The Encroaching Dawn
Sunset Blues at the Dungeon
Beautiful blues as the sun sets on Dungeon Provincial Park in Newfoundland.
Rocky Dungeon
A glorious sunrise met us this morning under not so great circumstances. Last night I somehow lost my memory card from that day’s shooting. I scoured the area a few times and was up early to look again in the sunlight before we had to run off to our next destination. Luckily for me my friends are amazing people and helped look for the card at all the nearby places we shot but to no avail.
Sunrise on the Bay
That’s how things go sometimes so we packed up and headed to Bonavista, a puffin spotting area north of St. John’s. As we drove down the highway the most amazing thing happened -a female moose and her calf sauntered across the road right in font of us. Don’t worry we were far enough away to stop. But what a great opportunity for us!
Moose and Calf
The encounter was quick but one that will stay with us for a long time. Now it was time to set our sites on Bonavista and the puffins we would find there. Well, that’s what we thought at least. It seems that the majoirty of these clownish birds had already left for colder waters. Only a few pairs were left but we still had the opportunity to get some fun shots of the birds.
Posturing
For those looking to see puffins in Newfoundland – these birds tend to migrate on or after the Labour Day weekend. So, had we shown up a couple days earlier there would have been hundreds of these funny little guys to photograph.
Soon after settling in and grabbing our dinner at our hotel we headed off to Dungeon Provincial Park to get some sunset and blue hour shots. The park has a stunning shoreline of craggy rocks giving us a great foreground as they sky turned pink and purple.
Spillars Cove
We stayed until the moon rose, a sliver in the sky behind us and as we walked back to the car we all agreed that we would be back here tomorrow for sunrise.
Early Morning at Pemaquid Point
In my previous post I mentioned my plan for an early morning shoot at Pemaquid Point Lighthouse, so here I am, bright and early after a late night of shooting stars. As I arrived the blue hour was slowly starting to lighten towards the pastel pinks of sunrise so I had to act quickly. I set up my first shot on the hill opposite of where I was last night and created the shot below.
Blue Dawn
As the sky lightened and headed toward the pinks and purples of early morning I headed back down to the shoreline to snag some golden hour shots of the striated rock.
The Dawning
And of course I had to shoot more of the lighthouse, particularly of the iconic photo of its reflection in the small puddle. As I look at the photo below I realize I should have taken some shots of just the reflection in the puddle but I guess that is for my next visit here.
Pemaquid Lighthouse
As the day made its way toward afternoon I decided to visit another lighthouse in the area. The Doubling Point Light, built in 1892 is located on the Kennebec River. It’s a small lighthouse on a private road but at the end you will discover a very small parking lot not too far away from the lighthouse.
Doubling Point Light
I did a lot of exploring in the area and ended up at Boothbay Habor to pick up some dinner. It’s a lovely town situated in a calm cove on the ocean. I loved the group of kayaks just hanging out in the water not too far away from the main pedestrian bridge.
Boothbay Harbour
It was a great to be able to explore the area rather than rush off to another destination. Tomorrow I’ll be moving on again and this time it will be to Acadia National Park.
To New York’s Caroga Lake
Today was the start of my week long solo road trip to Maine. It is going to be a mad adventure as I hit some great places in the New England area. I’ll be camping in New York, Massachusetts and a few places along Maine’s coast up to my final stop in Acadia. Tonight I’m doing a quick stop in Caroga Lake Campground just south of the Adrionacks.
Caroga Lake State Park
Once I had the campsite set up and some dinner in my belly it was time to head out to the lake to get some shots as the light faded away.
Way Point
After about an hour I wandered back to the campsite to wait for full dark before heading back to see if I could get some night shots.
The Big Dipper
Although you can see the stars, things were a little bright with all the homes across the small lake. Still it was fun to get out and enjoy a sky full of stars. Tomorrow I move on to my next campsite in Massachusetts.