Minute Man National Historical Park 1-25-05

The site of the first shots of the American Revolution. The site of my own revolution?

While growing up, my favorite subject in school was U.S. history. Particularly the colonial-era. Being in New England for a week following one of the worst blizzards in history, I had to visit the Minute Man National Historical Park.

I have newfound respect for Washington’s troops after experiencing a bit of New England winter. How did they survive that brutal winter at Valley Forge? I have no idea. I wouldn’t have made it.

I traveled from my room at the Hawthorne Suites near Harvard Square in Arlington to Minute Man NHP in nearby Lexington. The park is spread out in scattered locations from Lexington to Concord. Since the blizzard had just passed, most of the park was buried in waist-deep snow. It was mostly wooded with bare trees. Not ideal for landscapes in my opinion. However the low winter sun did cast interesting long shadows on the snow.

That is what I like best about shooting in winter. The low-angled sun makes more of the day useful for photography instead of casting harsh shadows everywhere. In some places you could even shoot all day and get decent pictures. Now try that in summer.

Getting in position to get photos was challenging in these conditions. It was well-below freezing, windy and w/ deep snow. It’s easy to take the West for granted until you go elsewhere for winter. The Sierras rarely even get this cold in winter.



Shortly after this photo, I headed back to the hotel as I was jetlagged and was to meet my cousin who happened to work nearby.

Tips:
1. Polarizer- cut glare off the snow.
2. Spot meter the snow and overexpose it anywhere from 1 to 2 stops. 1.7 seems to work for me usually. Bracketing is essential if shooting slide film. If I were shooting Velvia I would definitely do it.
3. Gore-tex boots/pants- keep the ice out of your boots as I learned the hard way. No Goretex can even save you from that.
4. Layers including fleece- my relatives on the East Coast introduced this to me later that night. The temperature wasn’t such a problem for me after that.
5. Keep the batteries warm and dry- camera malfunction is the last thing you want to happen after torturing yourself for hours in this sort of weather.