A lone figure stands under an expanse of stars, casting a beam from his headlamp towards the milky way.

Tags:   Coast of Maine Dark Sky Figure Landscape ME Maine Maine Art Maine Gifts Maine Landscape Photography Maine Photography Milky Way New England Night Photography Night Sky Silhouette Starry Night Winter

© All Rights Reserved

I've been an extreme weather junkie since I was a kid. Where I grew up in Mississippi, there were tornadoes and hurricanes. Maine doesn't have such violent storms, but we do have our own extreme weather, the cold. It seems like the first two weeks of January feature a below-zero cold snap every year. I was at Five Islands for this occurence two years ago, and witnessed my first sea smoke. Last year we went big at Portland Head Light and got some great images, one that is now a 8x9 foot mural at the new Berlin City Honda in South Portland.

There was a lot of pressure to build on those experiences and go even bigger this year. Rockland is a place I love to visit. It's a little far away at over an hour east on Route 1, but I don't have a lot of images from here and there are two fantastic targets I wanted to shoot with sea smoke, the Breakwater Lighthouse and Owls Head Harbor.

The date was set and come 4 AM Thursday Morning, we were on the road. It was dark when we arrived, but already we could see the mist pouring off the water. I had about 5 layers of clothing on, including some new mittens that really worked wonders saving my fingers from frostbite later on. It didn't feel like a very long time, but apparently I stood out there in the cold for about two hours. I was so determined to get my shot that everything else kind of faded away. It was a sublime two hours.

So, this is the frame I had in mind when I went out. As usual, several other possibilities presented themselves while I was out there, and the vortex over Owls Head has to be the shot that I will come away being happiest with. This was taken just after that. I took off the gloves and grabbed the extremely cold metal lenses with my barehands to change them and get the right focal length for this wide-angle shot taken just as the sun made it over the plumes of sea smoke on the horizon. You can see the hoar frost that formed on the rocks as the mist crept between them. It was beautiful.

Tags:   Arctic Sea Smoke Coast of Maine Cold Dramatic Weather Extreme Cold Extreme Weather Photography January Lighthouse Maine Maine Art Maine Gifts Maine Landscape Photography Maine Lighthouse Art Maine Photography Maine Scenic Photography Mist Ocean Rockland Breakwater Lighthouse Rockland Maine Sub-Zero Sunrise Weather Winter

© All Rights Reserved

To capture the essence of Portland, you have to explore the meaning of the word.

I'd like to thank a TV news crew for setting up at Portland Head Light this morning and ruining any chances of getting a good photograph there by shining a ridiculously bright spotlight on the lighthouse. Seriously. I needed to get away from taking the 'easy' location and make images that spoke to something a little more hard to find.

I've always loved walking around the wharves, but struggle with putting together strong compositions here. Luckily, the sunrise was absolutely brilliant this morning. This gave me the perfect opportunity to showcase some of the humble vessels, variations of which have plied the Atlantic for thousands of years, that make Portland what it is.

Tags:   Art Brilliant Clouds Coast Color Colorful Dawn Fall Fire Fishing Gifts Harbor Image Landscape Light ME Maine Marine Merchants Wharf Morning New England Ocean Photo Photography Pier Port Portland Portland Fish Pier Prints Scenery Scenic Seascape Sky Sunrise Trawlers Vibrant Wharf United States

© All Rights Reserved

What can I say? Following the weather paid off again this morning. I took a look at the satellite before I went to bed last night and thought it looked good for the morning. Those high, streaming clouds from the southwest. Set the alarm for 5, but woke up at 4:30 with anticipation of the great light. Checked the satellite again and it was Go Go.

This is a composition I've been eyeing for a while. While I really wish I had a wide-angle lens to capture this in one shot, 24mm worked fine as 5 vertical images stitched together, producing a bigger, and better printable file. These are still single exposures, no blending or anything here. I edited to make it look as close to natural as I possibly could.

I can't wait to print this one. It's very similar to my Owl's Head shot, which is one of my favorites. This is the light I love.

Tags:   500px American Made Art Attraction Autumn Beach Benjamin Williamson Best Cape Elizabeth Clouds Coast Colors Cumberland County Destination Down East Magazine Fall Flickr Gifts Historic Icon Iconic Image Landmark Landscape Light Lighthouse Longfellow ME Made in America Made in Maine Maine Maine Office of Tourism Maine Photography Maine Tourism Maine Travel Morning National Geographic New England New England Photography New England Travel Ocean PHL Photographer Photography Portland Head Light Prints Red Rocky Scene Scenery Scenic Seascape September Sky Sunrise Top Tourism Tourist Travel Water

© All Rights Reserved

A vibrant sunrise over Owls Head Lighthouse, near Rockland, Maine

Tags:   Adobe CC Adobe Lightroom Art Beautiful Breathtaking Calm Canon Rebel t2i Clouds Coast Coastal Coastline Color Cotton Candy Decoration Decorative Gifts Hanging Harbor High-Res Image Inspiring Landscape Light Lighthouse ME Maine Ocean Owl's Head Panorama Peaceful Photo Photograph Photography Pink Powerful Prints Quiet Radiant Red Rockland Safe Scenery Scenic Serene Sky State Park Storm Striking Sunrise View Wall

© All Rights Reserved