Bar Harbor fireworks

An opportunity for a new type of photography.

I chose to spend the week of July 4th in Acadia National Park in part because I thought it would be fun to be in Bar Harbor for Independence Day.  Indeed, they hosted a fantastic fireworks display, down at the harbor.  The weather was absolutely perfect – clear skies, light breeze, warm temps.

I started the evening on the rooftop deck of the Bar Harbor Beerworks, which has an extensive collection of local brews along with decent pub-style food.  As the evening progressed, they started charging $$extra to remain on deck –presumably because it had a great view of the sky over the harbor, and there is surely some appeal to watching the display from a beer deck.  Instead, I checked out and headed down to the waterfront.  Although I arrived an hour early, the crowds had already staking out the best spaces on the grassy harborside park.  I squeezed into a nice patch of grass between two families and close to the harbor’s edge. Eventually there were many hundreds of happy people here.

I set up my tripod but then realized I’d forgotten the tripod plate — required to attach the camera to the tripod!  So I nested the camera in the soft camera bag, pointing roughly in the right direction, and waited.

The fireworks were spectacular, and lasted what seemed like a half hour.  Sitting this close, I could feel the concussive boom of each burst.

Fireworks in Bar Harbor (Acadia) on July 4th

I took nearly 300 shots, and whittled them down to five for the gallery.  Not too shabby for a first try!

Canon R5, ISO 200, f/10, 2-2.5s exposure. Shutter triggered remotely via Bluetooth from Canon’s iPhone app.  Post-processed with Lightroom, mostly Auto settings.

Acadia Mountain

It’s good to be back.

I pulled onto Mount Desert Island for the first time in nearly 30 years, eager to return to Acadia National Park. When we visited before, the weather was cold, cloudy, and drizzly. This week looks to be sunny and warm nearly every day, and I plan to make the most of it – hiking, exploring, and learning to use my new Canon R5 camera. For my first outing, I headed toward the western half of the island – as the NPS guide rightly advised me, the popular eastern side would be extremely crowded on this sunny national holiday.

Hikers enjoy the view of Somes Sound from summit of Acadia Mountain, Acadia.
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Tesla camping

A worthwhile experiment.

I realized some time ago that my Tesla Model Y might offer new opportunities (and challenges) for car camping. So I was determined to give it a go! I camped one night at the Lobster Buoy Campsites (described in the prior post) and, overall, it was a worthwhile experience – and I learned some lessons for the future. Read on.

A mattress inside the Model Y, made up with pillow, sheets, and blanket.
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Spruce Head, Maine

Today is Independence Day, a holiday here in the U.S., and I decided to take the week off to do a little camping, a little hiking, a little travel, and a lot of photography. One of Brenda Petrella’s podcasts from her Outdoor Photography School inspired me to return to Acadia National Park – which I had last visited nearly thirty years ago. So I booked a hotel there in Bar Harbor, Maine, but wanted to break up the drive by camping along the way. Needless to say, finding an available campsite on Sunday of a three-day summer holiday weekend was nigh impossible, at the last minute, but a Google search led me to a few options along the coastal portion of my drive from home to Acadia. I found a spot – and a whole lot more. Read on.

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Black bear burgles birdseed

I should know better.

It was 4:00am and, it being a lovely summer’s night, the bedroom windows were wide open. In a few minutes, as the dusk softened, the birds would start to chatter and sing, waking me for a new day. Instead, I awoke to hear a clattering out on the deck, like the sound of a hanger being tossed around on a clothes rack. I knew what was happening even before I got up to investigate.

We are fortunate to live in a rural area with nearly every sort of wildlife – bear, moose, deer, fox, coyote, bobcat, fisher, mink, groundhog, beaver, not to mention birds and countless small critters. I’ve had even greater good fortune to see each of those, and to photograph a few. We know bears are hungry in the spring, and it is well known that bears will seek out birdfeeders, as birdseed is rich in fat and nutrients. I failed to bring the birdfeeders inside last night, as our black-bear neighbor discovered on his morning rounds.

A black bear tears down our birdfeeder for breakfast.

It was still rather dark, and although I could see well, the iPhone XR doesn’t quite have sufficient dynamic range. After the bear polished off one birdfeeder, and headed for the second, I turned on the outdoor lights. That didn’t faze the bear at all, but allowed me to capture the final four minutes of his visit on video. At the end, you can see our cat, watching intently, growling softly.

This behavior is not good for the bear, or for us. Or for the birdfeeders 😉. It’s my responsibility to remember to bring in those birdfeeders every night… or to delay using birdfeeders until later in the summer.

Strawberry season!

A favorite summer ritual.

I love strawberries, and I especially love strawberry season. I have long enjoyed the opportunity to visit pick-your-own strawberry fields, fill many quart boxes, and then return home to eat some now, and freeze most for eating later. Indeed, I’ve just about finished my frozen bags of 2021 berries, so I was eager to get out there today before the season ends (likely next week, if not sooner).

Today I picked eight heaping quarts of the ripest, juiciest berries I’ve seen in a long time, at Edgewater Farms in Plainfield NH. The sun was warm, the breeze pleasant, the berries plentiful, and I could hear the buzz of many happy families nearby in the field. I spent about an hour picking, and (back home) another hour washing, sorting, trimming, cutting, and freezing most of them. You caught me red-handed!

After dinner I enjoyed the ultimate treat… vanilla ice cream with strawberries!

Kiawah

Return of the Osprey!

We spent a long weekend at Kiawah, to join some family celebrations in nearby Charleston. I took the opportunity to do some photography, as I often do here, out on the beach and along the winding roads of the island neighborhoods. Indeed, I just switched to a new camera, the Canon R5 – about which I’ll write later – so this was a great chance to learn how to use it.

The full gallery includes a variety of photos, but the highlight was a visit to an osprey nest (the same one we photographed last June). Mama Osprey and two fledglings peered out from the nest, while Papa Osprey watched closely from a nearby tree.

Mom and two chicks in an Osprey nest, Kiawah.

Summer solstice

Longest day of the year?

PhotoPills screenshot showing time/date for equinoxes and solstices.

Today is the summer solstice (in the northern hemisphere). More precisely, the solstice occurred at 5:15am here in the Eastern timezone. The summer solstice is the moment at which the sun has ‘traveled’ to its northernmost latitude, in its annual cycle of apparent movement to the north in summer and to the south in winter. (It’s a great day for those of us with solar panels, because it means we’re getting hours of sunlight!) Read on.

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