Maine Focus, Days 1 & 8, Nubble Light, Marginal Way & Portland

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Maine has been foremost on the list of October outings since 1991, and each visit has been centered around my cousin and his wife, Stubdude & Juno. Usually I’ll bring one or several friends to enjoy the fun, and the last few years have had the bonus of my daughter Celeste; but her mom always refused the 12-hour journey. This year’s visit, however, was attached to a photo excursion with 3 other members of the Northeast Photography Club, their wives and mywife. Woohoo! Barb had only been to Maine once with me in the 1980s. We had a great time taking Stubby back to his place in Bangor. He lived down the street from Stephen King and made his own beer. Now, after four fun-filled days with our friends, Barb will get to experience Stubdude’s place in Brooklin’s Naskeag Point, a peninsula with Mount Desert to the east and Penobscot Bay to the west —and Juno’s studio next door. The beer we buy now.

This year’s trip had more actual plan than usual, mostly thanks to the Jasinskis. Jakub is an outstanding planner for the photos, and his wifeYvonne always makes sure there is plenty of fun to go around them. The basic start plan was to leave whenever we could on Thursday, the 10th, and rendezvous at the Nubble Light. Yvonne booked us all rooms at a nearby hotel, and she and Jakub were off by noon(ish). Jim Cook & his wife Yong were on the road by then, but Vaibhav Bhosale (VB) and his wifeNeelima (Neela), like Barb, had to wait for the shortened workday to end before departing. We drove fast, but everyone beat us to the destination. Barb had just drove home from Delaware on Wednesday night, and had to work Thursday until 3. We headed out around 4 for the 6-hour trip.



The photos for 10-11 & 101813 - Nubble Light, Cape Neddick, ME

We all had reservations at the Sands By The Sea hotel, and Yvonne texted us in transit that she checked us in and our key will be in the room. But upon our arrival in York Beach we could only find the Sands, and its front desk was already closed, as was every other potential help desk in town. We parked in front to examine our navigation settings, maps, phones and written notes in somewhat of a desperate attempt to find our hotel, not wanting to disturb the early arrivers who might be tucked in for the night. After about an hour of driving around the dark and desolate streets of this summertime haven we ended up back at the Sands and saw Jakub’s vehicle. It wasn’t until the light of the next morning we were able to read the rest of the sign and see the sea across the street.

When Barb & I pulled into the Nubble parking area the next morning, there was only one other photog there. He was setup on a small platform near the lot and was waiting for the morning light. It was just after 6 and the sun was to rise at 6:56. Although we could both barely see each others silhouette, we nodded quietly so as to not disturb the reverence. We were, in a sense, putting on our game faces. For me the transformation occurs when I attach the camera to the tripod and sling it on my shoulder. Boom! He-she-or-it is driving and I’m following for the fun of it.

The first photo was taken at 6:12 and was 30 seconds of open shutter searching for pixel fulfillment. The only light was from a lamp shining on the lighthouse yard, bringing a bit of green to the otherwise indigo show. A small patch of sunrise hues was also starting to appear, and was much enhanced by the long exposure. Right on schedule the sunlight broke over the rock island, and by then our whole crew was in attendance, except Neela who wanted to establish early that it’s perfectly fine to sleep in while her husband chases the morning into his lens. We climbed around the rocks and scrambled quickly, seemingly trying to predict the best shots the light will reveal while subconsciously acknowledging the thrill of it all. Perhaps less thrilled, our wives shivered in conversation. If you look closely in photo 6 (especially in largest version), you can see them standing to the left. Yong is in the middle with her yellow coat turning orange by the rising rays; Yvonne is to her left and Barb is on her right. Certainly not the last shot of them from this trip, and surely not the best. For the best, you’d probably want to check out Yvonne’s photos.

The astute viewer will undoubtedly notice a vast change of light between the first 8 shots and the rest of the gallery. Well, this gallery presents our first and last day of the trip. On our way home from Stub’s, Barb suggested we stop back in York for some food and a sunset shot of the Nubble. Since our current time would have had us going through Hartford with Friday 5-o’clock traffic, it was a great idea. We went straight to the lighthouse and pulled in around 2:30. What a difference from the early morning scene of a week earlier. No place to park, so many people, and such a hubbub. I found a reflection, took a few shots, and we went over to town to eat. Even in the afternoon most of the shops were closed this late in the season. With little else to do we were back at the lighthouse by four.

By 4:20 all of the afternoon’s puffy white clouds that I hoped might grab some gorgeous hues of sunset had made way for a drab blue sky. Still, I shot the time away hoping for some magical formations to fill the frame. Since none appeared, I changed the sky in photos 22, 23 & 25. Still, none appeared. It was 5:19 and I knew we missed heavy traffic in Hartford. I thought of the World Series. Was Boston home tonight, and would we be mixed in with the traffic? No matter. Home was still 6 or 7 hours away, and it was easy to see that the scene would not change except for its darkening. “Ah, let’s go home,” I said, missing our animals. Barb kept asking, even as we were already driving too far to make it back, “Are you sure? We might be missing the best shot of the trip.” We did.

Moments after the last time she asked, I looked to my left to see the cloudless sky. It was 6:02 and the dark blue sky now also had a HUGE ORANGE BALL, the full moon rising. Photo 18 was darkened and combined with a moon from Delaware to remind us of the one that got away.



Photos from 10-11-18 - Marginal Way Walk

After the sunrise fun at Nubble, we checked out of The Sands… and walked to a breakfast shop found by those who arrived early the day before. It was closed, but there was a smaller place open right next door. Perfect. We planned the day while enjoying the chatter and charm of the folks who stay for winters in this beautiful part of the planet. Once again it was Yvonne who came up with the perfect choice, Marginal Way Walk.

We caravanned through narrow twisting streets looking for a place to park. Everywhere we turned was private and we soon lost VB and Neela. Finally Jakub found (or created) a convenient side street and Jim & I followed his lead. We spoke with VB by phone and told him we didn’t know where we were but we were parked. Within seconds he magically showed up and within minutes we were all in search of the Marginal Way. It’s a cliff-walk above the shoreline of Ogunquit Beach with several spots to climb down to the water. The pieces of granite strewn about with their lines carved by ages of waves, and colored by all sorts of sea life, made great subjects for capturing the evolving personality of time in this place. We separated, converged, photographed, and solved the worlds problems in a little over two hours. Once, when I was walking back toward where we started, I heard a female voice nearby. She was obviously performing a wedding. I circled through some rock outcroppings and found her solemnly holding a book in front of her reciting the familiar words to the two guys whose day it was. Apparently, besides the natural surroundings, I was the only witness. When she was done, she closed the book with both hands, smiled at the couple, and almost fell to her death as her heel was caught by a rock wrinkle. Just before I left, the happy couple asked if I would use their phones to make photos commemorating the moment. I told them to give me their best phone and I would take one shot, and reminded them that from now on they will share. They laughed and probably lived happily ever after, and I walked away happy to be done with my first (and only) wedding gig.



Photos from 10-11-13 - <em style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: auto; background: transparent;">Portland Head Light

The basic plan for this day was to make our way to the house in Rockport that we rented for the next four days, and (it was probably) Yvonne (who) had another wonderful suggestion for another stop along the way, the Portland Head Light.

We only stayed a little over an hour because we wanted to reach Rockport in time to see our house in sunset light. I’m not thrilled by the photos I got from this spot, and I’m not sure if it’s because of a post-processing funk or I was more into getting to our digs. Many of the photos from this stop were first processed in our Rockport house, then later redone at home, although hardly improved.

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