Friday, July 26, 2013

Maine Moose in July


Bull Maine Moose in early morning light
We traveled to Maine the week of July 13 with our 10 year old grand daughter. We wanted her to have a wilderness experience at a young age to stimulate learning about the outdoors and to develop an appreciation of animals and natural beauty.  A portion of our trip was spent near the beach and then Baxter Park, but the wilderness experience was in a cabin in the North Maine Woods far from any traveled roads. here is a bull moose that she was able to photograph while sitting in a kayak.  This bull was very hungry and we were able to spend an hour with him three times that day. Once in early morning light, once during harsh afternoon light and finally in the Golden Light Hour in the evening. 


Taken by Ashtyn Mecca while in kayak with D80 and 70-300 lens

we spent most of our times kayaking a lake and the incoming stream and we were fortunate to see 40 plus moose. 

I found this bull at sunrise with three yearling moose not far from the cabin.  I could hear them in the water in the dark.  I got in the kayak and paddled upstream a short distance from the cabin to try to catch them at sunrise. the setting was backlit-but it achieved the effect I wanted. What a majestic animal and what a way to see one!
Sunrise Bull

Ashtyn enjoyed herself and is ready to go back for more!  Here is a shot she captured of a bull shaking the water off.

Here is sunset the first night.

We had a cow moose hanging around the cabin the entire time we were there and the second evening she decided to cross the entrance to the lake in front of the cabin at sunset.


Until next time

Jim Borden







Saturday, July 6, 2013

Scenics and Light

Nubble Lighthouse and High Tide as evening approaches

I just returned from a trip to Maine looking for Moose, birds and scenics.  It was cloudy and rainy for almost the entire trip-but that did not dampen my spirits.  My professional photographer friend Mark Picard once told me "there is no such thing as bad lighting-we just have to figure out how to use the light we have".   I got to experience much of that on this trip.  On my way to the North Woods I stopped at Nubble light and had planned on getting the moonrise over the light at 10 PM. The afternoon started with clear skies and there were a few other photographers there snapping away.  The tide was going out and the skies were almost cloudless.  this can make a good image-but not a stunning image for me.
As the afternoon wore on, the clouds started moving in and some photographers packed up and left.  I thought the clouds added "character" to the scene.  I expanded my view by using a wider setting on the lens so I could capture more of the interesting clouds.

By 7:30 in the evening all of the other photographers had packed up and gone and just prior to the rain, I thought the lighthouse had more character yet depicting why lighthouses existed.

I should have used more lens correction on this shot as the lighthouse looks slightly tipped due to the edge effects of the wide angle lens. 

The following afternoon found me photographing the "Cribworks" on the West Branch of the Penobscot River under stormy skies with friend Chris White.  I will make a separate blog entry describing the "flow" of the water in photographs. 


Thursday morning brought more fog and mist and this image of a moose in a misty pond shows moose life in reality.
The next morning we were in the North Maine Woods paddling a remote stream looking for moose.  It was a peaceful setting.


On the way out of the woods I stopped again in Millinocket for the night (I highly recommend the Big Moose Inn). The following morning I had intended to head for home but met  friend Lee Cordner at breakfast and decided to spend some time photographing with him. We stopped on the Abol Bridge over the West Branch of the Penobscot River to view Mt Katahdin. This image may lack a central, strong subject-but I liked the reflection of the clouds on the river.

I proceeded from Millinocket to the coast to visit a couple of lighthouses on the way home. The fog rolled in again as I approached Pemaquid Light and I decided to stop anyway. It was a beautiful afternoon there with the fog and the in rushing tide crashing on the rocks. 


My last evening in Maine was once again spent at Nubble light. The tide was at high mark as the "golden hour" approached and the skies had character. 


Until Next Time.


Jim Borden