Maine 2022 Southern coast, Early April

Covid rates are up and down, and then up again. Rather than taking a chance with flying anywhere this Spring, we opted for a drive up to Maine. We took one week to travel around the southern coast of Maine and take some photos of whatever caught our attention. Hali did the planning (as always) and she mapped out 3 places for us to stop along the way: York, Portland, and Bath. We were well ahead of tourist season, so we didn't have to deal with crowds anywhere -- which was GREAT. We were up early almost every morning, and that meant anywhere from 04:30 to 05:00. And every morning we were rewarded with a beautiful sunrise (which is great, because there is nothing worse than waking up at 04:30 and standing in the cold only to get photographically skunked). We did sleep in late the one morning we had rain, but we were ready for a sleep-in at that point. We've posted some pictures here to help us remember our trip. We hope you enjoy the viewing of these images as much as we enjoyed being there!

Don't forget that you can click on most images to see the 'full size' image (although this does not work very well on small displays, like phones). You won't really get the full impact of an image unless you look at the entire ('full size') image.

YORK

In York we stayed literally right on the beach at the 'Cutty Sark.' This town really seems geared towards the high-season crowd, but there were plenty of good choices for restaurants and such. Mike would love to have the same room during summer when there was a little incoming swell (the small lines we saw coming in looked promising).

Our room had a door that opened to a grassy area overlooking the beach (complete with a couple of deck chairs for chilling). On left: Hali's shot with her iPhone. On right: Mike's shot of Hali, just outside our room. It wasn't quite swimsuit weather. Nikon D850, 24-70 f/2.8. We could only imagine how busy it would be during the summer season.

We had two main photography destinations in mind while staying in York: Cape Neddick / Nubble Lighthouse and the East Point Audubon Sanctuary. Our trips to the lighthouse were cursed with remarkable clear skies, but we did get some nice clouds for sunrise at the East Point Sanctuary.

CAPE NEDDICK NUBBLE LIGHTHOUSE

Mike's comment: Personally, I find it very challenging to get a great shot at this lighthouse. It doesn't help that the spotlights on the buildings are a strange violet color, and they come on at dusk. On top of that, we had very cloudless skies while we were there. Maybe next time!

Hali's comment: Nubble is an Icon, it's been done, and done and overdone. It's been done with blue skies, it's been done with clouds it's been done with stars, it's been done with clouds and stars and the moon. No matter how it's been photographed, it's beautiful. But because it's such an icon and the weather was so poor for photography, it was frustrating to make a photograph that was uniquely "ours". But we still went back three times to try (even with those ugly spotlights!)

These are some shots that Mike snapped while at the lighthouse. Top left is just a phone shot. The rest are all using the Nikon Z7ii, 24-70 f/2.8. Top right is what happens when you use Photoshops's sky replacement tool on a 4-image pano with a boring blue sky. Yes, that is cheating. Mike fully acknowledges that. Bottom left is Hali making this lighthouse look good. Bottom right is a tiny bit of color, showing up a couple of hours after the other shots were taken.

EAST POINT AUDUBON SANCTUARY

Hali's shot of the Wood Island Lighthouse from the East Point Sanctuary, before sunrise. (Canon R5 EF 24-105 f/4+adapter)

The tide pools here can be magical at sunrise

These are Mike's favorite two shots at this location. The left image was taken just before the moment of sunrise, and the right image was taken just afterward. Nikon Z7ii, with the new 24-70 f/2.8 on left, Nikon D850, with the older 24-70 f/2.8 on right. This was a direct comparison of the mirrorless vs DSLR hardware. The new lens was supposed to be really good, but this was Mike's first full-on test of what it could do. He was very pleased with the results! The new body/lens has far less chromatic aberration and far less lens flare. Mike reports that this is his new go-to for landscape shots!

Three more images from sunrise that day. The top right was one of Mike's first shots of the day, but he wasn't happy with the look of that tide pool (Nikon Z7ii, 24-70 f/2.8). The vertical image on the left was taken much later (Nikon Z7ii, 24-70 f/2.8). The image on the bottom right is a pano image taken by Mike with his phone, and then post-processed. You can just see the Wood Island Lighthouse in the distance on the left of the image.

After shooting sunrise we went back to have breakfast, and then returned to the sanctuary to see what we could see during a mid-day walk about. We were hoping to see more birds around, but maybe we were a bit early to see migrating birds.

Hali's IR image (Canon RP Full Spectrum IR conversion RF 24-240 f/4-6.3). is on the left. Mike's weird rock image is on the right (Nikon D850, 80-400 f/4.5-5.6).

While driving around the area, we found this buoy-laden shop that begged for a picture to be taken. Hali's image is on the left (Canon R5 EF24-105 f/4 + adapter), and Mike's image is on the right (Nikon Z7ii, 24-70 f/2.8).

We went back to the lighthouse for one last attempt, but it was really cloudy. Even so, we still took a couple of shots. Mike took the color shot on the left (Nikon Z7ii, 24-70 f/2.8). Hali got the cool IR shot on the right (Canon RP Full Spectrum IR conversion RF 24-240 f/4-6.3) .

PORTLAND

Portland was the big surprise of the trip. We *loved* Portland. We have both spent a fair amount of time in various places in Maine, but this was our first stop in Portland. And it was great. We got a really good rate on a super room (Courtyard by Marriott, mid-week, early season rates). We explored Old Port during the day, after coming back from our sunrise jaunts. The big draw here was the lighthouse, but the town and old port are great places to explore with a camera. And don't forget the art museums and the FOOD! Unlike off-season York, Portland has no shortage of really good restaurant choices. One such choice we found right after shooting sunset at Portland headlight one evening. We simply asked a gentleman that was walking along the street and he recommended "Davids" -- right up the street. It was wonderful! We would have gone there every night, but having a full dinner after a sunset shoot would have kept us up too late. Because (of course) we are getting up really early the next morning also!

After getting settled in our room in Portland, we headed straight out to the lighthouse to take a look around. Mike snapped these three phone shots of Hali while we were walking around and scoping things out.

We were happy to see a few clouds around for our first sunrise morning at the Portland Headlight. In this shot we also see a fisherman's boat heading out for work (Nikon Z7ii, 24-70 f/2.8)

On left is Mike's first shot of the morning - about 25 minutes earlier than the shot above. We still were not sure how the actual sunrise was going to look yet (Nikon Z7ii, 24070 f/2.8). About 5 minutes later, Hali got this close-in shot of the Ram Island Ledge Light Station with some great color behind it (Canon R5 EF24-105 f/4 + adapter). On right is a shot taken about 7 minutes after the shot above, with the sun fully up and the clouds already burning off (Nikon Z7ii, 24-70 f/2.8).

Hali walked further left to get this great perspective of the rocks and lighthouse with good color in the sky behind.

OLD PORT

After breakfast we grabbed our cameras and had a bit of a walk-about around the Old Port area.

From museums and galleries to street art, it's apparent that this is a very creative community. On top left is a wide phone pano of some street art we found in a wide alley (Mike). On the lower left is another phone pano of a different piece we walked past (Mike). Hali's image is on the right.

On the top left is Hali's IR image of some lobster traps up against the wharf (Canon RP Full Spectrum IR conversion RF 24-240 f/4-6.3) . On the top right is a shot of a fisherman's rope storage area (Nikon D850 12-24 f/2.8). On the bottom left is a more wide angle of the same area of the shot above (Canon RP Full Spectrum IR conversion RF 24-240 f/4-6.3). On the bottom right at the end of an adjacent wharf, there was a restaurant named "Luke's", it was well appointed with lobster traps and buoys and kind of begging for Hali to take a picture. (iPhone 13 Pro).

Hali has a thing for reflections and the wharf was full of great opportunities (Canon R5 RF 100-500 f/4.5-7.1)

Common never looked so good. On the left is a Common Loon preening (Canon R5 RF100-500 f/4.5-7.1) Center is a Common Eider (Canon R5 RF100-500 f/4.5-7.1) On the right is Mr. and Mrs. Common Eider (Nikon D850, 80-400 f/4.5-5.6).

BACK TO PORTLAND HEADLIGHT

We tried to see if we could find some clouds around the headlight for sunset, but no such luck (Nikon Z7ii 24-70 f/2.8).

It may have been a boring sunset. But, in Hali's mind, there were billowing clouds on the horizon with torrents of rain being shed into the Atlantic Ocean as tormented fishermen (and fisherwomen) huddled in their boats hoping the storm would quickly pass. Since that wasn't the case, she created that in the warmth of her home with some cool sky replacement in photoshop and help from Mike. (Canon R5 EF 24-105 f/4 and Photoshop CC2022)

The were some clouds around for sunrise the next morning. On top left was just before sunrise (Nikon D850 14-24 f/2.8). On bottom left is an image from the phone just at sunrise (Mike). A minute or two later is the shot on the top right (Nikon D850 14-24 f/2.8). As we were leaving, we noticed the cool shot of the sun rising behind the lighthouse, bottom right (Nikon Z7ii 24-70 f/2.8).

Hali's sunrise capture just before the sun broke through the clouds. It was so cold! But the colors were reflecting off the clouds and painting the water these orange and yellow hues, and even though she couldn't feel her fingers for a while after we stopped shooting, she insisted it was worth it. She remembered she had hand warmers after she got back to the room! (Canon R5 EF24-105 f/4)

After breakfast on this day, we decided to try our luck and a couple of places that we read about in this area...

MACKWORTH ISLAND BIRD SANCTUARY

We were looking for some places to hike and came across mention of Mackworth Island Bird Sanctuary. The Bird Sanctuary is on a small island in Falmouth, ME just north of Portland. The island is also home to the Baxter School for the Deaf and the Bird Sanctuary is a 1.5m walking trail around the perimeter of the island. It was a quiet and pretty walk through woodland areas with views out along the bay and ocean. All shots by Hali on her iPhone. Left: Mike sitting on one of the two swings they have set up for people to sit and relax along the trail. Middle: Close up of a stump of wood (I love that close-up feature on the new phone camera) Right: There was an area where you could get down to the beach and examine the exposed rock formations. The rock was exposed in whirls and sheers of red and gray and yellow. A little geology research taught us the bedrock stone of Mackworth Island is a metamorphic stone called phyllite. The southern 1/3 of the island alternates between gray and rusty phyllite. This is actually a picture of the rusty phyllite (despite the gray you see here it is mostly rusty) and it was deposited 450 million years ago. Oh... the reason Hali took this shot- To her, this looked like there was a lion head in the rock within a large head of a beluga whale, but she sometimes has an overactive imagination.

GILSLAND FARM AUDUBON CENTER

The top two images show the little garter snake that Mike didn't see and almost stepped on. Top left is Hali's shot of the snake (Canon R6 RF100-500 f/4-5-5.1) She really wanted it to stick its tongue out, but it just stared at her and wouldn't oblige. Top right is Mike's shot of the snake (Nikon D850, 80-400 f/4.5-5.6). The bottom image is a really cool piece of deadwood that Hali shot (Canon R6 RF 100-500 f/4.5-7.1).

Sunset at the Portland headlight once again, but with some REAL clouds this time. Hali (Canon R6 IRIX 15mm f/2.4)

And one last sunrise at Portland Headlight. The image on left is well before sunrise (Nikon D850, 14-24 f/2.8). The image on the right is a phone selfie of the two of us, just after sunrise. If it looks like we were really bundled up, it's because the mornings were very brisk!

We had thought about sleeping in this morning. We had already shot the headlight for 2 sunrise mornings, and we were starting to feel the effects of so many consecutive early mornings. We decided to tough it out and go shoot, and we were glad that we did!

This was taken just a moment before sunrise, and you can see the tiny Ram Island Ledge Light Station in the distance on the left (Nikon D850 14-24 f/2.8).

After our last morning sunrise shoot at Portland Headlight, we walked over to a great little breakfast spot. After a wonderful breakfast, we wandered around Portland one last time and took some more pictures. Then we packed up and sadly left our wonderful room in Portland. On to Bath!

We already said how Portland is a very artsy, creative community. They find many places to put art, including utility boxes. Left: Hali used her iPhone to take a picture of Mike using his iPhone to take a picture of the street art. Right: Hali's close up of the art (iPhone)

BATH

After our drive up to Bath and settling in at our new hotel (Hampton Inn, Bath), we drove through the fog and mist to Boothbay Harbor. We walked around, peering into closed shops and visiting an open gallery. It was unusual to be there and be able to find a parking spot without any problem! We didn't spend much time there, it was late and getting dark and there were few boats in the harbor. So after a good dinner, we headed back to Bath and had our first sleep-in for the week! The next morning dawned dark and stormy, with the wind blowing the rain horizontal past our hotel window. We photographers are such prima donnas. We don't want clear blue skies, we don't want torrential rains, we don't want..... Hali actually loves photographing in foggy, rainy, misty weather, but not in the nor'easter that we had blowing through that morning. We are pretty sure no one in their right mind wanted to be out in that. Instead, we had a leisurely mediocre hotel breakfast and did some reading and then went to the hotel gym for a bit of a workout. By then it was mid-day and all the apps on our phones promised it would be clearing. So we packed our gear and off we went.

