I was sitting in bed the other night checking my Facebook newsfeed when a post from WBZ 4 popped up on the screen and caught my eye. It was an article about giant chunks of ice washing ashore on Cape Cod due to the harsh conditions on the bay this winter. Then I read this:

“WBZ-TV Chief Meteorologist Eric Fisher says this could be a ‘once-in-a-generation’ event due to the extraordinary amount of ice on the Massachusetts Bay. Fisher says the ice won’t be around for long.”

It got my wheels spinning instantly. Within about 10 hours after seeing the post, I had child care, a model, a stylist, a prep location and photos of a site from a friend. The stars aligned. Game on.

We left early Wednesday morning in order to be at the beach and ready to shoot at low tide. In my freshly vacuumed truck were myself, Melanie (our office assistant and one of our models), Meagan (our bride model and former wedding client) and Eleni Demetra (our makeup and hair stylist). George and Sheina planned to meet us there. Another photographer, Sarah Atkinson, joined us on the beach with her awesome dog Mocha. Little did I realize the antics that would ensue.

We prepped at a friend’s house not far from the beach. I did a little scouting with Melanie while Eleni worked on Meagan’s hair and makeup. It didn’t take us long to find ice and hatch a game plan. Back to the prep location to finalize our game plan and the off to the beach with the whole gang!

The timing worked out perfectly. We had plenty of time to shoot and even set up our own little “studio” for our gear and continued work on makeup. Working with fearless people really broadens ones opportunities. We shot in, on, under and around the massive chunks of ice for close to two hours before the tide pushed us away.

As we were heading back, we stopped to do a group photo (thanks Sarah!) and had to cross back over a tide “stream” when we were done. Meagan (she’s approximately 3 feet tall and weighs 50 lbs) offered and put Melanie (she’s approximately 7 feet tall and weighs more than 50 lbs) on her back to carry her through the stream. Why? I have no idea. George caught their antics and said, “Hey look!” to which we all turned our heads in that direction. It couldn’t have been more perfectly timed as Meagan had just started to loose her balance and fall over with Melanie into the water. Melanie rolled off Meagan in hysterics and sat in the freezing cold water laughing until she cried. Realizing there were both alright, I started snapping photos (we’ll share those later).

We left the beach and went to our new favorite place on the Cape for lunch – Bass River Burrito and Fish Co. They have incredible food and a gluten-free menu that can’t be touched by any other local establishment. We stuffed our faces until it hurt.

Just a few minutes later, Melanie let out a scream, followed by “I just had a HUGE spider on me”. Not finding it right away, she drew the conclusion that, “we need a new truck”. We were making a stop just a short way down the road giving us the perfect opportunity to find the beast and destroy it.

I ran into the store to make a purchase and came back out to the scene played out in this video. I would have helped look for the spider, but felt it important to document the situation – you know, for posterity.

We shot. We laughed. We ate. We laughed. We went spider hunting. We laughed some more. It was an awesome day!

Carpe Diem!

Here’s my first and probably favorite shot from today: