Fall 2019 Road Trip; Part II; Lighthouses And Such

Nubble Light, York, Maine; Reportedly the most photographed lighthouse in Maine. (click to enlarge)
To get to this lighthouse, one has to get in a basket and be transported by wire over the water on the left.
If you look closely, you will see the basket just to the left of the telephone pole.
Olympus E-M1 Mark II; 12-100mm f/4 PRO lens @ 12mm; 1/2 sec. @ f/11; ISO 200; 10X ND filter

My wife and I are slowly working our way up the Maine coast.  Our time is spent visiting small towns, fishing/lobster villages, shopping (did you really think I could get away without shopping? I tried!)), tourist areas and eating at some tasty restaurants.  

I've targeted several small towns to visit as well as lighthouses, for which Maine is noteworthy, to see what may catch my eye and make interesting photographs.  However, as I mentioned before, photographing lighthouses and other places we visit will be mainly documentary in nature as we most likely won't be visiting during the times of day of optimum, gorgeous light nor when swarms of visitors aren't present.  There are millions of images already in existence of these lighthouses, thousands that are absolutely gorgeous and mine won't add anything to the conversation.  In the end, I'm just trying to make the most of what I find when we happen to arrive at any particular place and have a record of what we saw and where we visited on this trip.

As an aside, I am totally surprised by the large number of visitors/tourists.  After all, it is after the summer vacation/tourism season and before the colorful fall foliage "leaf peeping" season.  Still, the roads are very crowded as are the towns, lighthouses and restaurants.  Too many retired people on the roads! (Oh, I'm one of those retired people!)

In this post, I'll show you some of the lighthouses we visited.  I did my best to eliminate tourists, other photographers and those things that detract from the essence of the lighthouse itself.  In some cases, I was able to do so and in others, I either made some images that were not really what I wanted or made them with people and other things visible.  I did take a few liberties in Photoshop to remove some individuals who just wouldn't move, even after I stood waiting for over 15 minutes.  But that is okay.

Portland Head Lighthouse near Portland, Maine.  Very picturesque, very popular and very photographed.  There were
probably 200 people milling around and I was able to capture an image with only a few blurry souls in the image, which
I removed in Photoshop. (click to enlarge)
Olympus E-M1 Mark II; 12-100mm f/4 PRO lens @ 12mm; 1/3 sec. @ f/8; ISO 200; 10X ND filter

At best, I would say these images are of the "post card" type and documentary in nature.  If I were alone with no considerations other than photography, I would have made entirely different images.  As we know, the light seems always the most interesting in the early morning or late evening when the sun is low in the sky or just after the sun rises above or sets below the horizon.  Also, it is very rare to make extraordinary images in a single visit.  Many of the best made images are a result of the photographer going back numerous times to get the best light.  I guess I have a reason to return just for photography!

Pemaquid Light, Pemaquid Point, Maine (click to enlarge)
As a former geology student, I thought the rocks surrounding this lighthouse were more
interesting than the lighthouse itself.  This small pool was a popular place from which
to photograph.  I had to lay prone, flat on my stomach, and make this photograph.
Olympus E-M1 Mark II; 12-100mm f/4 PRO lens @ 24mm; 1/320 sec. @ f/10; ISO 200

Owl's Head Light, Owl's Head State Park, Maine.  This was at the end of a quarter mile walk.
The lighthouse stood at the top of these stairs on a hill with no where to get back from it for a
better perspective.  All I could do was photograph it from the bottom of the stairs.  What you
don't see is the large number of other visitors milling around.  It took a long while to get a
shot with only two people, which I later removed with Photoshop. (click to enlarge)
Olympus E-M1 Mark II; 12-100mm f/4 PRO lens @ 14mm; 1/640 sec. @ f/9; ISO 200

Here are some alternative images from the same locations.  At each lighthouse, there were many different views that were pleasing.  It was difficult to choose one that represented the best view.  I probably could have chosen any one of four or five views from each location.

Portland Head Lighthouse (click to enlarge)
Olympus E-M1 Mark II; Panasonic 8-18mm f/2.8-4 lens @ 10mm; 1.6 sec. @ f/8; ISO 200; 10X ND filter

Nubble Light (click to enlarge)
Olympus E-M1 Mark II; 12-100mm f/4 PRO lens @ 35mm; 1/800 sec. @ f/5.6; ISO 200

Pemaquid Lighthouse, Pemaquid State Park, Maine (click to enlarge)
Olympus E-M1 Mark II; 12-100mm f/4 PRO lens @ 16mm; 1/400 sec. @ f/10; ISO 200

Maine has 65 historical lighthouses along their 5000 miles of coastline.  I chose just a few to visit during this trip.  If you like to photograph lighthouses, Maine certainly is a consideration.  Some are easy to get to and others are pretty far off the beaten path down long peninsulas.  I wish we could have seen more, but lighthouses were just one part of this trip.

In the next post, I'll highlight some of the small villages and towns we visited.  I was especially interested in photographing the non-tourist lobster fishing infrastructure that I could find in places that were mostly non-touristy.

Join me over at Instagram @dennisamook or my website, www.dennismook.com. 

Thanks for looking. Enjoy! 

Dennis A. Mook 

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