I’ve been reading an interesting book titled “Living on the Edge – a guide to tide pool animals, seaweeds, and seaside plants.”  The book was written by Ruth Gortner Grierson, who writes a nature column for a local newspaper, and Thomas Vining, who was an interpretive ranger in Acadia National Park.  This guide is informative yet concise.  I like concise!  It has inspired me to pay more attention to the shoreline and examine tide pools and seaside plants more closely.  Today, I ventured to Wonderland – a magical place – where I wandered the rocky coast for two hours completely engrossed in this rugged, diverse convergence of land and sea.

I chose one of my favorite seaside plants as my photo of the day.  I love the simplicity of its flowers – Rosa rugosa – the less common white-flowering variety.  Learning about the meaning of botanical names has always fascinated me.  In many cases, botanical names are extremely descriptive lending themselves to memory more easily.   I understand that “rugose” means wrinkled or corrugated.  In this case, the rugosa refers to the botanical meaning of the reticulate venation of the leaf being rough and ridged – sometimes mentioned in text as “quilted.”

• I used the Aperature priority setting – ISO set at 250.  My camera settings are 1/320 sec. f/5.6 120mm
• I did not have my tripod along for this trek along the rocky coast – too much to carry!
• Exposure Compensation was set to -0.00.
• In Lightroom, I did not adjust this photograph much – a slight alteration of vibrance setting and highlights – that’s it!  I did crop the photograph.

Since it has been my pattern to include more than one photo, I will not break with this tradition!  I could have wandered along this shoreline for many hours but the weather was threatening and I wanted to get to my favorite organic farm before they closed!

I had two objectives today after work.  I wanted to find the horse statue a camper mentioned stumbling upon when taking a wrong turn on a trail, and I needed to try and get a photograph of the full moon.  Although technically the moon is full tomorrow, I thought I’d snare two chances this month to get a worthy photograph – since both nights are scheduled to be clear.  I settled on the moon rise as my photo of the day.  It was beautiful down on the cliffs tonight.  The moon was rising over the ocean at about 6:15 pm while the sun was setting at 6:38 pm.  I managed to enjoy both the sunset and the moon rise in a span of about an hour.  It was mesmerizing.  I had some company down on the rocks during the sunrise but soon after the moon rose everyone else meandered back to the campground and I was alone to enjoy the solitude and soothing sound of the waves lapping against the rocks below me.

•  I used the Aperture priority setting – ISO set at 400.  My camera settings are 3 sec. f/16 24mm
• I used my tripod and the Live View window and set focus at infinity.
• Exposure Compensation was set to -3.00.
• In Lightroom, I did some adjustments to contrast, highlights, shadows and vibrance settings.  I also cropped and straightened the photograph slightly since it was hard to get the tripod level with the horizon on the rocks!

A few of my other photos from today – just for fun!

There is a high wind advisory in effect for coastal Maine this evening.  I thought perhaps that might render some decent wave activity as the tide started rolling in on Little Hunter’s Beach.  On my way to the beach along the path to the park loop road, this tree stump caught my eye.  I think it was all the various textures that captured my attention.  What I thought might be another “rock and water” scene for my photo of the day turned out to be something completely unexpected. I love it when that happens.

• I used the Aperture priority setting – ISO set at 100.  My camera settings are 1/8 sec. f/5 65mm
• I used my tripod and the Live View window and set focus on the fungi on the cut part of the trunk.
• Exposure Compensation was set to 0.00.
• In Lightroom, I fiddled with the highlights, shadows and vibrance settings and used the sharpening tool to add some crispness to the bark.  I did not crop this photo.

I’ll include a couple of my shots from Little Hunter’s Beach.  I’m not particularly happy with either one but have some thoughts to improve these shots in the future.

I have not ventured to Hunter’s Beach Cove for several weeks.  It was time for a visit.  I love the old log bridge along the trail.  It is weathered and starting to become moss covered.  It feels ancient and timeless.

• I used the Aperture priority setting – ISO set at 100.  My camera settings are 1/4 sec. f/5 46mm
• I used my tripod and the Live View window and set focus on the front log posts.  Again, I left my reading glasses in the car so it could be crisper!  I did my best!
• Exposure Compensation was set to 0.00.
• In Lightroom, I did not do any adjusting except to slightly crop to center the bridge

It was an overcast, dreary evening.  I captured some photos on the cobblestone beach and I’m including a couple of the best ones below.

I’m cheating today with regard to my daily photographic upload.  It was raining this morning and I had other obligations up until I needed to start work.  And now that I’m done work, I’m too tired to attempt a nighttime excursion given the dark, cloudy skies.  So, with that in mind, I decided to post a photo I took back in August 🙂

My son and daughter-in-law were visiting and we attempted to drive up to the summit of Cadillac Mountain for the sunset.  Unfortunately, we did not plan well and the entrance to the summit was closed due to a full parking lot.  We turned around and drove back to a small pull-off by the side of the park loop road that offered a view overlooking Eagle Lake.  It turned out to be the perfect spot to set up my tripod and we watched a spectacular sunset over Eagle Lake.

• I used the Aperture priority setting – ISO set at 100.  My camera settings are 1/13 sec. f/16 120mm
• I used my tripod and the Live View window and set focus at infinity.
• Exposure Compensation was set to 0.00.
• In Lightroom, I adjusted highlights, shadows and vibrance settings ever so slightly

Tomorrow I’ll be back on target with a “day of” photograph.  Enjoy!

Today was a busy day for me.  My cousin Terry and her husband Frank are on the island celebrating their 15th wedding anniversary, and this morning we got together for a walk along the carriage roads.  It was great to see them.  It’s literally been years!  We parted ways in Bar Harbor – and I grabbed some lunch and headed back to the village green to catch the shuttle to the campground.  My timing was off so instead of waiting almost an hour for the next shuttle to the campground, I hopped on the Sand Beach shuttle, got off near Thunder Hole and walked along the cliffs.  It was a beautiful day, and there was a nice breeze.  I found a spot to relax, take some photos and I even laid down on the rocks for a short “nap” with the sound of the waves lulling me into a “light” sleep.

No tripod with me today since I was hopping shuttles and hiking.  I just enjoyed the waves crashing on the rocks as the tide was coming in and captured some quick photos.

• I used the Aperature-priority setting and had it set to f/9.  My ISO was set at 100. The final shot was recorded at 1/250 sec. f/9 120mm
• I used the viewfinder and autofocus
• No tripod!
• Exposure Compensation setting was at 0.00 for this photograph
• In Lightroom, I did not alter the photo much from the original – very minor adjustments to highlights and shadows.

On my way back to the campground, I walk through a beautiful Ash forest and the Flat-topped Aster (Doellingeria umbellata) were flowering in drifts under the canopy.  Not as focused as I would like without my tripod, but my goal was to just capture the scene.  It was magical.