What a great few days:)! After spending the night in Boston, having some wonderful take-out Chinese food and watching the Patriot’s game with a good friend, the next day I headed to my favorite NE city, Portland, Maine.

After checking into my hotel, I ventured to a place I had attempted a shot a few years ago, but got skunked, the pier at Old Orchard Beach. The compositions hadn’t really changed much, but it was good to reacquaint myself, as I would be arriving, parking, and setting up in the dark, the next morning. After feeling comfortable with my morning plan, I headed back to the Portland waterfront, to see if I could pull something off at sunset.

I wandered around the Old Port, stopping at places I had been many times before, and a few new ones (as the city and waterfront is ever changing). As the sunset color was approaching fast, I settled in, and was just about to start shooting when this giant lobster boat came into the channel, very slowly, blocking my original composition…..well, when given lemonades, make lobster salad I thought;)….and attempted to use the boat in the image (there were already plenty of lobster boats where I planned on them being). I very quickly realized I would get skunked this time, as the boat had a giant image distraction of about 1/4 of the entire ship in blaze hunter orange, and it parked smack dab in the middle of the image. With no time to get to another location, I might as well move on to dinner in town, and quell my mild disappointment.

I walked a few blocks up to 555 restaurant, stepped into the warm earth toned bar, with wonderful aromas drifting from the open kitchen in the next rom. I sat and chatted with the bartender, enjoying a wonderful scallop dish, followed by an amazing chocolate and cardamom mousse cake, with olive oil ice cream,. I accompanied it with two 1/2 glasses of wine (one of the rare places that do 1/2 glasses), a New Zealand sauvignon blanc with the scallops, and a deep rich Cab with dessert, yum:)! Fully fat and happy, I wandered back to my car, and headed back to the hotel for an early sleep.

Sleep is always short as a photographer, as I awoke at 5am to get out the door, and head to OOB to set up for first light. Juggling my coffee, camera gear and tripod, I set the coffee on top of the car, threw my stuff in and drove away……’Thunk’!….as the coffee I had left on the roof tumbles over and pours down the back window of my Outback! Well, I ‘ll have to accomplish this one caffeine free.

I arrived perfectly on time, and walked out to the beach as the tide was out, but approaching, stepping in and around the tidal pools. I first shot the pier with the sunrise, for a full wide composition. It wasn’t as windy as the night before in Boston, but felt colder, as again my fingers were soon frozen, from the cold temps of the sea air

I quickly changed positions and headed under the pier to shoot straight on below, before the good light was gone. Stepping in the rising surf, I kept having to move back to avoid getting soaked. The light was beautiful, but was momentary. as there were no clouds to help it linger. Satisfied again, I soaked in the view and the beach for a while longer as the sun rose above the horizon and warmed my fingers and face:).

The last time I mucked around this stream deep in a ravine, was 7 years ago. At the time, it was a drier summer and the moss wasn’t nearly as vibrant. I’ve been meaning to get back to it ever since, and this summer has been so cool and wet, the moss everywhere is truly electric this year.

The most important thing with photographing streams, is to make sure you are shooting on a cloudy day with no direct sun. The highlights off the water are simply too bright in contrast to the dark shadows, so something has to suffer. I don’t get much time off from my gallery in the summer months, and have been looking for one of those cloudy days to fall on my day off. I know, most people would be glad to get nothing but sunshine on their days off, and I too revel in swimming the sunny rivers on those days. But I was getting frustrated after 5 weeks of it not happening, knowing there may not be a better opportunity for years. So recently, I decided to drive to this location after work instead, and hike the 2.5 miles to this location. My plan was to arrive late enough in the evening, to shoot the stream after the sun had set beyond the height of the steep ravine, eliminating the contrasting light, but before it got dark.

I made a few mistakes that day though. First, I biked up Bear Notch in the morning. Then I ate an early lunch, and in my haste packing, I forgot to add an afternoon snack. Next, with map and compass always on hand, and my familiarity with terrain, I cursorily looked at the map before starting. I also planned on using my cup to drink water from the streams as I went, and forego my water bottle. Lastly, and most importantly, I forgot to safety text my plan to my best friend in case something happened. Well, I realized three of these things when I got out of the car at the trail head, but was so intent on getting the shot, I decided to go anyway. After all, I’ve been doing this for years and would be extra cautious.

But I didn’t look at the map closely, and misjudged my water availability, so I didn’t get very far before I began to get thirsty and hungry, my stomach growling. I also realized a 1/2 mile in, coming upon a trail sign, I had miscalculated the distance. My 3.8 miles RT, would now be 5. Not a big deal on most days, but already having biked a vigorous uphill in the morning, and with no food or water, I could feel my pace slowing. The struggle was real, but I’ve pushed through far worse in my life, so plodded on. After a good hour+ of uphill hiking with all my gear, not seeing a single hiker this late in the evening, parched, hungry, and beginning to bonk, I came across the brook I had been seeking. I drank long and deep from it’s clear cold waters, fully satiating my thirst. I surveyed the situation, and it was just as green and mossy as I imagined.

With the deep wood evening light already waning, I gently climbed down off the trail into the brook bed, scouting compositions as I went. After some time, I settled on my first composition, placing my tripod mid stream, straddling slick rocks, and took a few photos. It was so beautiful, the rich emerald green contrasting with deep black rock, and a crystal clear water flow. I wanted to spend hours going up and down the stream. But being so deep in the ravine, the light was already fading fast. It was super slippery too (A mossy brook bed, shocking I know), even with my Limmer boots on.

I looked downstream, and as I crept further on, my situation came to mind: The air was cool and damp, in the 50’s, and supposed to drop into the low 40’s in the mountains (perfect hypothermia weather), I had not seen a single hiker, was now off trail, no one knew I was here, and it would be dark soon. I wanted to continue on, and didn’t relish the thought of trying to duplicate this effort another day, but being hungry and tired, if I slipped and got hurt, even with all my gear, I knew I could quickly be in deep trouble. This is just the thing you read about in the paper the next day, and I wasn’t about to push my luck any further.

I backed off, crawled back up the embankment onto the trail, and repacked my gear for the hike down. As I walked back down the trail, I could hear a pair of wood thrush singing sweet songs to each other. Night closed in about half way down, and I pulled off my pack to retrieve my headlamp for the rest of the way. At least I remembered that important item. Well, I will be back again with more images from this magical spot soon, but you can bet I will have water, food, and a quick safety text before leaving. Until next time:)….This is the image from my second trip, with more time and proper planning.