REFRACTIONARY

Having scouted the area the night before, I woke myself up at 3:45 this morning and was out by 4 to get back in time for blue hour and, hopefully, a sunrise. As I drew West, I passed beneath a band of rain, just about at Wachusset. I was hoping that boded well for some color and cloud drama. Just about at Athol, I spotted this wetland along the road and had to stop.

I made a bee line for the bridge, where I figured I’d check out what the light and the clouds were doing. Yep… blue hour from the top of French King Bridge, looking northward into the Connecticut River Valley, doesn’t disappoint.

Then I headed down to the river below to get the bridge shots I came for. Here are just a handful of my favorites.

A bit longer of a shutter speed makes the water all creamy.

This really is the shot I wanted. I love how architectural the bridge is… the straight lines, the arched sweep of the bridge bisecting the complementary sweeps of the shoreline.

This is taken from the top of French King Bridge, northward into the Connecticut River Valley

And here’s another drive-by. This field off the road grabbed my attention.

And this, believe it or not, was another drive-by. All the way home, the sky was pulling some amazing tricks, and I hoped that if I exited I could find a spot on the overpass. That didn’t turn out, but I did find this little pond right at the exit, and spotted this little shack. I might try to edit this again… I couldn’t quite pull out the light rays in there. Also, I just noticed that big ass spot up there. Guess it’s back to photoshop.