Dragged Kicking And Screaming Into The Digital Age

I'm back! Here's sampling of my work with the digital format. In late 2006, I took my hard-earned little bonus from my excellent boss and picked up a shiny new 10-megapixel Nikon D-80 digital SLR. I had resisted as long as I could, but after seeing the results I got with the Kodak digital "starter" camera I'd received as a gift a couple of years prior (2.0 megapixels - responsible for the 2004 shot of Portland Head Lighthouse, above), I knew it was time. I'm *STILL* learning, by the way...

First train photographed with the D-80 - MARC's mid-afternoon westbound at Metropolitan Grove Road in Gaithersburg, MD.

En route from Maryland to Ohio for Thanksgiving 2006, we took a quick spin around the Cumberland area. I took one photo. This is a westbound empty coal train waiting for the signal at Mexico tower, and a single unit that thinks it can sneak out of the yard if it keeps its headlight off and goes really, really slowly.

In general, zoos kind of bum me out, but these prairie dogs at Washington's National Zoo in June 2007 seemed pretty contented.

The red panda would probably have preferred a nice, thick forest in which to hide and sleep, but no. This enclosure with a half-dozen good sleeping trees will have to suffice. I try to keep in mind that many of these animals in US zoos are not just here for show; they're here in an attempt to make more of their respective species.

The site of the fake moon landing, shot with my new zoom at 450mm in September 2007.

Moth! Washington Grove, MD - September 2007. I was pushing it with the zoom, not quite far enough from my subject. Note to Santa - I need a Macro lens!

In October 2007, we took the first real photo excursion for which digital was our primary format - North Carolina's Outer, Middle and Lower Banks. This is a perfect replica of the Roanoke Marshes Lighthouse, Roanoke Island.

It was a bit of a challenge to find which little boat service was operating on which day, but we persevered and made two trips to Point Lookout to shoot its spectacular tower. This one's from the sunny day.

Always dramatically curving off into the sun, is the future.

Come with me...

Portland Head Light - If Only There Weren't People Here

Well kids, we have reached the end of the Maine 2004 photos. We are all about the famous Portland Head Lighthouse, this time. Yeah, eight shots of one lighthouse seems a bit much, even to me, but [Maris] and I love these photos and this amazing place so much, it was impossible for us to narrow it down any further. Enjoy! Above, while [M] shot from the north side of the tower, I waited for this shot, captured in a 2-second window of people-lessness.

This is what the lighthouse is there to keep ships from smashing upon. Beautiful and deadly!

This, too. It's not even high tide or particularly rough on this early-June day, but the surf on the rocks was loud and impressive. That's Whaleback Light, in the distance. [Maris]'s shot.

The calendar shot - the fruit of [Maris]'s patience and expertise on the north side.

The close-up - [Maris] captured a sense of the tower's height, the weathered siding on the keeper's house and a bit of ocean. Nice!

Another [Maris] composition, taken as she worked her way back to where I was perched, totally patiently awaiting the departure of the unsightly other people. Again, Whaleback Light is in the distance.

Got it! And a nice wave-break on the big rock, while the rest of the cove was green and quiet. Now where's [Maris]?

Yes, there are people in this shot. I had just hit the lady in the pink with a dart, hoping that she'd get woozy and go sit down in the gift shop - out of my shot - but I put too much tranquilizer in the thing and down she went. My bad. Incidentally, I don't know why the flags are at half-mast. Ronald Reagan died the next day. Premonitory flag arrangement?

((HEART))

This is one of our most favorite places on earth. People or no people, it's hard to take a bad photograph here. We look at these photos, six and a half years after they were taken, and we get lost in them. Maine, and Portland Head in particular -- truly, the way life should be.

Thanks for hanging with me through the Maine stuff. Plenty more to come, and we haven't even gotten to the digital stuff, yet...

Of Nubbles And Goat Islands And The Number 100

100th Post Lighthouse Celebration Extravaganza Time!!

Hello, and welcome to my 100th photo blog post! I know - pretty exciting! We're nearing the end of the Maine 2004 photos. I've shuffled the order a bit, so that I can make Portland Head Light the finalé, next time. First, we have this stuff. Above: Goat Island Light (via the 500mm reflex lens), near Kennebunkport, ME.

One last jaunt down the Kennebec River for a sunlit 500mm shot of Doubling Point Light.

Here's Whaleback Ledge Light, at the southern tip of Maine.

Here's Portsmouth Harbor Light, in New Castle, New Hampshire.

