With two new gallery displays in Maine, I’m trying to get to the ocean more often to photograph. I recently rotated art at the new Met in Brunswick and Freeport, and combined it with some shooting along the coast.

The moon and beach images in the previous post, are from Ferry Beach at my cousins house in Saco, Maine and this one is Rockport Harbor in Massachusetts.

The red shack in the far rear left of the image, is a notable, well photographed building in Rockport Harbor, and I wanted to include it in my image. Monica and I scouted this from the opposite side of the pier in the morning, but she insisted on me going back before dark to see it from this other side, that I planned on shooting it from. It made all the difference.

The next morning, I woke up as usual, in the early dark hours, at my hotel in Rockport, just a few miles away. I did my usual morning routine of coffee and stretching, and headed out. I initially set up way down near the end of the Pier, fairly close to the shack, and composed my image for sunrise. Looking at the scene I was rather disappointed, as the only visible clouds (needed for great light) were the thin ones low in the distance, then blank sky. The clouds above were not close enough to include, and quite frankly totally out of my vision of the scene at the moment. So I stood listening to the ocean and the morning gulls as the sky began to brighten. I took a couple test images, but was pretty unenthusiastic about the scene due to the lack of clouds. The sky got brighter, and it looked like I wasn’t going to get anything spectacular. I thought of leaving, but reminded myself to stay at least until the sun eclipsed the horizon, because you never know what might happen.

Just as I was thinking of bailing, I noticed these clouds above had crept in from behind me, and were starting to catch color. But they weren’t part of my scene, stationed at the end of the pier. Once the color got stronger, I knew I would have to quickly dash for a different vantage point, to include them and their reflection as the main focus, instead of the shack.

I quickly scrambled my gear, and ran down to the other end of the pier, reset my tripod, and changed my lens as fast as possible. Then wiped it clean, and composed this image. The clouds and reflection really started to pop, and I was excited to come away with something special. Something special it was:)! Satisfied, I repacked the gear in the car, and drove back to the hotel to enjoy a nice breakfast, before driving to Maine.

Special thanks to Monica for the major assist in knowledge, and help scouting locations with me in Rockport the evening before sunrise:)!