Fall foliageThis blog has made the full cycle: it has been a year since I started and now the leaves are changing colors again. It seems to be going fast this year. There is brilliant color already.
Color can be very important to a photo, but what what really makes the image is light.
The use of a circular polarizer really brings out the blue sky and foliage contrast.
The colors start in swampy areas like this.
South Baldface Midcoast Maine
Coming in to Rockland Harbor.
Tying up.
Edited with SilverEfex Pro.
Low tide.
Seaside cottages
View from Owl's Head.
Owl's Head Light
Rockland Harbor Breakwater and Lighthouse
Rockport
Indian Island Light guarding the entrance to Rockport Harbor. Owl's Head in the background.
All photos taken with the Fuji XF-1. Northern LightsA change of plans. The recent solar storm has set off the aurora over northern skies, and so it is even visible down to Maine. These are all taken in Nikon RAW format, auto white balance and tint. The images were processed through LR 4 with the only adjustment being cropping and lens correction for the Tamron 16-28 f/2.8. All photos were taken with the Nikon D600, 30 sec. f/3.3, ISO 800. Now, I couldn't see these colors even after being outside for a while.
Looking at the Milky Way to the south. That might have been the moon lighting up the clouds.
Gradually the aurora faded. To the right in this image you can see the effect of the moon rising. Not long after it was up enough to light up the whole landscape. This put an end to any more viewing of the aurora.
Katahdin #2Hiking Katahdin is a day-long trek. Even if you camp inside the park (with the exception of camping at Chimney Pond). Except we didn't camp in the park so it was an even longer day. You plan for it and are glad when the weather turns out this good.
Views from the top of the Saddle Trail where it pitches off the edge and down the slide:
Two of the Cathedrals are lit by the sun here.
While taking a break at the top of the slide, I met a group of hikers from South Portland. There were a number of French-speaking Canadians hiking the trails as well.
1. Pamola, 2. the Knife Edge, 3. Baxter Peak, 4. Saddle Trail, 5. Chimney Pond, 6. the Tableland This is a 9-image panorama assembled with PTGui.
Hikers climbing to the summit on Cathedral Trail.
A cropped view of the previous picture.
Pamola, the Chimney, and the Knife Edge Trail. Some day I will have to take that route. See all the people? The mountain seemed very busy, but, then again, mostly I have hiked it much earlier in the year. Cropped close-up views of climbers on Pamola and in the Chimney.
Down the Saddle Trail.
And back to Chimney Pond.
The rangers' building at Chimney Pond.
Then it was back down the Chimney Pond Trail.
Chimney Pond Trail is rough and can be wet at times. Trail builders have laid stone steps in places.
Oh yes, a photo of the summit? Here is an image from 2010.
It was another great day in the Maine outdoors. An excellent hike enjoyed by all. Two of our party made it to the summit for the first time. The Nikon D600 often seemed heavy to carry around with two lenses, but the resolution paid off in the cropped shots. Perhaps I will go with something lighter next time? Katahdin #1Friends invited me to climb Mount Katahdin with them this summer. Katahdin is one of those peaks that every hiker in Maine expects to climb some day. It is over 4000 ft. high, so you need to climb it for that list. It is very rugged and not easily accessible, so that is another part of the challenge. It certainly is spectacularly beautiful and reserved in a refreshingly wild state. All reasons to make that trip up to northern Maine to see if the weather will allow you to experience the challenge. So, off to Baxter State Park. We reserved a spot at the Roaring Brook lot and decided to hike up to Chimney Pond and then continue up the Cathedral Trail. Our return was back down Saddle.
Notice how clear the streams are.
Since this was August and it had not rained very recently, some stream beds were dry. This dry stream bed here looked like this in late June 2009:
Chimney Pond in the morning.
A 7-photo panorama of Chimney Pond assembled with PTGui. 1. is the Cathedral Trail, 2. is the Saddle Trail. The summit (Baxter Peak) is somewhere in the middle behind those clouds.
One of the shelters available for overnight stays at Chimney Pond. Views from the climb up the Cathedral Trail. There are three Cathedrals. It is a great trail, but I had forgotten, for maybe a third of it you need to use your hands almost as much as your legs.
Looking back to Chimney Pond from partway up the first Cathedral. Do you see the sandy spot near the left? That is where the panorama and video was taken.
The infamous Knife Edge Trail is finally revealed along the top of the ridge. Pamola is the first peak on the left, then the trail drops down into the Chimney. Next it climbs back up and runs along the exposed ridgeline.
Looking toward the north and the Tableland. That prominent slide in the middle is the Saddle Trail -- our route down.
Looking back over the first Cathedral.
Pamola and the Chimney. See all the people on the ridge?
Saddle Cut-off Trail. --To be continued in the next post--
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