Martha's Vineyard has changed so much since I was born. I have watched many aspects of our island and noticed the beauty, inspiration and sadness the changes evoke. For this project, I will take three photographs each week of three parts of nature. At the end of this period, I will take the pictures and turn them into fast motion videos to display the changes, erosion, and growth over time. As a future environmental college student, I would love to leave high school with a deeper understanding of the environment of my home. I am planning on addressing climate change on Martha’s Vineyard, as well as environmental changes and positive growth. I want to show how both progression and retrogresssion occurs.

A true Vineyard treasure, Lucy Vincent is located on South Road in Chilmark. Guarded in the summer with access only to local residents, the beach is primarily busy, filled with people of all ages. Many Islanders know the history of the beach, but most summer dwellers do not understand the severe negative impacts of erosion. Climbing on the rocks causes debris disconnect from the structure and fall down. Years of natural weathering and human interference is causing the cliffs to erode. Over the course of 19 weeks, I will photograph and observe the slow dissolution of the iconic cliffs.

Through the seasons, we experience many variations of weather. Middle Road is constantly filled with life, occupied by many farms, animals, and plants. The animals and their living situations change with the seasons. Beginning in the end of January, I will show the metamorphosis from the cold months through May.

The Reasons for the Seasons is directly correlated to my project, as it explains the reasoning behind what I am documenting and presenting.

PHENOLOGY PAPER

As the seasons adapt, the earth shows the change in many ways. This year, according to the Spring Indices by USA-NPN, the season is arriving around twenty days earlier

than most typical years. Scientists have been recently realizing that plants and animals take their cues from nature, and with global warming the weather has been

warmer than past years. There are three main factors that determine and affect phenology. The amount of light and it’s strength from the sun, the temperature, and other

weather factors such as heaviness of snowfall and periods of rainfall. Plants and trees use these to determine when to begin blooming. I began my project mid winter.

There was occasional snow, high winds, and cold weather for the first month. I did not notice any big changes within the first half of my project. Using photography to

capture simply weather during that time, I observed many days with many different temperatures and elements.

Winter showed lots of winds and snows, rare animal sightings, and lack of the color green. The Chilmark field was very plain and boring for me to photograph. I spent

much less time there in comparison to Lucy Vincent. There, there was much more variation. The water controls the sand, sometimes emerging the rocks from their hiding

places. Footprints some days (signifying warmth) as summer nears. Repeatedly visiting these places caused me to see so clearly the weather changing through the

seasons. With too short of a period, I did not end up observing what I had expected. There was little erosion I captured, shifting my studies into weather. While doing this

project, I realized many things I had not even considered in the beginning. Beginning in mid winter, the temperatures fluctuated, but mainly were unbearably cold.

Walking on the windy beach every other day, I would lose feeling in my ears, fingers, and face. Getting to the locations was a project in itself. Although I am a senior, my

driving process was slowed by many months due to brain injury. Finding ways to Lucy Vincent was one of the most difficult aspects of my project. Once the images were

taken, I now had the task of working with the pictures to make them better quality, composition, and power. To edit the images, I had to endure a complicated experience.

Although all taken from the same point, the vantage is always a little different. I took each image, and created a new layer to paint on a tracing. I then took another picture

taken from the same place, and placed said layer on the image. To make the next composition match the previous, I used free transform to make the sizes as close as

possible. To crop the same I used the same image sizes, and used my knowledge from all of the shots I took, knowing in my mind the picture so well.

As I am nearing the end of the year, I have noticed myself being so much more in touch with my environment, focusing on small details that will cause large ripples. The

time I spent on site and researching opened my eyes to many issues, (my own personal hurdles included) and now is encouraging me to continue this process in other parts

of my life. I found myself also using senior project period time to work on other aspects of myself that helped me to focus on my research even more. I couldn’t have asked

for a better, more concluding end to my four years at the Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School.

https://www.usanpn.org

https://www.nwf.org/Wildlife/Wildlife-Conservation/Phenology.aspx

JOURNAL

Lucy Vincent Beach

Day 1, Wednesday, January 25: The waves are rough, it has been windy for the past few days. I set up a tripod that will ensure less variation in angles.

Day 2, Monday, January 32: The beach is cold, preparing itself for the snow soon to come.

Day 3, Friday, January 27: It has been less than a week, so there are no changes to be seen. It is pretty windy on the beach.

Day 4, Thursday, February 2: It is a warm day! Groundhog said 6 more weeks of winter but it doesn't feel like it.

Day 5, Monday, February 6: It is a sunny clear day, boring to photograph.

Day 6, Friday, February 10: There hasn't been as much change in the cliffs as there has been in the sand. The log I had been photographing from is now covered by a hill of sand.

Day 7, Tuesday, February 14: Today it was windy and cold, I spent little time on the beach.

Day 8, Saturday, February 18: It was warm for February. I watched the cliffs as the sand grains fell down.

Day 9, Wednesday, February 22: My last picture before vacation. The beach has been very cold.

Day 10, Monday, March 6: I took my first pictures since returning from break. The island looked different after a while not looking at the beach.

Day 11, Friday, March 10: It was a snowy day today, hitting the sand and melting in a strange way making an icy film over the sand.

Day 12, Sunday, March 12: Today, the rocks were very noticeable, laying on the sand with no water surrounding them. It was low tide.

After this point, I began editing the photos and not keeping direct journals of day by day weather and other observations.

Through March and April I worked with Mr. Baer consistently on matching the photos up. Each one took hours, so when May hit we simplified the process, deciding perfection was too much to ask for.

Chilmark

Day 1, Wednesday, January 25: Spring is already in the air. The sun is out today, I can feel it's warmth on my shoulders. To successfully shoot into a video, these pictures must be composed exactly the same. I am going to mark the exact place I will shoot from, as well as take note of the amount of zoom I use and which lens.

Day 2, Tuesday, 32: First snow of the project! The horses were nowhere to be seen, finding shelter from the storm. Branches of trees and blades of grass collect the flakes, obtaining a thin layer of white.

Day 3, Friday, January 27: It is a sunny, clear day, nothing particularly different about the weather or landscape.

Day 4, Thursday, February 2: Slightly overcast, the scenery is tinted slightly blue. The animals are not out today.

Day 5, Monday, February 6: It is sunny again, breezy, warm, a taste of spring to come.

Day 6, Wednesday, February 8: I haven't seen the horses in a while. The weather has been fluctuating and creating a strange pattern of cold and warm.

Day 7, Friday, February 10: The grass has been relatively dead looking, in need of the thawing of spring.

Day 8, Wednesday, February 15: It was temperate today, and the horses were in the field, but not in my picture.

Day 9, Sunday, February 19: Another relatively warm day, I am awaiting the bigger changes in the field and the trees.

Day 10, Tuesday, February 21: The rock I take pictures from has been covered with snow recently.

Day 12, Thursday, March 9: The trees are still cold from winter, and I haven't observed any buds yet.

Day 13, Sunday, March 12: Another sunny day. Boring.

I took time off from my project to go on vacation.

When I came back, everything was bloomed.

I took a break from my images to catch up on editing.

My later pictures were MUCH greener, and looked amazingly different than simply weeks before.