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Washington DC

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The moon this time of year makes me wish I was over in DC... The full moon in March and September lead to some spectacular shots as the moon rises behind the buildings located along the National Mall, weather cooperating, of course. This was taken back in 2008 with my Canon 1ds Mark II, and I have not had the opportunity to get back over there due to work schedules or weather to attempt it again. I am hoping to try September's moon, but I've always been partial to the colder, crisper air in March. A good place to hang out is over near the Iwo Jima Memorial but experimentation with locations is a good thing.

Acadia National Park
Maine

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I love the history on Mount Desert Island in and around Acadia National Park. I bought some books on the miles of lost trails that criss-cross Acadia and try to search them out. I also bought a book on the memorial plaques that are placed in a lot of places all over the island. I recently found one near Fawn Pond which I thought was pretty cool. But, to me the biggest piece of history lies along a path from Eagle Lake to the almost the top of Cadillac Mountain which used to be known as Green Mountain (it was renamed Cadillac Mountain in 1918 to honor French Explorer Antoine Laumet de La Mothe, sieur de Cadillac). Back in the day they built a cog railway for the trendy tourists to ride to the top of Cadillac Mountain. Of course, Cadillac Mountain is the highest point within 25 miles of the eastern coastline all the way down to the Yucatan Peninsula.

According to Wikipedia, "At the end of the 19th century, Maine's tourist industry was developing rapidly. The islands off the coast of Maine were popular attractions, and the possibility of a cog railway to the top of Green Mountain was first explored in the late 1870s, following the success of the Mount Washington Cog Railway in New Hampshire. Construction of the railway started in 1883, and it was built to the designs in the Marsh patents developed for the Mount Washington line. The first locomotive was built by the Manchester Locomotive Works, and was meant to be for the Mount Washington line. After the first season, Frank Clergue, "owner and operator", bought another coach and locomotive, both identical to their predecessors. The coaches and work cars were built by the Hinckly & Egery Iron Co. The coaches had eight benches, with open air seating that could hold six. During bad weather, canvas tarps were rolled down from the ceiling to protect the passengers from the wind and rain. The #1 locomotive was named "Mount Desert", and #2 was just named #2. Both locomotives were used at the same time when there were large numbers of passengers. There were no switches on the railway, so the trains did not have the ability to pass each other. The line operated during the summer season and for the first few years was successful. But tourist numbers declined, and after the 1890 season the railway ceased operations. The railway's two steam locomotives were sold to the Mount Washington Cog Railway in 1895 after five years of disuse."

But left behind were the spikes and one section of the railway. I have made it so far to actually cross the Cadillac Mountain Road on one of the loops and then pick the trail back up on the other side. But, just below the antenna on the top of the mountain the brush gets thick and I always lose the trail. I know the "depot" was on the shores of Eagle Lake, and I have also followed the trail down towards Eagle Lake. Once the spikes cross the a stream and you are about level with Eagle Lake, I lose the trail. But, I found rocks lined up that have obviously been lined up by man, and I also found piles of bricks not far off the carriage road going around Eagle Lake. So, I am pretty sure I got close to the beginnings. I know on top of the mountain the hotel burned down and its foundation is nearly impossible to find. I also have some old photos of the works down along Eagle Lake and its amazingly cool to line up the mountains on the far side of Eagle Lake and stand nearly exactly where photos of the railway boarding area were taken.

I have attached a bunch of photos to this post to show you some other perspectives of the railway going up the mountain. I do not pretend to be an expert on the railway, I just think its so cool to find stuff like this. Everytime I walk up there I actually close my eyes and just imagine I can here the steam locomotives pushing up the mountain.

Acadia National Park

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If you travel to Maine and Acadia National Park, the Bass Harbor Head Lighthouse is probably on your list of things to see. It sits on the southwest side of Mount Desert Island and is very popular amongst the visitors to the island and area. It is a very, very popular destination for a sunset so if you are a photographer plan on getting there early and setting shop up and waiting. I say that in case you are trying to get to the "prime" spot where you should be able to see a reflection of the lighthouse in a pool of water. I believe it is only possible at low tide, though. Take that with a grain of salt, but I say that because on the morning I was there I arrived when it was still dark out and the tide was still up. I knew where I needed to go to get the reflection, but I could not get down onto the rock I needed to be standing on for about 45 minutes. Anyway, since the sunset is very popular here I thought how about a sunrise. I know the sunsets out on the horizon if not just a bit to the left in this particular shot so I thought if I lucked out and had a bit of clouds in the air at sunrise, the light might reflect as it sometimes does on the other side of the sky. The sun was rising behind me in this particular shot, and what I had hoped would happen did happen. And there was not one person here to enjoy this marvelous morning with me. I grabbed a couple of other shots while I was here as well, and if you scroll down you will see some of them. The shot of the sunrise was basically untouched except for the conversion from raw. It was really a great one to witness. The brilliant, warm light light the rocks up in this shot, and then as the sun actually came up it lit the rocks up even more (as you can see in one of the shots I posted under this). I hope you enjoy the image.