FORT WILLIAM HENRY

It was still foggy when we were heading over to Pemaquid Point Lighthouse, so we drove over to the Fort William Henry area to see what we could see there...

Just some pilings near a boat launch area that begged for a long exposure filter (Nikon D850 24-70 f/2.8).

On left is a shot from Hali. She just loved the way the dock and the trees were shrouded in fog (Canon R6 RF100-500 f/4.5-71.). On right is an image that really seemed to reflect the mood of the morning (Nikon D850, 80-400 f/4.5-5.6).

PEMAQUID POINT LIGHTHOUSE

The rain had mostly stopped as we reached the lighthouse, but there was still a lot of fog. And to our surprise, there were also huge waves crashing against the rocky shore around the lighthouse.

This super-wide phone panoramic image shows you the conditions we were facing that day. The rocks are wet from HUGE waves crashing over the big lip of stone in center-right. The pool of water that was collecting in the depression was giving a great reflection of the lighthouse to the left. The trick was in trying to get that shot without having a swim. After one particularly close call (which left one very wet photographer standing on a small rock surrounded by knee-deep water), we started posting a watch whenever someone was shooting. The person on watch would shout out if it looked like a big wave was coming in. Fun times...

On the left is just a close up look at some of the interesting rock layers (Nikon Z7ii, 24-70 f/2.8). Center: Mike standing bravely during a low point in the wave action, and you can just see hints a hint of blue sky in the gap between the fog bank and the clouds (Canon R5 EF 24-105 f/4) Right: The waves would really toss up some good spray and kept us on our toes. The clouds were pulling out and the blue sky was winning its way through, but you could see the fog bank wasn't giving up it's hold on the horizon.(Canon R5 EF 24-105 f/4)

Looking around, the fog was just burning off, but it was almost sunset so it wasn't going to fully go away or stay away. It was both fun and a little frustrating to take pictures in those conditions. Both shots from Hali Left: the "must-have" shot of the lighthouse with the reflection in the pool of water on the rocks below. (Canon R5, EF24-105 f/4) . Right: Two people walking their dog as the sun burns through. (Canon R5 EF24-105 f/4)

There was just a little fog left, so that made it difficult to get a clear shot of the lighthouse. We did the best that we could that day. The horizontal aspect is shown at top left (Nikon Z7ii, 24-70 f/2.8). On right is the vertical aspect of the same concept (Nikon Z7ii, 24-70 f/2.8). On bottom left is a shot of the fog in the trees as the sun went down (Nikon Z7ii, 24-70 f/2.8).

After sunset Mike was trying to see if he could capture some of the color in the sky behind the lighthouse. Both of these images were shot with the Nikon D850 and the 80-400 f/4.5-5.6 .

PERKINS COVE

Perkins Cove is a super touristy little spot that would seem to offer many photo opportunities. Mike struggles to get keepers here, but Hali could spent a whole day here...

Just a couple of pics of some little skiffs - converted to B/W. Both shot with the Nikon Z7ii and the 24-70 f/2.8 .

All images are Hali's. She could have spent all day wandering up and down the dock shooting small scenes of the boats. (All photos: Canon R5 with EF24-105 f/4)

Some more small scenes from Perkins Cove by Hali. (Canon R5 with the RF 100-500 f/4.5-7.1)

IN CLOSING...

We really had a fun trip! We enjoyed every place that we visited. Portland was a big surprise for both of us, and we would love to go back and explore different parts of that area. We hope you enjoyed the pictures that we've shared. Best wishes to you all! Happy trails, Mike & Hali

FOOD STOPS

YORK: Union Bluff (pub, 4/5), The Omelette Factory (Ogunquit, 5/5), Bagel Basket (5/5), That Place in Ogunquit (Ogunquit, 5/5), Rick's All Season Restaurant (4/5),

PORTLAND: Borealis Breads (Wells), Davids 388 (excellent, 5/5), Mr Bagel (4/5), Union Wharf Market, Dutch's (great breakfast, 5/5), Bruno's (5/5), Bayside American Cafe (great breakfast, 5/5)

BATH: Barnhouse Grill & Pub (Wicasset), King Eider's Pub (Damariscotta)

Appreciate

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