Take a Walk with Me

I still haven’t finished sharing all the photos I’d like to share from my vacation in Maine, so in this blog post I’d like to take you on a special walk with me.  Those of you who were reading this blog last summer may remember that Becky and I vacationed around the corner from each other.  Although I’ve been vacationing for more years on Hills Beach than I can remember, Becky pointed out a great little place to take a walk that I never knew about before called East Point Sanctuary, which is maintained by the Audubon Society.  It was a wonderful place for a nature-ocean-walking lover like me!

After a short walk abutting a golf course (something else that I never realized was there) and into some quiet woods, the trail opens up in to beautiful vistas.

The morning had been a little hazy, but near the end of the point, I was able to get the closest view I’ve ever seen of the lighthouse I’ve looked at on my vacations since I was a child, Wood Island Light:

This is the lighthouse you usually see in many of my photos from this view:

In addition to the beautiful views, there was no lack of fun flora and fauna for me to photograph.

This had to be one of the chubbiest ducks I’ve ever seen – unfortunately it never turned its head in my direction.  Then I met another critter that wasn’t chubby at all:

A garter snake slithering along the warm, seaside rocks.  At first I thought it was a piece of discarded rubber, so I was quite surprised when it moved and started flicking its tongue

I was more fascinated than nervous though, and hung around long enough to get a closer-up portrait:

The butterfly, hill of green and big blue sky I showed you in my photo hunt post were also from this walk.

Well, I hope you enjoyed your little walk with me!  And thanks Becky, for bringing my attention to a new experience in a familiar place!

Rainbow of Summer… in Maine

The posts have been pouring in for the August Photo Hunt.  There is still time to get yours in – due date is this Sunday – but I was thinking I should get mine posted today while I still have power!  What a summer it has been around here: first a tornado, then a microburst, an earthquake this past Tuesday (though I did not feel it), and now Hurricane Irene is projected to hit this area some time on Sunday.  What form it will take by the time it gets here no one really knows, but with this summer’s track record, it doesn’t look good.  At the very least, I am expecting to lose power again.

I hope my sister doesn’t think I am stealing her idea (she mentioned in the comments section of the Photo Hunt that she would find me a rainbow of colors on Peak’s Island while she was on vacation) but while I was still going through my photos from Maine, I realized I had all the rainbow colors in some of my favorite things about summer.

Red:

I eat usually 2 lobsters a year – one on vacation and one at our dear friends’ summer party, so a boiled lobster is the perfect representation of summer red.

Orange:

Flower planted by the owner of the cottage where we stay  and…

a monarch along a path I walked.

Yellow:

These seem to be some wild snapdragons that I found on one of my walks.

Green:

wild green on an ocean-side path

Blue:

Big blue sky and ocean and…

…look at all the blue I found when I looked at my family’s beach gear: bathing suits, towels, chairs, umbrella and float!

Purple:

pre-dawn sky from my up-before-the-sun morning

Bonus:

My “selfie”- this shot was actually inspired by the picture at the end of this post by KD.  If you haven’t read this post, you really should – go read it, I’ll wait.  Like KD, in this picture I am makeupless, feeling good and very content.  I am at peace when I am at the beach, and I hope it shows in this picture.

I will continue reading your posts as long as I have power this weekend!  The worst of the hurricane is supposed to come on Sunday, and I have to return to work on Monday (kids come back to school on Tuesday), so I’m not sure when I will get the recap of all the beautiful assignments posted.  In the meantime, check out the links in the comments section of the hunt post.  People have submitted some really beautiful pictures so far.  If you haven’t posted yours yet, I hope to see it soon!

Mainebows!

On Monday of our vacation week , we got stuck with some pretty heavy-duty rain.  The day was bleak enough that we tried to go to a movie and couldn’t because it was sold out!  We ended up renting one (the re-make of “Arthur” - meh, it was just aw-ight).  Monday night the rain hammered unbelievably loudly, and Tuesday dawned drizzly and overcast.  However, by late Tuesday afternoon we were treated to:

Can you see it?  Just the faintest hint of rainbow?  I discovered this at the far end of the beach where I take my morning walks.

