Nor’easter | Here comes the calvary…. YAYYYYYY | Day 3

As day 3 arrives, no sign of the snow plow. There’s 4 feet of snow still in the street. It’s a Sunday. I’m sure the phone lines to City Hall were burning up. We’re a mobile bunch here and we’ve been snowbound since Friday noon. It’s funny to see how some people react in atypical situations. God help the snow plow driver when he shows up. lol

The good news is the sun is out. My neighbors and I have shoveled  the sidewalks and around our houses.

Finally, around noon the big yellow lumbering snow plow honors us with it’s appearance. YAY ! Because the city has waited to plow, it may have been better to have a front end loader and dump truck to take some of the snow away. A snow plow essentially just pushes and compacts the snow as it goes. You can imagine where that pushed snow ends up – in the places people have already shoveled.

As you can see from the pictures, people are standing in front of their houses with great expectation. A tremendous psychic pressure is on that driver, you can be sure. The plow inches it’s way up the street filling in all the shoveled places. Some sigh, some yell and some even do a war dance. ;-)

Finally our street is cleared, at least as clear as it’s going to be and time enough to get a little more shoveling in before sunset. 

Wish you were here! ;-) lb

click on the images for a more detailed view

02/10/13

12:47:12 Canon 5D MkII 105mm f8 1/400s cropped from below

12:47:12 Canon 5D MkII 105mm f8 1/400s

12:55:00 Fuji XPro-1 18mm f11 1/350s

12:56:00 Fuji XPro-1 18mm f11 1/420s

13:01:34 Canon 5D MkII 93mm f10 1/500s

13:12:37 Canon 5D MkII 105mm f7.1 1/400s

Nor’easter | the rude awakening…. Day 2

It had been snowing all night but all things must pass, even nor’easters. These storms remind all of us living here of the awesome power of nature. One gains  respect quickly as well as the knowledge to coexist peacefully. I love the wind. And I’m very happy to be in a nice warm house when it’s blowing like the devil outside. 

My neighbors and I spent day 2 digging out. We all know each other, some of us better than others but I wouldn’t say we were all very close. But when a blizzard hits our neighborhood, everyone pitches in and helps each other. I’m very happy about that.

Anyway, no sign of the snow plow. The City of Boston has forgotten our street. ;-) And noone is going anywhere. Some of my neighbors are hopping mad with the Mayor and I believe they told him so. It’s probably for the best because it was a snow emergency. I’m sure this was also a way of keeping people off the roads while they were plowed.

But if there was a real emergency on the street, a fire or someone with a medical issue, there would have been no way for help to reach them.That won’t do. lb

All of these images were taken with the Fuji XPro-1. As I said, it produces a cooler tone but I’m sure that can be adjusted to taste.

click on the images for a more detailed view

02/09/13

09:00:57AM Fuji XPro-1 18mm f5.6 1/210s

My back yard under about 4 feet of snow. That tree always falls like that and I always clear it off and get it back up. I tried tying it together with rope but no go.

15:49:49PM Fuji XPro-1 18mm f7.1 1/400s

15:49:55PM Fuji XPro-1 18mm f6.4 1/420s

15:49:57PM Fuji XPro-1 18mm f7.1 1/400s

15:50:06PM Fuji XPro-1 18mm f7.1 1/350s

Time to rest until tomorrow. Maybe the plow will come then. ;-)

Nor’easter | And so it begins…. Day 1 / updated

A nor’easter is a cyclonic storm that moves along the east coast of North America. It’s called “nor’easter” because the winds over coastal areas blow from a northeasterly direction. More about nor’easters

It’s been a busy week and only a week since this blizzard occurred. We always seem to get one or two major storms a year these days but this one was memorable.;-)

I have three days worth of photos. I used a Fuji XPro1 and Canon 5D MkII. I’ll add more detail to the photos and more explanation over the week. lb

Update: I grew up in Boston and even though I’ve moved around a bit, my wife and I eventually decided to buy a house here. The nor’easter is part of living in the Northeast of these United States. When I was young, it seemed like it was snowing for the whole winter. It’s something you must get used to if you want to live here but we have all four seasons to balance.

These images were shot with a Fuji XPro-1 and Canon 5Dmk II. They are all unmodified though I had to rotate one to be horizontal.;-) I’ve been looking for a smaller camera to carry all the time, as I mentioned before, but I also want the best quality images I can get. The Leicas would seem an obvious choice but they are too expensive. I like the Fuji so far but using it is a little different than using a Nikon or Canon DSLR. Still, it might just be the one. I’ll write my thoughts and choice in a future post. lb

click on the images for a more detailed view

02/08/13

12:01:58PM Fuji XPro-1 18mm f4 1/140s

A nor’easter always start off slow with a good wind. This is my back yard.

15:53:47PM Fuji XPro-1 18mm f3.2 1/140s

And after a couple of hours…

20:04:02 Fuji XPro-1 18mm f2 1/4s

The street in front of my house. Look at these wires. No wonder the power goes out. ;-) Boston is one of the oldest cities in these United States and some of the infrastructure looks it.

22:10:06 Canon 5D MkII 24mm F/4 1/8s

It’s piling up. Notice the warmer image rendition of the Canon. The Fuji and Fuji 18mm combination is a bit blueish and crisper.

22:10:25 Canon 5D MkII 24mm F/4 1/10s

22:12:18 Canon 5D MkII 47mm F/4 1/10s

All’s quiet on the nor’eastern front but ….. Day 2 is coming.I like this image but I wished I had framed it a bit better.