... chad drove down from bangor to collect john and i for a little winter wanderabout ... temperatures rising into the high-20s, it was a good day to get outside for a bit of cabin fever curative ... of course, it was nice that chad did the driving since john and i could then have time to examine chad's new sony a7r camera ... at the wire bridge in north new portland we discovered the banks of the river layered with huge blocks of raft ice ... apparently after the freeze the water had risen to a high level, breaking the ice and depositing it along the shore ... this giant chunk is sitting just in front of where alison and i picnic during the summer ... !!! ...
... while chad stood on the bank yelling, "you're a crazy person ... there could be a thin spot hidden beneath the snow ... i see some open water over there ... what if you fall through," i wandered across the frozen surface so i could inspect the car-sized blocks of ice along the far shore ... imagine the force necessary to move this piece of ice, which i roughly compute as weighing in excess of nine tons ...
... between the bright sun, shadows, and snowfields, it was a scene with a rather high dynamic range ... i wasn't much in the mood for the technical effort necessary to deal with such, so relaxed and found enjoyment in photographing my friends ...
... john's comfortable, but, his first visit, i've a feeling chad didn't quite appreciate the feel of the wire bridge's deck undulating in the gentle breeze ...
... we left the wire bridge in shadow and headed through farmington to cape cod hill in new sharon, where, a result of our absolutely perfect timing, we climbed the six-foot deep snow bank along the road to snap pictures of the sun setting across what i always thought was the merrimack trough, but through a bit of research have now learned is the "central maine basin" ... (actually, this spot is probably pretty close to the border of the two geologic features) ...
... while we watched, in the sky a mystery took place ... any ideas ... ??? ...
... the last picture i took is my favorite ...
Sometimes I do get to places just when God's ready
to have somebody click the shutter.
ANSEL ADAMS