Life's Beach

Kevin Doyle has jumpped into our blog this month.

Life's a Beach. By Marsha Causton and Kevin Doyle

What does a Mainer do on the coldest morning of the winter? Why, go to thebeach of course. Single digit temperatures afford all sorts of benefits: Noflat-landers or strap-hangers, no annoying traffic, no gate keeper tocollect a fee, plenty of parking and the ice cold beverages stay ice cold.On a frigid January morning even the ocean feels warm (relatively speaking).And the beach would be clear for shooting without those annoying obstructions; people.

It's a plan; we're headed to Lamoine State Park for a photo shoot.

The next question is what to bring on this pre-dawn outing. Extra gear isnot only a good idea, it's a must. Unfortunately, in the rush to beat the winter morning crowds, a few (minor) items were overlooked and left behind. One being a battery for the Nikon D300 and another being the memory card for said camera. Luckily the D50 was packed along with a weakly charged battery. Hmmm - not the best scenario for sunrise in 4 or 5 degree (batteryzapping) temps.

After only a few photos the 'low battery' warning was on. So, back in the truck to warm up; both photographer and battery. Leaving the camera outside to avoid condensation and the battery safely tucked in an inside pocket, we waited.

More photos.More warming.And repeat.

Both photographer and battery survived over two hours of shooting in singledigit temps. Even the snow in our shoes wasn't a problem - it never had achance to melt and dampen any feet. And the tri-pod allowed hands to spendas much time as possible in warm pockets. One last precaution - before settling back into the warm truck, storing the (almost frozen) D50 in a plastic zip-lock bag to reduce condensation once the shoot was done.

There are a couple of lessons to be learned here though. Check equipment, check the timing of the sunrise and (did I mention?) check equipment.

It was a beautiful morning.

Are we crazy?

Perhaps.

Kevin and Marsha, thank you for your contribution.