I saturated the color in PSE, but this still wasn’t as vivid as I’d hoped – my polarizing filter was back at the cottage and I imagine that would’ve helped bring out the color.

After I had walked back to the cottage, I spied another delightful sight!

Out by the little island with the puzzling monument on it (I can’t seem to discover the purpose or reason for that structure – it was there when I was child, and I have no idea who built it or why).  I took this shot from the sand dune in front of the cottage.  I also liked the way the sun was starting to shine on the boats in the distance.

(Remember how I mentioned how the tide goes waaaaayyyy out here? )

Rainbow with mysterious monument:

I liked how the rainbow reflected in the small tide pools left behind on the clam flats.

Speaking of rainbows, don’t forget your rainbow of summer is due this Sunday the 28th!  I’ve received links from Nye, Gerry and Scott so far – remember to add yours to the comments section of that post.

ETA: How short my memory is!  Becky discovered the mystery of the monument last year, and I even commented on her blog post that contained this link to an explanation!

This one’s for the birds

I’ve found myself drawn to bird photography this year, and Hills Beach was no lack of opportunity for avian shots.  I think most of my photos are of fairly typical shore birds, but I’ve made a selection of some favorites whether it was the bird itself or the situation that interested me.  I can’t begin to work my way through figuring out which birds are which types of pipers or plovers and such – I’m hoping maybe Bob Zeller will pop by and give me some identification help!

First, the easy ones:

young herring gull  The typical “sea gull” found just about everywhere.  Normally I wouldn’t post a gull picture, but this guy just kind of ambled into my shot and I liked it.

On one of my walks, I watched some terns diving for fish:

Splash!

Last year, I discovered a great blue heron making its home in a little cove.  I’d hoped to get some closer shots than I managed last year, but Mr. Heron was still playing shy:

Did you know they have two-headed ducks in Maine?  Really! Have a look:

Speaking of ducks, a pair swam up near to where I was sitting waiting for the sunrise:

They waddled up on to the beach, almost as if to say hello:

“Eh, how you doin’?”

For this shot, I just have to say, “What the duck?”

Strange one, no?

My other shore birds of unknown specific names are in that piper/plover category that I always mix up.  Be sure to speak up if you can straighten me out:

These curious little birds would shuffle their feet in the shallow water on the sand bars and stick their beaks into what they shuffled up:

They look like little gulls of some sort; here’s how they compare in size to the typical sea gull:

I’m going to fly the coop now, but I’ll be watching like a hawk for your wise as an owl comments that I hope will be something to crow about…. okay, I’ll stop now!

Sun and Moon

Hi everyone!  I’m back from Maine.  I took lots of pictures and have lots to say, and was having a hard time deciding where to begin.  So,  I decided to start at the beginning!  There’s an original thought, huh?  I’m still sorting through the 468 shots I took this past week, deciding what I’d like to share, but these are from my first evening at the cottage.  August 13th also happened to be the night of the full moon this month, so I wanted to be sure not to miss it this time around.  I checked the time for moon rise, and headed out about 20 minutes before that to get ready.  Luckily it was low tide, which made for plenty of room for setting up the tripod.  At Hills Beach in Biddeford, Maine, the tide goes way out:

While the sunset isn’t quite over the water, it comes really close at this beach.

I waited patiently for the moon to rise while I set up my tripod and played around with different shutter and aperture settings.  Lots of folks were out walking, enjoying the warm temperatures and low tide.  One gentlemen stopped and asked me what it was that photographers are interested in in this area (he owns a house on this beach, lucky guy!)  I told him I didn’t know but I was waiting for the full moon.  He jokingly offered to “pose” for a full moon!  We ended up having a nice chat about the area – he’s owned his place for about 20 years, I’ve been vacationing there since my parents first took me as a child- and what a wonderful place it is for families.  His daughter and her children were there visiting him that day, and she showed me her lovely sunrise photos.  They were temptingly beautiful, but I am sooo not an up-before-the-sun kind of person.  I’d love sunrise shots but wasn’t sure I could drag myself up that early on vacation.

