A little while ago, I approached my editor, Viktoria Sundqvist, about starting a photo blog. I can remember the day like it was yesterday. Old man winter mustered enough energy to create a winter wonderland in Middlesex County and I couldn't wait to get out in the middle of it! The snow was coming down hard and accumulating fast, but I live, I ride, I am Jeep. Seriously, there is nothing like four-wheel drive in a snow storm...it truly is incredible!

I knew my husband Bob, who really looks out for my best interest would suggest I wear my "duck" boots to work. These boots are stiff, uncomfortable and since I really do feel like I walk like a duck when I am wearing them, I decided to leave the boots at home.

After spending much of the season indoors recovering from back surgery, I was tired of composing pictures in my mind, but going back to work after three months off is tough. Viktoria suggested I take advantage of the fresh fallen snow and grab a few pics for the 2011 Middletown Press calendar. So it would be just me, the old Nikon and the open road. Although I love photographing people and this is what I do day after day, I haven't spent a day shooting landscapes in years, decades really.

My photo expedition began on Route 2 in Portland... and what a find. A red pickup truck parked along a white fence on the edge of Hale Hill Christmas Tree Farm. My first image of the day was screaming December, December, December. When I stepped out of the Jeep, I stepped right in a puddle, my left shoe and sock soaking wet, a little uncomfortable, but not as uncomfortable as those boots, not a big deal.

Just down the road a bit on Route 17, I noticed several pieces of antique farm equipment. I pulled over and hiked up a short but steep embankment only to find pockets of snow almost knee deep. I am not exaggerating, at 4'11", well, 4'10.5" it was knee deep! You know, those duck boots are stiff, but after walking in them for a little while, they're not so bad.

Speaking of ducks, I can't believe what I am seeing. A flock of geese in a corn field, there must have been over one hundred of them and the snow was coming down in buckets, big buckets. I quietly removed my wide angle lens and began to attach the monopod to a 300mm 2.8. I managed to pull off a few shots when all of a sudden, they waddled off in the other direction. I remember shouting, "Hey guys, wait a minute, I am only shooting images not bullets." I think the story is actually more interesting than the image, so unless you really want to see, I am not going to post it.

Next stop, where else but the foothills of Middlefield, Lyman Orchards. You really can't go wrong at the apple orchards. Well, most of the time!

By this point, I realized that Bob was right and since we were meeting for dinner, I didn't hesitate to ask him to grab my boots and a pair of socks.

Working with a group of wordsmiths all day can be difficult for a shooter. Writing appears effortless and is intimidating to say the least, and with that said,  I look forward to sharing my stories with you.

A quote by one of my favorite photographers , Margaret Bourke-White. "Saturate yourself with your subject and the camera will all but take you by the hand."