Stormy Sunset Sky over Cape Cod Bell’s Neck

Last Sunday we made a day trip to Cape Cod. We had a great family time while enjoying swimming at our favorite lake, having lunch at one of the best fish restaurant on Cape Cod, chilling on First Encounter Beach, strolling through Chatham and visiting our most favorite gallery. On our way home we stopped for ice cream at Sundae School Ice Cream in Harwich, MA. The weather turned truly dramatic and provided me with some extraordinary lighting. We checked one of my go to locations between Chatham and Harwich, where I photographed Cape Cod Solitude, as it was less than half a mile down the street. The red dinghy was still present but views of it are somewhat obstructed by a second larger red boat; no more solitude at this location. We quickly moved on and made a right turn towards Bell’s Neck Road. Bell’s Neck is a marsh area that is divided by the Herring River which beautifully winds through the field of marsh grasses. Bell’s Neck has been on my bucket list for quite some time now but I never really timed it right. Last time I visited was the worst as I became a feast for mosquitoes. This all changed last Sunday when an evening storm provided the desired clouds combined with great New England lighting. Once we arrived on the auto bridge, I quickly set up tripod and camera, affixed the 24-70 mm wide angles zoom lens and got cracking. I knew there was only limited time to capture this moment and I quickly settled on the widest setting of 24-70 mm lens. I was destined to capture this dramatic moment and envisioned a good amount of sky and clouds in the composition. A few raindrops here and there, the thunder and lightning behind my back and heavy wind made me feel a bit uneasy. Despite the obstacles I kept shooting while the light fated quickly. Turned out I was right and I had only 5 to 10 minutes upon arrival to capture the beautiful storm sky across Bell’s Neck;  I am glad I did not hesitate and finally can cross that one of my Cape Cod photography list. 

Apertures in both images were set at f/11 providing shutter speeds of 1/5 second and 1/5 second at ISO100. During digital post processing I removed dust spots, minimally adjusted contrast, lighting and color saturation before sharpening the final Cape Cod pictures. Happy Day, Juergen