Harry, overlooking Camden Harbor, Maine.
Typically every June, we head up to Maine for the summer. But this year is not a typical year. Covid-19 has turned everybody’s world topsy-turvy … so for now, we only plan day to day and take nothing for granted, especially our health. And we are thankful for the thousands of folks who risk their lives daily to care for those who have succumbed to the virus. #shelteringinplace #flattenthecurve
iPhone 6 Plus, edited in Lightroom, July 2015.
Marshall Point Lighthouse, Port Clyde, Maine.
Come every June, we pack up the car and dogs and drive for three days to our summer home in Maine, leaving the Florida sultry heat behind. We are filled with excitement to see friends again and enjoy morning coffees on our deck watching boats bob about in the harbor and listening to the cries of the osprey’s new chicks. Four months later, we do the same drive back, filled with the same excitement to catch up with friends and enjoy Florida’s warmer temps as frosty nights begin embracing Maine. I can never get enough of photographing Maine’s landscape, returning to familiar scenes to capture different angles, like the Marshall Point Lighthouse. This scene was captured the summer of 2017 as I experimented with ‘low angle’ shots of this iconic structure. I then edited with a Topaz texture to give a painterly look. Hope you enjoy!
Schooner in Penobscot Bay off the coast of Camden, ME
We spend our summers in Rockport, Maine, and there is never a lack of boats to admire in waters that provide some of the best cruising in the world. Penobscot Bay, where this schooner was captured, offers perfect cruising grounds, with over 200 islands large and small, intriguing harbors, quaint fishing villages and stunning coastal towns and summer resorts. We never tire exploring Maine’s extraordinary coastal beauty.
Sunrise, Sand Beach, Acadia National Park.
Walking into the sunrise.
As the 52 Week Photo Theme Challenge comes to an end, so does our time in Maine. When you read this, we will be on our road journey back to Sarasota for the winter … and warm weather! Thank you to all who have followed my travels and photos for the past year. It’s been fun! Maybe I’ll just continue with my own themes.
Port Clyde Harbor, Maine.
Fall is in full force in Maine, with temps hoovering in the mid-50’s and 60’s lately which means …. I am ready to head back to Florida for the winter! October is a beautiful time in Maine, with leaf-bearing trees showing off their melting hues of yellow, orange and red. Even the rocky coastlines take on fall’s copper colors. Maybe one of these years I’ll stick around until the end of October … until then, I’ll view with envy my photographer friends’ images of Maine’s spectacular fall showcase.
Rockport Harbor, Maine.
As the summer season draws to a close, a few sailors have been enjoying some evening sails in our harbor. Many of the larger sailboats have been coming into the docks, unloading and preparing their boats to be hauled out. Soon, the harbor will only be speckled with mooring balls, like the Ralston one in the image, and a few lobster boats that remain throughout the winter.
Cadillac Mountain Sunrise, Acadia National Park, Maine.
One of my highlights this summer was to experience sunrise on Cadillac Mountain in Acadia National Park. Overlooking the Gulf of Maine, Frenchman Bay, and Bar Harbor, it is the first sunrise in the United States and an important event for hundreds of people who gather here every day to witness its beauty. We arrived an hour before sunrise, walked a pathway to the highest point seeking a spot to set up my tripod and gear among eager folks bundled up in the cold air. In the darkness, you could see other people spreading out over the rocks, others adjusting their tripods. It was certainly a photographer’s event as we all hunted for our spots. Despite the crowd, which seemed to be 100+, the mountain embraced its feeling of quiet.
As the moment neared, a golden, molten glow appeared in the moments just before the sun actually made its appearance.
This image is a compilation of 6 iPhone X images, stitched together with the app AutoStitch, and the app Distressed FX+ for the final texture.
Acadia, Boulder Beach in early morning.
Recently, I spent several days in Acadia with the hopes of capturing some great sunrises and sunsets. Last year on our visit to Acadia, the weather wasn’t the best so I was pleased when I saw we were going to have great weather. I did the typical sunrise trek to Cadillac Mountain for sunrise photos along with about a hundred other folks but the real shots were along the east coastal trail in the early morning hours. The image above is at Boulder Beach with its smoothed basketball-size boulders that make up the rocky shore. These round, egg shaped rocks made a perfect foreground to capture the rising sun against the distant cliff. I used this image for this week’s assignment of ‘shaped bokeh’. Although, the bokeh isn’t really shaped, I hope at a later time to learn how to do ‘shaped bokeh’. In fact, some may argue that this is lens flare and not bokeh!
Nikon D810, 24mm, ISO 100, 1/30 sec at f/22
Pemaquid Point Light, Bristol, Maine
One of my most favorite places to visit is the Pemaquid Point Lighthouse in mid-coast Maine. The rock formations are the most famous and with raging seas, a fantastic sight to capture with the lighthouse in the distance. For today’s blog, it isn’t about the rocks or the lighthouse but summer’s end approaching and nature’s preparation for the winter ahead. I thought this image through the window for this week’s theme “dried” illustrated the end of the beautiful flowers and grasses that grace this amazing property.
Reena Walkling 