More Maine Moose and Maine Scenery

Canon 1D MK IV; Canon 24-105 f4 @24mm f13 1/15 ISO 200 -1EC

Joan and I traveled to Northern Maine again on September 30 to spend a few days looking for Moose and enjoying the foliage with friends Bob Adamowicz and Rosamaria Rezende. Friday evening was wonderful weather-it was calm, some of the foliage had started to turn and the skies had cumulus clouds with a dark blue background.  We stopped at the Abol Bridge that crosses the West Penobscot River along the Golden Road.  The hour there before sunset was breathtaking. The image above accurately reflects what we saw before the sun started sinking behind the mountains behind us. The skies became more dramatic as the sun sank behind us and HDR images had to be taken to get the full range of light.

5 image HDR Composite taken with Canon 1D MK IV; Canon 24-105 f4 @24mm f13 

5 image HDR Composite taken with Canon 1D MK IV; Canon 24-105 f4 @24mm f13

Saturday morning brought the beginning of rain that lasted through Wednesday morning of our trip. The rain does not spoil picture taking-it just adds a challenge to the lighting. Friend and mentor Mark Picard (www.markpicard.com) says there is no such thing as a bad day photographing-a good photographer just has to figure out how to photograph it.  We walked to a very popular pond in Baxter Park to watch for moose, but only got to enjoy the beauty of lifting fog and some Golden Eye Ducks. 

Canon 1D MK IV; Canon 600 f4 @f7.1 1/300  ISO320 and Better Beamer

The moose were involved in the rut and were not using the ponds very much and seemed to be deeper in the woods.  We heard some and called some in that stayed just out of the open.  We also had coyotes come to the moose calling.  We took a walk to a pond not frequented by many people and found a large bull laying in the brush across the pond.  His antlers were just protruding above the brush.

Canon 1D MK IV; Canon 600 f4 @f6.3 1/2000 ISO2000

We watched quietly for about 2 hours until he decided to stand and we were then able to get a few images of him eating and got some of him looking our way. This is when knowing animal behavior and habits is helpful. getting a sharp image of him in the cloudy light with a low shutter speed required watching his movements and knowing when his head would come to a stop.

Canon 1D MK IV; Canon 600 f4 @f8 1/320 ISO1250

We saw two more smaller bulls later that day as well as what I am quite sure was a wolf. I will probably be heavily discounted for that remark-but I have seen a number of coyotes and wolves in the wild and what I saw was definitely 50% larger than the largest coyote I have ever seen and certainly had wolf characteristics.  I will be looking for him or her again on another trip.

In contrast to the still waters of Friday evening we decided we would like to get some foggy images of the "Cribworks" which is a favorite white water spot along the Penobscot River.

Canon 1D MK IV; Canon 24-105 f4 @24mm f13 1/8 ISO200

We had to get back to work so we cut our trip a few days short. We stopped at one of our favorite stopping place on the way home-Nubble light house and were able to get some seascapes. I was also photographing Eider ducks and decided to use the 600MM lens for seascape to focus on the detail of the crashing tide.

Canon 1D MK IV; Canon 600 f4 @ f10 1/800 ISO200 -.67EC

Canon 1D MK IV; Canon 600 f4 @f8 1/3200 ISO640

Until next time

Jim Borden

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