Daffodils!

 

I drove down to Laurel Hill Cemetery in Saco, Maine last week and was lucky to capture a bunch of images I was very happy with of the thousands of daffodils that bloom there this time of year.  They stretch from the top of the hill above the river all the way down to the bottom and down a beautiful wooded path.  The light was gorgeous and warm that early in the morning.  It does your heart good to see so many daffodils blooming at once.  Birds were singing all around me and I was just about alone with all of those flowers.  Ahhh! 

You can see all of these images and many more in my Flowers Gallery.

As always, thanks for looking,

Cindy

The First Breath of Spring in Southern Maine

There are crocuses blooming all over my neighborhood, in little patches surrounding shady trees, by people's front steps, in splashes of color in people's gardens and forgotten pockets of people's yards.  It's always so exciting to see the first breath of Spring in Southern Maine, so I put on the lens I'm testing out right now and got my clothes dirty the other day, lying stretched out across the ground to get some pictures of these beauties.

You can see all of these shots and more in my flower portfolio.

Speckled Axe Coffee

My favorite: The Ghanaian Chocolate Mocha Latte!

Dan, serving his artfully decorated (or barista'd?) creation to me.

Dan, pouring a beautiful design in my latte.

A heart-shaped latte!

Pouring steamed milk into a latte.

Bethany Moran serves up a beautiful cup of Java!

A little cup of heaven. . .

They also do pour-over coffee--a type of slow process coffee that results in an absolutely delicious taste.

Speckled Axe Coffee's Facebook Page

A friend recently introduced me to my newest addiction: Speckled Axe Coffee.  Located at 567 Congress Street (very close to the corner of Forest and Congress (in the old Central Yarn location, for those of you who know Portland, Maine) they have great hip Indie music on the speakers that is at just the right volume for chatting with a friend as you enjoy some of their incredible beverages.

I personally love the Ghanaian Hot Chocolate, which is a sort of Mocha Latte made with Omanhene chocolate from the lush forests of Ghana in Africa: Omanhene Cocoa Bean Company Wiki  The drink is rich and deeply chocolatey, but with just the right touch of sweetness and coffee goodness. 

So far, all the staff I've encountered at Speckled Axe has been super nice and more than willing to answer questions and allow me to stick my camera in their faces as they attempt to do their jobs.  The cafe walls are painted a very beautiful kind of burnt Sienna or dark orangey-brown and has hardwood floors and wooden tables.  A lot of light pours in through the front windows, making it a wonderful place to spend a little quiet time getting caffeinated.

You can see all of these pictures and many more on my website: Speckled Axe Gallery on CFW Photography

Photography 101 Class at South Portland Community Center!

I'm excited to announce that I'll be teaching Photography 101 at South Portland Community Center again this winter!  It's coming right up, starting Tuesday, January 29th and running through March 12th.  You'll not only be learning how to take a better picture with anything from your cell phone to a dSLR, but we'll be talking about the various apps and websites from flickr and 500px to Instagram where you can showcase your new talents!  It doesn't matter if you've never taken a picture in your life; just bring whatever form of camera you have and be prepared to have a lot of fun as we experiment and learn about taking a great picture!  Click on this link to bring you to the South Portland Activity Registration Page and then you should find my class, Photography 101 on page 3.

If you can think of anyone who might be interested in taking this class who is in the area, please forward this post to them.  It doesn't matter if you aren't a South Portland resident.

Hope to see some of you at the class!

Best wishes, Cindy

Northern New England Journey Magazine

This shot has been seen a couple of places--first, in Portland Magazine's April 2011 issue.  I really liked
Bob Witkowski's creative use of a kayaker on Congress Street!

And now, a one-and-a-half page spread in Northern New England Journey Magazine--a AAA publication.  I'm really happy with having all three of these images in this semi-national magazine!

This is the original photo--an HDR of three shots taken while traffic was going through the intersection one way or another.

Sunrise at Bug Light

Bug Light Sunrise

 

This morning, I woke up early (5:30am) to go and photograph sunrise at Bug Light with my friend Felice Boucher.  On the way over to South Portland, the sky looked distinctly underwhelming, frankly, and I thought that I would have a good time chatting with Felice but that it would probably be a non-sunrise, which sometimes happens. . . 

