Destination Little Whaleboat Island

Photo quote for today: "You learn to see by practice. It's just like playing tennis, you get better the more you play. The more you look around at things, the more you see. The more you photograph, the more you realize what can be photographed and what can't be photographed. You just have to keep doing it." -Eliot Porter

This weekend's images are from a day trip that John Theberge and I took out of Harpswell Neck, which is located in the northern end of Casco Bay. Our plan that day was to paddle south to Little Whaleboat Island.

We started our trip at a place called Lookout Point. Off on the very distant horizon to the right is Shelter Island, which was to be our first stop of the morning. With a clear blue sky, we were able to navigate this leg by line-0f-site, and not have to spend time looking down at the compass or GPS. We put in at around 8:00 am, and if we caught all the lights, figured we'd make it to Whaleboat around mid-day.

Roughly and hour out of Lookout Point, we were on the approach to Shelter Island. The ledges in the foreground seem to be a favorite spot for various sea birds. The granite shoreline made the landing a little challenging. The island turned out to be totally tree covered and fairly steep, so after a quick break it was back in the kayaks. Because Little Whaleboat Island was still somewhere over the horizon, the next leg of the trip would need to be navigated by chart and GPS. The next group of islands on route would be The Goslings. The challenge with finding your exact location in Casco Bay is that there are three-hundred and sixty-eight islands to choose from. If you miss your target island you end up wasting time getting back on course.

This area of Casco Bay is dotted ledges, which is great for the birds, and keeps the boat traffic to a minmum.

The Goslings is a grouping of three small islands, with the larger of the three below a favorite destination point for boaters. On this day we decided to pass on a landing and paddle through to our final destination point.

After about fours hours of paddling we beached the kayaks on Little Whaleboat Island. 

On the back side of the island we observed another kayaker who had paddled in from the south.

On our way back to Lookout Point we chose a more westerly route with more favorable winds. The image below is from the west side of Lower Goose Island. Once we cleared this island the wind came up strong, so the cameras packed for the day, and we had to focus on keeping the kayaks on course.

Bas Harbor Headlight

Photo quote for today: "Sometimes I do get to places just when God's ready to have somebody click the shutter." -Ansel Adams



What would Maine Coast week be without the obligatory lighthouse photo? This is the sunny-side-up version of the reflection I posted earlier this week. Even though this lighthouse has been photographed more times then anyone can count, and that I was using the same tripod holes as the previous five-hundred photographers, it was still worth my time. All things being equal, if you were to put a group of photographers in the same location, it should be no surprise that no two images would be alike. An image first starts to come together (to quote an old cliché) "in your minds eye", and as one continues to grow their photography, their style starts to emerge.

Bass Harbor

This morning while sorting through my work desk, I came across a collection of photo quotes that I have on occasion re-visted whenever I've felt the need to jump start my creative juices. So starting today, I'd like to share some of this food for thought. This first one is my favorite.


"What we do during our working hours determines what we have: what we do in our leisure hours determines what we are." -George Eastman

Sunrise at Bass Harbor. Located on the souteast end of Mount Desert Island, this working harbor sits in the shadows of Acadia National Park and the more well known Bar Harbor. Whenever I go to a location I try my best to explore every corner to make sure I've made the most of the trip.

Kayaking Camden

Here's a view few tourists get to see. Curtis Island Light sits outside of Camden Harbor but is only visible from the water, or the top of Mt. Battie in the background. A small portion of Camden Harbor can be seen on the left. My wife had dropped me off at the launch site them went off to go shopping, while I made my way to Rockport just a few miles down the coast. My wife often expresses concern when I'm out in the open water by myself. I kind of feel the same leaving here alone on main street in Camden with the credit card; at least I have a life jacket.

Reflections from Bass Harbor Head

Bass Harbor Headlight is popular with both tourists and photographers. While vacationing on Mount Desert Island, I visited the headlight and came across this reflection while climbing along the shoreline rocks, and found the view from this angle rather interesting. I displayed this image in a physicians office and was told by the manager that by the end of many a work day they would find the frame had been rotated by patients, thinking it was up-side-down.

Sunset on Cadillac Mountain

With summer fast approaching I thought I'd spend this week posting scenes from the Maine Coast. This first image was taken on the top of Cadillac Mountain in Acadia National Park.