Big Branch River, Vermont

Big Branch River, Vermont

Went for a crawl today, but just a short crawl. It was at the end of a walk, but just a short walk and it seemed the best way to proceed. And no, no alcohol was involved in my choice of ambulation although my destination was on the rocks and it involved lots of ice. Perhaps I should explain, just a short explanation, promise.

We finally had a snowstorm here in Vermont, not a biggie but enough to cover the ground and coat the trees. I wanted to practice some video so I headed to a nearby river- Big Branch in the Green Mountain National Forest- about 4 miles from my house. Turns out that the recent thaws and hard freezes we have been having have built up a lot of ice in the streams and rivers in the area. When I got to the river there were only a few holes of open water but the ice seemed thick enough to hold me so tripod in hand I crawled on hands and knees to the lip of a hole and peered in. I mean, what could go wrong?

on the Big Branch

on the Big Branch

Well, let’s see…I screwed up my first exposures- too dark. When I went to Live View for video I couldn’t remember how to start the video and my shutter speed was way off. I also forgot to mount my external mic with the dead cat (that’s the term. It’s the shaggy furry thing you see on shotgun mics) in my hot shoe so the first couple of videos sounded very tinny. Oh, and I also didn’t bring a long enough lens to get good close-ups on the icicles on the far side of the holes. Did I mention it was cold?

I did manage to get a few shots and some video footage. Mostly B-roll (I don’t really know what that means but I like using the term whenever I can) but I think with some help I can stitch some video and stills together for a nice little winter stream piece.

ice edge

ice edge

The images included here are the best ones I got. It’s going to be very warm tomorrow followed by another hard freeze so I am going to go back in a couple of days to get some close-ups (with my telephoto lens- my macro is too short to reach the icicles). I’ll add these to the mix and in a few weeks after considerable frustration I’ll share the final version with you. I’ll include a piece of the B-roll to give you an idea of what the river was like. Enjoy!

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