The moon finally rose above a small bank of clouds.  I took a few dozen shots at different settings and compositions.  This was my favorite of the batch:

After taking my moon shots, I turned my lens around for a few more shots of the beautiful colors left by the sun:

I had a couple more interesting “run-in’s” with the moon during the week.  On Wednesday of last week, the moon came up a bit later, but during the course of the evening the brightness was casting a gorgeous glow on the sand below.  I dragged the tripod out to the little sand dune in front of the cottage and again played with settings.  The brightness of the moon made it difficult for me to focus on, but I thought these two shots came out pretty well:

(10 sec., f10) The dots of light below are lights on the masts of sailboats.  I changed the settings to get a brighter shot here (30 sec., f5.0):

The next night, while we were down on the beach having a campfire and enjoying the distant fireworks of Old Orchard Beach, the moon rose in a bloody red color.  My family urged me, “take a picture, take a picture!!”  I knew I didn’t have the skill to capture that gorgeous color with so little light available, so I hemmed and hawed.  Finally, as we were heading back up to the cottage, it was higher in the sky, still glowing orange, so I gave it a try:

This is but a whisper of its earlier color, and of course now I can’t help but wonder if I could’ve gotten an acceptable shot of the low, red moon.

So did I get up for a sunrise picture after all?  All week long,  I awakened around 5:30 am and took a gander out my bedroom window.  I could see the beautiful color, but I just couldn’t drag myself out of bed.  I considered taking the shot through the window, but I knew the screen in the way just wouldn’t do it justice.  On Friday when I awakened pre-dawn, I told myself it was one of my last chances, so get yourself down there.  I had no idea exactly what time sunrise was, but I walked down to my beach chair and plopped myself there and waited.  Surprisingly, I enjoyed the pre-dawn quiet – only the sea birds and gentle lapping waves making any sound.  I think for the first time in my life I actually saw the full orb of the sun creep above the horizon.  Here it is as it first peeked up:

and again as the whole orb was first visible:

Of course I played around with the settings again, not really knowing what I was doing.  I changed white balance around too, but none of the settings really gave the true view which I find curious.  The actual view surrounding the sun was more blue, and the bright color more limited to the area right in front of the sun, but nothing I tried presented that image.  I’d love to hear from anyone with sunrise-shooting experience about what settings and such worked for you, or about any thoughts you may have about why this picture didn’t show up true to my view.

I’ve got so much more to share with you over the coming days.  The start of school looms in about a week, so I hope to sort through my thoughts and images to present some more blog posts very soon!  Hope you don’t get sick of hearing about Maine!

I ♥ Summer!

I love summer.  I’m pretty sure I’ve stated this previously on the blog, but it is worth repeating.  It isn’t just because I am a teachers’ aide and I have summers off (although that’s a great part of it!)  I love all that summer brings.   Maybe I wouldn’t be saying this if I had to endure Michaela’s temperatures, but I love days in the 80′s and 90′s (and will even take the humidity if I must) so much more than days in the teens, 20′s and 30′s.

The butterflies have returned to my butterfly bush:

Summer birthdays…

…with a nice, easy, backyard BBQ and pool party.

My favorite summer treat is starting to ripen:

There is nothing like the first bite of tomato straight out of your garden.

I also recently managed my first picture of the local falcon or hawk or whatever s/he is:

My guesses for this bird are peregrine falcon or cooper’s hawk.  Any thoughts?

And okay, this really has nothing to do with summertime, except for the fact that time off allowed me to finish this quickly for a dear friend (our dance teacher) who recently had a baby girl:

And my most favorite part of summer?  My one week vacation to the beach with my family:

Just the four of us will head up this Saturday to the same cottage at the shore that we rented last year:

No worries for a week, freedom from the “should be’s” - my favorite week of the whole year.  I just can’t wait!

What do you love best about summer?

I really don’t know clouds, at all

Any time I think of clouds, I can’t help but think of “Both Sides Now” by Judy Collins, which is part of the reason for the title of today’s post.  The other reason is I’ve forgotten most of my junior high school science about the classification of clouds.  While I was in Maine, I had the opportunity to photograph some lovely cloudscapes at different times of day with some results of which I am very happy.  I used some different techniques such as turning the camera portrait style, using the exposure compensation control, and for a couple, a polarizing filter that I found in my sister’s camera bag for her old 35mm Canon Rebel.  So, while I can’t tell you what type of clouds these are, I hope you’ll enjoy my Maine cloudscapes.

