JJ Wildlife Photography: 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.