And here we have Portsmouth Harbor AND Whaleback Ledge Lights. Whoopee!

After a long, hot, massively mud-puddly hike, we were still a couple of miles from Wood Island Lighthouse. Here's the 500mm shot. I think I could live there.

One of Maine's most famous lighthouses is Cape Neddick's Nubble Light, near York. The two shots above (first one by [Maris], second by Joe) required an hour wait for two minutes of sun, with a wall of storm clouds offshore. Totally worth it.

Finally, a quick stop on our way out of town the next day, to shoot this perfect little island again, this time under a blue sky.

Next up, Portland Head perfection. Thanks for sticking with me this far. Here's to the next 100 posts...

The Sun Returns To Maine, Just In Time For Portland

After three days of springtime fog, drizzle and gloom, our June 2004 excursion along the coast of Maine turned sunny as we reached Portland. Good timing, as most of the more photogenic lighthouses are from Portland south. Above is the Portland Breakwater Light.

And [Maris]'s shot, complete with context and barge and reflection and whatnot...

...while I was busy shooting this cool fire boat. The vessel to the left is ferrying two fire trucks across the bay.

Another [Maris] masterpiece of composition.

Through a window in Fort Preble, this is Spring Point Ledge Light, with a thorough restoration in process.

Spring Point Ledge, with Fort Gorges in the background.

Springpoint Ledge and the little piece of heavy equipment that could... sit there next to it. Looking cute.

Finishing up, with storm clouds still moving away from the area, this is Cape Elizabeth Lighthouse.

I couldn't decide which shot to use from Cape Elizabeth, so I used them both.

Up next, I might have to post twenty pictures to convey the perfection that is Portland Head Light (yeah - the one from all the postcards and calendars and screen-savers)...

Maine Has Things Other Than Lighthouses!

Maine. It's not just for lighthouses and lobster, you know. It has beaches. During our 2004 trip, most of them were blanketed in fog, but that's cool with us.

This spot was eerie. The photo above was taken looking toward the shore. We could hear the surf - kind of all around us out on this sandbar - but we couldn't see it. The lone seagull in this shot followed us around, looking at us quizzically and without fear.

[Maris] wanted this shot, because "Carnivorous Whelks" is the coolest-sounding thing ever.

Look what else lurks in the fog! Half-built US Navy destroyers at the Bath shipbuilding facility. The big gray piece in the foreground is an entire cross-section of ship, waiting to be moved into place. Massive structures, made kind of ominous in the fog and mist.

Cook's Lobster House in Bailey Island - Bring your Visa card, because they still don't take American Express.

At the border of Maine and New Hampshire, this is the Wood Island Lifeboat Station. I mostly just loved the light on the rusty old roof.

Trains! Old ones! An old switcher, belonging to Belfast & Moosehead Lake Railroad. Bath, Maine. [Maris] shot this one for me!

Old, old Chevy fire truck in Deer Isle. Photo by [Maris].

Hearse! I don't know. I might have made [Maris] shoot this one, just because it's so old and well-preserved.

My intrepid baby car, chasing empty lobster traps. There really is something for everyone!

More later, including a couple of Maine's most famous lights...

The Maine Event, Part Four (Yes, four. Don't argue!)

Ah, springtime in Maine. Winter is reluctant to let go. Above, [Maris] got by far the best shot of the Rockland Breakwater Lighthouse, capturing cloud detail that I, in an effort to lighten the dark structure, missed completely. She rules.

[Maris] also captured this long view, looking up through the drizzle at Owls Head Light. The site is said to be haunted, and one of the pieces of evidence to that effect is this old wooden staircase. When the fog rolls in, the ghost's footprints appear on the damp steps. Cool!

Two of my shots of Owls Head Light. It was misty and we had the place to ourselves, making it just that much more spooky and awesome.

Two frames from a rainy and isolated Marshall Point Light. The weather during the middle of this week-long trip gave us a new appreciation of the need for lighthouses, back in the days before GPS. Some of these things, and the rocks of which they warn mariners, were invisible until we were right on top of them.

Pemaquid Point Lighthouse - by [Maris].

... by Joe...

... by [Maris]. Old bell and a seriously still-functioning foghorn (ah say, ah say, ah say)!

... and two more by Joe, who ventured down onto the freezing, slippery and wind-blown rocks below the light. Must revisit this point when the sun is shining. It, like most of Maine's coast, is sublime.

More to come - wait til you see the "down east" Maine stuff - the sun came back...