Skip Monday, go directly to Tuesday

Monday August 12 & Tuesday August 13, 2013
Acadia National Park

 

MONDAY

 

Today is not an exciting day. 
It is replace the water pump day. 
Let’s not get all excited at once.

This job requires emptying the bay where the old water pump is located. 
This is no small task in itself.

 

 

Once that’s finished and you have all your tools out then you can go to work.

 

 

 

Hopefully you can see what you are doing back in that little bay in the dark with no light.

 

 

If you can then the result may look like this. 
OR not.
It may work perfectly the first time.
OR not.

 

 

 

After you have congratulated yourself on a job well done you may discover this.  It’s the propane tank gage.  Can you see where the red arrow is pointing?   We can too.

 

  

 

We have neither a sunrise nor a sunset view from the campground but there is sometimes lovely color in the sky.  Like tonight. 

 

 

 

TUESDAY

 

Today we are up and out by 7:30 as usual.  We are going to an 8am Ranger program on taking photographs in Acadia.

 

We meet at Sieur de Monts and gather on the patio behind the Nature Center.  Ranger Bob Thayer has been a ranger here for 32 years and has written several books about the park all of which have beautiful photography.  He definitely knows what he is talking about.  He gives an excellent introduction to this 3 hour “walk” and photographing session.

He reminds us that we are telling a story with our pictures and we should think about the story line. 

 

We will have three “assignments” today.  For the first we walk over to the Jessup Path just beyond the nature center.   Here we find an unusual habitat, tall grasses in a wooded area.  He talks a bit about light and some about camera settings for those who do not use an “automatic” camera.  He then asks us to spend 10 minutes taking pictures and to choose the one we are most pleased with.

 

 

He provides individual help and answers any and all questions.

 

This was the picture I most liked of those I took.  My biggest difficulty is filtered light through trees and this one turned out well I thought.

 

Here’s David’s favorite of the ones he took.

 

The group then drives down to Sand Beach where we gather for some discussion of how to deal with today’s very foggy conditions.  Bob teaches this class every Tuesday morning all season long.  He has to be able to deal with whatever  weather conditions he finds, even rain.

 

 

 

So down we go to the beach.  I didn’t take this picture of Bob talking to one of the “students” as part of my “assignment” but I like it.  It really gives the feel of what this day was like.

 

 

Bob says that normally he will take the students to the other end of the beach and discuss long distance shots while photographing the Beehive.  But today we can’t even see the beehive, so plan B  is to get some good shots of the rocks covered with seaweed.   He talks a bit about perspective, shooting from above, from below, on an angle. 

The class spans out to take their pictures and choose their favorites.

 

Bob offers advice and demonstrates as the students work.

 

 

Bob has brought two round light diffusers to demonstrate how to increase or decrease the light on a subject’s face if you are doing a portrait outside.  They fold up into tiny bags so they are easy to carry and we could all notice the difference on the subject’s face but I imagine only one or two people are serious enough photographers to use them.  Still it was interesting to see the difference the light makes on skin tones.

 

 

When I went to choose my favorite shot from here, I accidentally deleted it.  So here are two others that I didn’t like quite as well and couldn’t decide between.    Which one do you like the best?

 

 

 

 

David chooses this one from his shots as his favorite fog on the beach foto.

 

 

Our last stop is a small cobblestone beach immediately adjacent to otter cliffs.  This would be the stop where Bob talks about photographing moving water and waves.  BUT we are at low tide and there is still too much fog.  Still, off the students go to see what they can create in this place.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bob also tells us that this is a place where one of the iconic Acadia National Park photographs is taken of cobblestone beach in the foreground and Otter cliffs in the background.

 

Here’s my choice of that photo on a foggy day.

 

 

 

Here’s David’s choice photograph for this place.  I think he’s done a great job of getting the colors in the pink Cadillac Granite.

 

We return up from the beach, it’s a good climb.  I like this picture of the south end of David going north.

 

 

The fog closes in even further as we gather on some large rocks from which we WOULD have taken distance pictures or shots of the rocks and sea below.  But today this is the spot at which Bob closes the class.  I’ve had a great time and I think everyone else did too learning a lot about photographing outdoors and particularly in fog.

 

 

While I wait for a young boy to move from a rock in the foreground of a picture I would like to take, I talk a while with Debra who is here visiting from Pennsylvania with her family.  She is very interested in our full timing life style and laughs when I ask David if he has taken any pictures with me in them so this will not be another blog about David’s great time in Acadia.  She says that happens to her too.  She’s never in any of the pictures of the family vacations.  So this is for Debra.  I like this picture of her photographing the foggy, rocky coastline of Maine.   I hope she sees it and will feel free to copy it.   Leave a comment if you do Debra so I’ll know you got it.

 

 

 

Now you’ve seen our favorites, which picture was your favorite??