White Stuff

Snow. I live in Maryland. We get a good two-foot snow once every seven-to-ten years. That's the rule. It's only February 12th, and we've had a two, a two-and-a half and a one-and-a-half. Not funny. It's fun and a challenge to shoot, but I'm a tropical guy, so my patience is limited. But you snow-lovers out there - enjoy the few good shots I have. Above is the January storm of 1996, Frederick, MD.

Sad, Cold Lantern - Germantown, MD - 2/14/07.

Westbound Q139 at Washington Grove, MD on 1/27/09.

Tankers In The Snow - Washington Grove, MD - 1/27/09.

Foo Dog Not Amused - Germantown, MD - 12/19/09.

Foo Dog Even Less Amused - Germantown, MD - 2/6/10. (by the way - this little guy is under a porch roof - these storms were beyond ridiculous)

Okay, kind of a throwaway shot, but that's close to three feet of snow on my shed. DC Metro simply does NOT get snow like this. 2/6/10.

Snowy Window - Germantown, MD - 2/10/10.

Storm Door Snowed Shut - Germantown, MD - 2/10/10.

Our new lamp post, installed days before the 2/6/10 blizzard. I'll bet it's none too amused, either.

Okay. There. I got through it. On to warmer topics soon. Stay warm!

Bridges With Roofs - Part One

Sauck's Bridge - Gettysburg, PA - 2002

Snooks Covered Bridge - Bedford County, PA - 1998

Covered Bridge whose name I'm too lazy to look up (and my intrepid little Chevy) - Somerset County, PA - 2001

Damp Covered Bridge - Frederick County, MD - 1997

Near Harrisonburg, VA - 1998

Hall's Mill Covered Bridge - Near Everette, PA - 1998

Hughes Covered Bridge - Washington, PA - 1997

Thanks for visiting - Ciao!

The Trains of New England

Okay gang - before we wrap up the 1998 trip to New England, here are a few parting shots to illustrate the fact that yes, there are trains and mountains here. The shot above is probably only remotely interesting to railfans - and even then, not very. This southbound Amtrak train, stopping at Kingston, RI station, is unremarkable. The diesel engines, however, would soon be replaced by electrics, as the infrastructure was nearly complete in the project that electrified the Northeast Corridor from Connecticut to Boston. Okay - even *I'm* bored...

The little rolling tourist trap above is the Old Colony Scenic RR in Newport, RI. Under-appreciated old equipment, but oh, the VIEWS...

A saddle-tank steamer, relegated to holding a paper company's PR office in place. Maine. The way life should be.

Yorkrail GP-9. I know it doesn't look like much to you non-railfans, but trust me - that machine is OLD. And that's cool. Think "'55 Chevy..."

Near Mt. Washington, NH.

Mt. Washington Cog Railway. Note the inclined boiler on the locomotive. Utterly unique. Best tourist trap east of the Mississippi.

... it climbs THIS...

... and pushes coaches full of people ...

... using the cogs in the center "rail" and a gear-like wheel - not unlike old wooden roller-coasters. It's hard to describe, really. Go there. Try it. Love it. Tell 'em Joe and [Maris] sent you. They'll say, "Who?" but that's okay.

You'll end up in the sky. No cell phones, please.

I know it's not America's highest point, but it's somehow exceedingly impressive. One of the windiest places on the planet.

Alien Landscape - Mt. Washington, NH - 1998.

Muchos Gracias for the visit, guys. Keep those cards and letters coming. More to come. Ta...

More Fun In New England

Our first trip to New England (in 1998) resulted from a check of the national weather map the night before our week off. We were simply following the sun, but we ended up falling in love with the whole region - especially the rural and coastal areas. Above is Spring Point Ledge Light near Portland, Maine, shot with a hand-held 500mm mirror reflex lens at a range of about 3 miles.

Point Judith Coast Guard Station, RI.

Kingston Station, RI. I want to pick this building up and bring it to the old B&O in Maryland.

Boston Harbor and Graves Lights, MA. This photo makes me crazy. It is fraught with technical problems, but I love the composition and the hazy softness. I will definitely re-shoot this, someday.

Cemetery - Salem, MA. OLD, spooky, haunted graveyard! Pilgrims and witch-hunters - oh my!

New England Church #9 - probably somewhere in Massachusetts.

Whaleback Light, ME. Another one that will need to be re-shot, but just in case it's gone next time we get up that way - here you go!

Turning inland from the Portland, ME area and making a few wrong turns, we found ourselves deep in moose country. The moose we encountered were entirely too cranky to allow us to photograph them, so we settled for this moose crossing sign.

There were supposedly wild snowmobiles roaming the mountains, as well. We didn't see any, though.

Cornish-Windsor Covered Bridge - Cornish, NH. "Walk Your Horses Or Pay Two Dollars Fine." We ran ours, because we are daredevil outlaws livin' on the edge.

Bath, NH Bridge. Their fine was half as much as in Cornish, so we met them halfway and just trotted our little Chevy horses. It seemed like the right thing to do.

Thanks for stopping by. Next up, a last look at New England 1998, including weird trains!

Lights of New England

I'M BACK!! I still have eleventy bazillion more negatives to scan, but for now, let's take a quick trip through New England. In 1998, we drove the coast from Connecticut to around York, Maine (skipping the Cape Cod area, which warrants its own trip), before turning inland. Here are some of the lighthouses we found along the way. Things were still pretty random, back then. Watch for later posts, in which the actual photography just gets better and better. Above: Jameston, RI proves that not all lighthouses are pretty (Beavertail Light).

New London, CT (guarded by police on horseback - they're afraid it will try to make a break for it).

Old Stonington Lighthouse - Stonington, CT. It's made of stone!

Point Judith, RI - as seen on TV, in a recent ad campaign by the US Marines.

Old Scituate Light - Scituate, CT. It has a cool story about little girls thwarting the British here, but we can't remember it right now.

Fort Pickering Light - Winter Island - Salem, MA. Gorgeous spot. Lighthouse and sailboat are just bonus.

Marblehead Range Light - Marblehead, MA.

Goat Island Light - Off Cape Porpoise, ME. This was shot, hand-held, through a 500mm mirror lens - no easy task. I'll just go ahead and say the "soft" focus was my idea. And [Maris] loves it.

Cape Neddick "Nubble" Light - Cape Neddick, ME. One of Maine's perfect lighthouses. More shots of this one are sure to come.

Portland Head Light, at Cape Elizabeth, is Maine's other perfect lighthouse. It's so over-photographed from the sides that I actually waited for a very cold hour for this people-free shot looking straight out to sea. That's Ram Island Ledge Light, off to the left. (More shots of these still to come - we went back in 2004.)

Jamestown, RI sunset.

Happy New Year, everyone. Thanks for encouraging my little hobby. See you in 2010...
-Joe

NaNoWriMo 2009

Guess where I was all November! And now, I have a JOB. The posts may get a little scarce for a while. Sorry! Check back, just in case...