Apparently August 17th was a great day for clouds for me, as the next 5 pictures were all taken on this day!

This was taken with the polarizing filter and I thought it really made the blue sky and clouds pop – it seems to give the lower, puffy clouds texture, while giving the higher,  streaky clouds contrast against the sky.  Here’s a shot at the same time, turned portrait style:

A little bit later that same afternoon, I had taken the filter off, and was thinking about a technique called “storytelling” that we had discussed quite a bit over at Shrew’s Daily Shutter’s.  (By the way, Shrew had a photo challenge due on Sept. 1, so look for that post coming soon - I sent her a few shots!)  Storytelling in photos, if I remember correctly, means the picture has a real “beginning, middle and end” or interest in the foreground, midground, and background.  Tell me what you think of this story:

Even later that day, we were presented with gorgeous sunset colors with the clouds beautifully lit up:

August 18th was the day I went to visit Walker Point and Blowing Cave  in Kennebunkport.  While I didn’t get any great splashing plumes of water pictures, I was really happy with this cloud and rockscape, with little sailboats at the horizon:

That evening, I took a walk down Hills Beach Road because we were again presented with gorgeous color, but this time it was golden in hue:

This shot presented darker than the actual color was, but I included it because I liked the silhouette of the gull drifting in at the top left of the shot, and to show you the difference when I used the exposure compensation.  This truer representation of the color that evening was with a +1.3 EV:

This little scene was across the street from the cottage where we stayed.  It is a little harbor-like area where I took one more shot of that golden light and clouds:

I’ve looked at clouds from both sides now, From up and down and still somehow, It’s cloud illusions I recall, I really don’t know clouds at all….

Critters of Hills Beach

I’m still not done with Maine posts!  I hope you aren’t tired of them yet!

On my morning walks, I encountered a lot of interesting creatures that I don’t often get to photograph at home.  My older daughter has shown some interest in marine biology; perhaps a bit of it is genetic as I always find myself poking at shellfish and crustaceans when I am at the shore.

Just a common little snail here, but I liked how the antennae were visible as well as the trail it had made behind it.

I disturbed this larger snail when I saw it nestled in the mud; I wanted to know if it was another live snail or just an empty shell.  As you can see it turned out to be live, and it worked to pull itself back into its shell.  I was afraid I had unearthed a treat for the near-by sea gulls, but something happened to disturb the birds from the meal they were most definitely eyeballing…

I learned from Rebecca that this happy goldendoodle’s name is Sam.  He seemed to smile as he romped and chased the birds my husband oh-so-affectionately refers to as “dump chickens.”

Here is another jumbo-sized shelled critter that I stumbled upon.  I’m so used to finding only empty shells on the beach, these big, live squishy-bodied creatures took me by surprise.  I picked this one up so you could have a better idea about its size.

The hermit crabs, though numerous, refused to poke out of their scavenged shells unless they were in the water; hence this not-as-clear shot taken in the water.

While a chipmunk is certainly a photo that I could have taken at home, this guy ( or gal, I don’t know!) seemed to be having a very heated discussion with an unseen adversary.  It continued to “buck buck buck chit chit chit” as I took its picture.  It is resting upon a stone wall along the sea, bordering Hills Beach Road.  Maybe it was chattering at this guy…

Visiting Southern Maine

As I may have mentioned once or twice, I have been visiting and loving the southern Maine area since I was a child.  I was very happy with the opportunity to share “my” place with you as the subject of Scott Thomas’s latest photo assignment, a travel photo essay.  I hope you enjoy your visit to the northernmost of the contiguous 48 states with me!

The Piscataqua River Bridge connects the New Hampshire and Maine Turnpikes, both part of Interstate 95.  The bridge, which is 3/4 of a mile long and rises 135 feet above the river, first opened to traffic in 1972.  On summer weekends, the bridge carries over 100,000 cars a day between the two states. (pronounced: pis-CAT-ih-qwah)

A short distance past the bridge on Route 1 in Kittery, ME, you will find an absolute must of a stop! Members of this family have been genetically unable to pass by this sign without stopping in since the store‘s opening in 1986!

