open water, a move which I knew would be irreversible; I would have to find another way back across.
An hour of traversing a steep side slope, gaining and losing elevation as the terrain and forest dictated, brought me to a likely looking spot, and I went for it, succeeding with anticlimactic ease.
Truth be told, the climb back up to the road was the real reason for choosing this spot to test my new snowshoes, and I was delighted by their performance. Their super-aggressive crampon design effectively prevented side-slipping, while the simple heel-lifting bale totally eliminated calf strain, a concern for me with my crappy right ankle.
All in all, an excellent first run. Now I can set my sights on more adventurous outings!
Ice Islands. February 16, 2010
Posted by littlebangtheory in Art and Nature.Tags: frozen, green, ice, Pelham Brook, river, Spring
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In this case, in Pelham Brook in Charlemont:
A frozen river with a tint of Spring!
Where The Day Took Me. October 12, 2008
Posted by littlebangtheory in Art and Nature.Tags: autumn leaves, milkweed, Pelham Brook
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It took me up into the hills, of course. Up where patches of milkweed stand, penetrated by thrusts of light, engulfed in the October sun:
I edged my way down to Pelham Brook, well below the probing rays of the sun, to get these images:
…of Leaves Abandoned, of Water Frenetic:
And finally, a slow ride home in the filtered light of Autumn:
Thank You, Mother Earth. Thank You, Father Sky.
A Walk. March 29, 2008
Posted by littlebangtheory in Art and Nature.Tags: Pelham Brook
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Took a walk today, down a steeply forested slope to a piece of Pelham Brook which isn’t visually accessible from the road. With the right footwear, it was a reasonable enough trek, but had I had on The Wrong Stuff, this little adventure would have ended badly.
But it didn’t, and I got to a place which offered both sunlight and shadow, foreground and distant setting, and motion to complement the stillness of a Spring snow.
I like this shot, in part because of the process of accessing the view, and partly because of the tribulations of setting up my equipment on the icy rocks in the middle of this scene.
I’m happy to say that I did nothing to this image other than to rotate it 90 degrees. The light was right, and that’s really all that matters in a photograph, isn’t it?
Little Bang Theory 