I LOVE THIS AGE

Thirteen is a wonderful age! I wish I were able to do more clients at this age - newly minted teens :-). I'm glad some people realize that milestone occasions (graduation, wedding, etc.) aren't the only times to have custom photography done. It's so much more important to remember those we cherish at EVERY age. They will never be the same from one year to the next - and that's how it's supposed to be. It's so nice to be able to remember the in-between years. I was finally able to get some pictures of Anna just being Anna, age 13. No special occasion, other than the celebration of who she is, right now.

SHOWTIME!

Remember my friend Emily from the May 21st post? Well, she was finally riding in a show that was close by. This horse is not Hershey, from the previous post; his name is Murphy, and he's 19 years old (but don't tell him that!).








Murphy loves to jump! He and Emily came home with a second place ribbon in her first Jr. Training Event. Not too shabby at all....

ABOVE THE CLOUDS

One of the things I like best about Acadia is its accessibility. You can drive right up to the top of Cadillac Mountain, where you can see the blue sky above the clouds. What a liberating feeling!




Of course, I had to do some infrared work while I was there. So once the cloud cover burned off and it turned sunny, I drove down to the Shore Path and photographed Otter Cliffs. The cliffs are used by rock climbers for practice, and there were indeed some people going up and down that day.

AT LAST!

I've always loved infrared photography - the white grass and foliage, dark skies, moody ethereal feeling - but hated infrared film. It had to be handled in absolute darkness, it required the use of filters I could barely see through, and necessitated putting the camera on a tripod because the shutter speeds were so slow. Processing was a nightmare. So I gave up on it for quite a while.

Recently, I found a company which will convert a digital camera to an infrared-only camera. Since my original camera was just sitting around collecting dust (displaced by two others), I gave it a try. I'm pleased to say that I'm now hooked on infrared again, and having a much easier time of it. I don't need those opaque filters, I can hand-hold the camera, and the processing is no different from any other digital image. Here are a couple from today:

This is the country's most-photographed lighthouse, Portland Head Light at Fort Williams Park -


















This is an early-morning shot -




The blackest skies only appear when the sun is directly behind you -
























Yet even on a cloudy day, there's still plenty of infrared to go around:





I'll be going up to Acadia again in early August; can't wait to take my "new" camera with me!

BEAUTIFUL ACADIA

Last weekend I spent a lovely few days in Bar Harbor, home of Acadia National Park. I had the opportunity to photograph a family here at Jordan Pond, with its view of "The Bubbles." These two mountains were given their nickname by a friend of Mr. Rockefeller, who thought they resembled the physical attributes of one of his lady friends :-)