Hills Beach in Biddeford, ME is a quiet, private beach community.  Lined with condos, magnificent homes and beach cottages, it has been a family destination nearly every summer since I was a small child.  The waves are gentle at high tide, and at low tide the water virtually disappears beyond the small islands off shore, making for lots of exploration space and a sandbar that allows residents of Basket Island (square 5 above) to drive to shore!  The University of New England  makes its home on Hills Beach Road.  (All pictures here can be seen in a larger version on my Flickr page)

Wood Island is one of the islands easily visible from Hills Beach.  Located near the entrance to Biddeford Pool, Wood Island Light was built in 1839 and automated in 1986.  Its signal is alternating white and green light every 10 seconds.

Lighthouses are ubitquitous along the coast of Maine.  Not far from Hills Beach, in the village of Cape Porpoise, you will find Goat Island Light.  It was built in 1859 and automated in 1990.  Its signal is a white flash every 6 seconds.

Perhaps one of the most commonly photographed homes, Walker Point in Kennebunkport is the summer home of former President George H.W. Bush.  It was built in 1903 by George H. Walker.  George’s daughter, Dorothy, married Prescott Bush and Walker Point has remained in the Bush family ever since.  Dorothy and Prescott’s son, and then grandson, went on to become the 41st and 43rd Presidents of the United States.

In addition to the summer home of the former President, Kennebunkport also features a natural tourist attraction located across the little bay from Walker Point known as Blowing Cave.  When the right combination of tide level, cave fullness and wave speed combine, a beautful flume of water sprays out from this erosion-carved cave.  Obviously those factors were not coming together on the day I visited!

(This is a photo of the cave in action that I took back in 2006.  I have no idea what camera I was using at the time!)

I hope you’ve enjoyed learning a little bit about one of my favorite places!  Maine has so much more to offer (and I still have so many more pictures to share!) This photo essay is but a tiny fraction of the treasures found in this magical place.  I’ve been as far north in Maine as Bar Harbor (home of Acadia National Park) and enjoyed beauty in many spots along the way, yet Hills Beach is the place I return to again and again.  I thank my parents for introducing this place to me and hope that I’m instilling a similar love in my own family.

My Mystery Photo Subject

Did you read yesterday’s blog entry?  Because if you haven’t, you should really go back and read it before you read this one.  All set now?  Okay, good.

A seal? Beach Blanket Bingo? Hot air balloons? Naked sunbathers?  No, it was none of those things, although any would have made interesting photo subjects.  Well, Scott, maybe not naked sunbathers!

Here is my mystery photo subject as I first saw it:

Coming around the bend in the little, misty harbor – there on the very edge of the bank.  Do you see it?

I was so happy when I saw it standing there!  What a beautiful, tall bird!  I suppose they may actually be quite common, but I’d never had the opportunity to photograph a great blue heron fairly close up.  I quietly stalked the bird, creeping closer and closer, snapping picture after picture, never sure which one would be my last, closest picture.

This one, as it turns out, was the closest I got….

…before it flew away:

Hey, Plainmama could be the owner of that boat in the background!  Although very soon she would have to change the name!

Speaking of other bloggers, the first view I actually got of that heron was on Sunday morning as I made my way down the beach in the other direction.  Rebecca the Housewrecka, another blogger from my town, was winding up her vacation just down the road from me on the weekend that we arrived! Small world, huh?

I saw it silhouetted like this, so I wasn’t 100% positive it was a heron at the time, but I was pretty sure as I watched it fly away:

Funny side story about Rebecca and me: Although we live in the same town, we did not know each other at all until she had a photo selected by the Pioneer Woman for one of her photo assignments of the local barber shop in our town, which I also happened to photograph for Scott’s “Hometown” assignment.  (Becky – I couldn’t find your shot from P’Dub – want to leave a link to it in the comments?)  My sister spotted the shot on PDub and told me about it.  We followed the Flickr link to her blog, which I read and started commenting on. Then, one night in town at a summer concert, I saw a woman walking through the crowd with this adorable puppy.  I suddenly made the connection and walked up and asked her if she was who I thought she was – and she somehow knew who I was too!  We figured out we were vacationing in the same spot when I recognized a view on one of her blog posts as being from this place that I love.  Small world indeed!