The Maine Thing – Day 8

During the evening of our last day in Maine I walked outside my friend’s house and was struck by the most star-filled night sky I’ve ever seen. There was a very clear Milky Way and a tremendous number of stars. Having done some night image making before, I immediately set up the tripod and camera for some long exposures. The sky was great, but I wanted something more in the image. I needed something to ground it.

Composing at night can be tough, but I knew anything I included other than sky would be in silhouette. Well, anything except an alternate light source or something reflecting that light source.

My daughter had just gone up to her room and turned on her light. My first thought was to have her turn it off. Then I realized that the window would be a great addition, as would the warm incandescent light. This image was made with a Canon Eos 5D Mark II and Canon EF 17-40mm f4.0 L lens. I used an electronic cable release, and in Bulb setting counted to 30 in my head.

Window to the Night Sky (c) 2012 Paul Grecian

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The Maine Thing – Day 7

At this point in our trip to Maine we were staying with friends who recently bought a house just outside of Acadia. My friend Mark is a highly accomplished photographer and has a nice bit of land that attracts some local wildlife.

The Red Squirrels around his property are a bit crazy. They are very territorial and quite vociferous. They are also pretty cute and have a lot of character. This image was made handheld with a Canon 7D and Canon EF 70-200mm f2.8 L Mark II with Canon TC2x III.

Red Squirrel, Maine

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The Maine Thing – Day 6

Day 6 in Maine was fairly overcast, perfect for hiking in wooded areas. The image below was made on a trail starting at Jordan Pond. The trails are mostly for hiking, but also horse-riding and offer wonderful views of rather pristine woodland. What really amazed me was how interwoven  the Plant-life is with the geology. Trees were growing out of stone and even in the nooks of other trees! For example, I saw several fir trees growing out of  bifurcations in birch trees.

For this hike I selected to use a light weight Micro-Four-thirds system again. In this case it was the Panasonic GH2 with an Olympus 9-18mm lens (equivalent to an 18-36mm in 35mm format). Compositionally, I am using the trees to frame the distant view. From a color standpoint, this is a monochromatic piece, so I am emphasizing the different tonalities of green (as I would with grays were this a black-and-white image).

View from trail near Jordan Pond

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The Maine Thing – Day 5

One of the attributes of Acadia National Park that I especially like is the ability to park in the right lane of “The Loop” just about whenever I wish. This gives me the freedom to explore and respond to the landscape freely. And since the park is never really closed, I can do this for sunrise, sunset, middle of the day, or middle of the night!

One location on the loop that I like is at Otter Cove. Here, the mountains reflect into still waters lined by forest. I see it as a serene view, without great drama. Therefore my image represents it using symmetry, subtle tonality, and lots of sky. The clouds both provide visual interest to the sky but also minimize the landscape further. There is both direct and indirect light hitting the land along with shadows of the clouds themselves. This image was made with a Micro-Four-thirds system camera (Panasonic GH2) and an Olympus 9-18mm m4/3 lens. This lightweight camera and lens combo is a great travel kit.

Otter Cove, Acadia (c) 2012 http://www.paulgrecianphoto.com

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The Maine Thing – Day 4

Day 4 in Maine was a washout, I mean it poured! Perfect for some outdoor photography with saturated colors! I had my sights on Sieur de Monts Nature Center to work the birch woods. For this kind of really wet conditions, I rely on my Olympus E-5 DSLR and Olympus SW 50-200mm lens which are both weather proof. Even in Gore-Tex though, I felt wet from this rain, and water finds ways to get inside your jacket and shoes.

The wet leaves and boardwalk added color and reflection to the image and pretty much guaranteed I would be alone. It was really quite fun to work in conditions about as wet as I’ve ever experienced.

 

Boardwalk in Birch Forest

 

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Maine Thing – Day 3

I hoped that I would see some of the famous Bar Harbor fog I had heard about and on day 3 I did. It engulfs the Porcupine Islands in an almost horror-film fashion. The fog is so thick it seems to be almost solid.

The Margaret Todd was sailing for its evening cruise and really gives a sence of scale to the image. I was working from on top of Cadillac Mountain at sunset with just the last vestiges of warm light hitting the bay. On a tripod, I was using a Canon 5D Mark II with a Canon EF 70-200mm f2.8 lens and  Canon TC 2X. Mirror lockup and an electronic cable release minimized camera movement.

Margaret Todd into the Fog – http://www.paulgrecianphoto.com

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The Maine Thing – Day 2

On our second day in Maine, my daughter convinced us to do a bike ride around some ponds and Eagle Lake. It turned into a 10 mile expedition and after not being on a bike for the past 25 yrs, my backside was not pleased. Anyway, it was a beautiful day and I had a small Micro-Four-thirds camera system with me (even a travel tripod). My rather frequent pleading to stop so that I could make a few images became old for wife and daughter, so I made mental notes for the later that day.

The image below was made at Eagle Lake with a Canon 5D Mark II and a Canon EF 70-200mm f2.8 L lens at f22. This is late afternoon light falling on the mountain and the trees on the right. The foreground reflects the light from the sky and had interesting texture and color from the grasses growing within the shallow water. I composed to maximize the geometry of the scene and to create a balanced image.

Eagle Lake in Acadia National Park

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The Maine Thing – Day1

The second time that I visit a location is often fraught with expectations based on the first visit. This is a creativity trap! Conditions are never the same and if I’m smart, I won’t think about the first trip too much. Apparently the weather in Maine is more unpredictable than in Bucks County, PA where I live and so weather forecasts have to be taken with a grain of salt (appropriate enough for an ocean-front environment like Acadia National Park).

The first day after arriving in Bar Harbor I was up early for sunrise and placed myself up on Cadillac Mountain. The image below was made with a Canon 5D Mark II and a Canon EF 17-40mm f4.0 L lens. I used a split-neutral-density filter to control the sky exposure and of course had the rig on a tripod. I locked up the mirror and used an electronic cable-release to minimize vibration.

In August, you don’t find yourself along much on the mountain and so there was actually quite a crowd. The gentlemen nearest me asked to borrow my filter between my image making and we got to talking. It was a much more social event than I had anticipated, but fun all the same.

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