Assateague Island National Seashore
Maryland

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I have not been down to Assateague Island National Seashore for a while. Since I live so close to it I figured yesterday morning would be a good time to go. The forecast was for sunny skies in the morning, and I debated on whether or not to take my kayak down, but I decided for this trip I would just drive around and walk a couple of the short trails in the area. The morning actually started off bad... I got up way too late. I like being down there for the sunrise, but I stayed up too late Friday night. I crawled into bed around 2 a.m., and then set the alarm for 530 a.m. The weather was calling for clear skies overnight and then some clouds to arrive for the afternoon. Well, I got up and started down and I think the most beautiful sunrise occurred as I was driving east on US Route 50. I could not believe it. There were just a few clouds in the Ocean City area and the sunrise could not have been more perfect. And here I was not in any position to get any shots of it. So, strike one. I got down to the island about 30 minutes later and drove down to the off road section. I decided to walk around the dunes trail. I met a great fella and we talked about Canon for a while. He was shooting with a Canon 1ds Mark III and a 400/2.8 and I had my Canon 1d Mark IV with my 500/4 attached. He was walking out as I was walking in, so we chatted for a while and quite intensely about Canon and Nikon for a bit before parting ways. I then continued my walk around the dunes trail but observed no wildlife at all. I came back out, and decided I would go down to the marsh trail near the one campground area. As I parked I noticed about seven turkeys. They are pretty skittish and quick on their feet so I did not think I would be able to get any photos of them. As a matter of fact, I really do not have any photos of turkeys at all. So, the sun is off to my right, and the turkeys are in front of me about 65 yards and a bit off to my left. I knew I had to stay between them and the sun to get the sun to shine on them just right for the shots; a nearly impossible task I thought. What I ended up doing was watching them for a few minutes to see where they were going. I then walked away from them, towards the sun, and sat down near some brush. They were foraging near some brush and moving towards me. So, I sat and just waited. About 10-15 minutes later they all walked out of the brush in a single file. I took some shots of the hens, but this appeared to be one of two young toms. No beard, but much more colored than the hens. Then again I am not considered a bird expert, so if it is not a tom let me know so I can correct myself. What I liked about this image was how the colors of the feathers really blended in with the background. This shot was with my Canon 1d Mark IV and 500/4 with a 1.4x teleconverter attached. This is pretty much full frame, I'm guessing from 25 yards or less away. It was all I could do handholding my rig to keep the moving bird in the frame... It was pretty tight in the camera viewfinder, especially to keep him balanced with the left and right sides of the frame. This by far was the best shot of the morning for me. No wildlife spotted in my usual spots I go to down there. Later in the day, my wife and I did drive the length of the off-road section down to the Virginia Line in my truck. Nothing like a little drive on the beach.

Dorchester County
Maryland

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A couple of weeks ago I was kayaking in a bald eagle infested swampy area known as Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge. I did not take my camera and as luck would have it I saw three eagles having a mid-air battle right in front of me. I really do not have a lot of room in my kayak so I usually leave my camera at home. Not to mention the only telephoto lenses I have are Canon's 500/4 and 300/2.8; not the easiest to lug around in a kayak. But, I came home and had an idea about mounting my ball head on my kayak. I went to Home Depot and bought a bolt and a couple of washers and then drilled a hole on the deck of my kayak. Since my kayak deck is not flat, I took an old gel pad from a shoe insert and shaped it to be a bit bigger than the base of my ball head. I then cut a hole in the center of the gel pad, laid it over the bolt, and screwed on the ball head. The reason I cut the center out of the gel pad was I could tighten down the ball head and the sides or outer edges of the gel pad took up the space under the gel pad since my deck was not flat. Thus the ball head was a bit sturdier and less-wobbly. The picture below does not have the gel pad under the ball head, but this gives you an idea. I call it my kayak "canon".

Anyway, I posted the image below on my Facebook fan page and I took a lot of hits labeling me crazy for taking out the equipment. So, I looked up outriggers and found these made by yak gear. www.yak-gear.com/OUTRIGGERS.html I bought a pair and wow, it could not be more perfect. I have them mounted in such a way that they barely touch the water but any leaning to the left or right and my side movement is stopped. They are removable so I only plan on using them when I have my 1d Mark IV and 500 out on the water.

I took out the rig today for a test run, and everything worked perfectly. I found that if I tilt the camera up it becomes much more stable as the bottom of the camera rests perfectly on the frame of the cockpit. I had no problems paddling, no problems twisting and shooting, and very, very minimal drag from the outriggers. Now I just have to perfect my skill of shooting in the water while rocking. Its also a great way to get my gear out into the wild and set up with a ghillie suit or portable blind on land somewhere. Lots of possibilities. I spent six hours out on the water trying different maneuvers and everything worked out great. Except for my very cold, numb feet and toes.

This is one shot of an Eastern Screech Owl that I came across in a bird box that was in the middle of the water I was paddling. I got within ten feet of the little fella which was too close to shoot him. I had to back up to get the shots I wanted, and I liked this one the best. I'm really looking forward to searching out more wildlife with this method.