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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when we were there several years ago (in late October) the weather changed about six times during the course on one day. Still it is lovely in all weathers!
Wow! I’m struggling for words to describe my reactions to this image. Somehow the hackneyed adjectives like “beautiful,” “amazing,” et al. simply don’t begin to describe the emotions it stirs. Indeed, it would probably take a Robert Service or Jack London to describe them.
Wow, thank you Brad!
Very nice Paul. Cadillac mountain has such a signature landscape, and yet each and every image from there has its own appeal. This is no exception.
Thanks Mark, it is still a new location for me but I have seen enough work from there to get a sense of it’s character. It is rather unique for here on the East Coast though.