Instead, by the time we got to Bug Light, the colors in the sky had gone from blah to WOW!  It was also 50 degrees out--very warm for November in Maine, so it was such an enjoyable thing to be out photographing in the balmy morning air. 

These are my three favorite shots of the morning.  The last one looks like a panorama, but is actually a "croporama", made from one shot of the Portland Skyline with my ultra-wide lens and then cropped in vertically on the top and the bottom.  You can see all of these shots in my Lighthouse Gallery

It's almost always worth it, crawling out of bed to see the sunrise, and today was one of the best I've seen in a long time.

Thanks for looking!

Winslow Homer Studio

Shot of Winslow Homer's deck view, in this month's Portland Magazine.

Winslow Homer studio exterior on a beautiful summer day.

Another view of the studio exterior.

Winslow Homer Living Room.

 

 

Stairs leading to both the bathroom (on the right) and the studio (to the left) .

 Would you be inspired by this view while taking a bath?  I know I would!

One of the views from Homer's studio area.  I like the architectural detail here.

"Oh what a friend change can be when it chooses." --Winslow Homer quote on the wall.

View from the Cliff Path right in front of the Homer property. 

Another view of the bathroom, and it's lovely view, looking down the short hallway.

And last but not least, Winslow Homer often signed his own windows.  Maybe certain paintings were done looking out these windows?  I would love to know more about this.  You can sort of read his name here. 

I had the good fortune to photograph Winslow Homer's beautiful, austere art studio on Prout's Neck in Scarborough, Maine, back in July.  I had so much fun deciding on angles and wondering what paintings might have been painted out of which windows back in his day.  It is a lovely, well-kept building with all kinds of interesting architectural details.

The first picture is a scan of the heading for the blurb about the studio in this month's issue of Portland Magazine.

You can see all of these pictures on my website. Have you ever been to Homer's studio?  If so, have an interesting story to relate?  Or are you a Homer fan?  I'd love to hear from you! 

Common Ground Fair 2012

Sights from 2012's Common Ground Fair

My family and I went to The Common Ground Fair in Unity, Maine two Sundays ago and had a great time.  The drive is always beautiful, winding through fields of corn and farmland.  We hadn't been in several years, so it was great to see people out, enjoying the beautiful weather at the fairgrounds.  Since we were there last, they added a farmers' market.  The smells of good, organic food floated everywhere, the sounds of children laughing and playing, yarn and whole fleeces for sale, Alpacas, oxen, draft horses, chickens and other farm animals on display, great music being played in various places, all made for a wonderful experience. 

If you went this year, leave a comment and tell me about your great experiences.  Happy Autumn everyone!

New Acadia National Park Gallery

Bernard Harbor near sunset

Last week, I camped on Mount Desert Island with my family and managed to not only have a great time, but capture a bunch of shots I'm very happy with.  We spent time at Sand Beach, and hiked Gorham Mountain, which has spectacular views of the Park Loop Road and Sand Beach.  We took a whale watch, but unfortunately didn't see any whales.  We visited Jordan Pond and Bubble Pond and of course did the requisite touring around Bar Harbor and had lunch at Epi's, where we used to eat when we lived in Bar Harbor as a young couple. 

I've made a new gallery of my favorite Acadia shots that you can visit on my website.

I hope you'll take a minute to visit and let me know what you think.  If you've been to the Acadia area, I'd love to hear what you like doing best there.  Feel free to leave a comment here or on my website! 

Best wishes,

Cindy

Dunegrass Sunset, Ferry Beach, Maine

Dungrass Sunset

Fishing at sun set, Ferry Beach

Fishing Boat at sunset, Ferry Beach

Sunset Boys at Ferry Beach

A couple of weeks ago, I hadn't had the camera in my hands for, well, a couple of weeks.  That is always very disconcerting to me, so seeing that it was a pretty early evening in July, I raced out to Ferry Beach in Scarborough.  The top picture of the dunegrass was my favorite shot of the evening, but it was just a beautiful early evening: balmy, soft air, quiet on the beach despite lots of people out enjoying the water, air and sun, seagulls wheeling around, a man fishing in hip-deep water, small boys playing in the sand.

 It's always amazing to me that I can drive a short 15 minutes and be at a place this beautiful, like Ferry Beach.  And there are so many places like it within short driving distances from my house.  It's nights like that that make me feel so lucky to live in Maine. 

You can see these photos and many more of Ferry Beach here.