Thursday, November 15, 2012

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.

Monday, November 12, 2012

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!

Thursday, October 4, 2012

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! 

Tuesday, October 2, 2012

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!

Tuesday, September 4, 2012

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

Saturday, August 11, 2012

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.

Friday, August 10, 2012

Moonrise Over Portland Harbor: Explored on flickr

Moonrise Over Portland Harbor
I took this photo a couple of months ago behind Harbor Fish Market, in the Old Port and I don't know why, but I hadn't posted it anywhere yet, even on my website. Yesterday, it was explored on flickr, which is always exciting, because it brings a lot of traffic and a lot of people look at my blog and website. 

You can see it on Explore here.

But this tranquil shot belies what REALLY happened that night: when I got there, there were two drunk guys, listening to classic rock on a crappy radio out of a shopping cart and quietly slurring back and forth to each other. 

As I stood there with my camera, tripod and entire kit, a foot away from the water, they suddenly got in a fight over one of the guy's cell phone, and started rolling around on the cobblestones three feet behind me, shouting obscenities and punching each other! I thought, "it's only a matter of time before they knock me right into the water, along with all my gear!" and I got mad, because I couldn't even walk by them because they were rolling around so much.

For some stupid reason, I just yelled at them in my sternest "Mom voice": "Both of you STOP IT RIGHT NOW! I am trying to take a picture and you're fighting over a cell phone behind me? GET UP!" And they both looked really shocked and shame-faced, believe it or not, instead of whipping out a knife or a gun to kill me, and said they were sorry! 

I suddenly realized what I had done, grabbed my stuff, and marched off towards Harbor Fish Market, where a guy who was having a smoke out there, complimented me with a, "Way to GO, Mama!" lol!
When I went back afterwards, hoping it would all be okay, one of the guys had run off, and the other one apologized profusely to me! Too funny. . . But I WAS lucky that I got the right two drunks, who just happened to be scared by "Principal Cindy."

If you're interested in purchasing this image, you can do so at fine art america.

Wednesday, August 8, 2012

Stars Over Sebago Lake


On Saturday night, I spent the night at a camp on Sebago Lake.  I was lucky enough to experience clear skies and capture a couple of pictures of the sailboats at rest on the beach under the stars.  You can see these and many other Maine landscape images in my Maine Landscapes Gallery.

Wednesday, July 25, 2012

Lots of my New Work at Kennedy Studios and Portland Head Light Gift Shop

Starry Portland Head Light is up for sale, matted at the Portland Head Light Gift Shop.  Plus, in addition to all the older work shown there, I have all kinds of new matted work for sale at Kennedy Studios on Exchange Street in Portland.  Stop by and see it and let me know what you think.  It's a great gallery.  They are really friendly and helpful and do an incredible job with matting/framing.  Below, you'll find some of the other images I have there:







Monday, June 18, 2012

NOT Just Another Starry Night. . .

The Loner at Night
My friend Felice Boucher and I went out to Scarborough Marsh together last night to photograph the stars, and I was thrilled to be able to capture my favorite lone tree with a majestic starry background.  It was so beautiful out there last night.  There were crickets chirping, the sound of the water currents in the marsh beside us, and the carpet of stars above us.  We ended up staying for almost THREE HOURS we were having so much fun!  I'm tired today, but it was well worth it. 
Bridge to the Stars
The above shot was actually taken before the tree shot, when we were walking out the path towards the tree.  I like the leading lines of the bridge and the sort of sun-settish light on the horizon.  This is actually the light of either Portland or Scarborough, not sunset light, as this was taken at 9:45 at least.  Cool nonetheless!

You can see these two shots and a bunch of others in my Scarborough Marsh Gallery.

Tuesday, June 12, 2012

Starry Night

Stars over Portland Head Light, Saturday 6/09/12
A vertical shot of the stars over Portland Head Light
A recent morning test of my new ND10 filter at Portland Head Light.  I like how it drags the clouds out and smooths the waves into silkiness because of the long exposure.
Thanks go to the Cape Elizabeth Police Department who so very kindly let me in the main gates of Fort Williams Park on Saturday night this past weekend to do some star photography over my favorite light house.  Jon went with me, so I didn't have to worry about being alone out there, and the stars were just magnificent. 

You can see all of these photos and more in my new Portland Head Light Gallery.

Tuesday, May 22, 2012

Help me out with your votes for my t-shirt design!

Deer Isle, Maine - Threadless T-shirts, Nude No More

Hi everyone,

I need your help, scoring my t-shirt design in the Threadless Loves Photography contest!  If you click on the link above, it will take you directly to my t-shirt design, which is the above photo on a light pink t-shirt.  There are only 7 days to put your vote in and I'm hoping that you'll all forward this blog post/request to your friends and family members as well. 

Thanks so much!  Cindy

Saturday, May 19, 2012

Bug Light Kite Festival 2012

Giant Manta Ray Kite

Lots of Kites everywhere

A butterfly kite joins the fun

Helping to control the Manta Ray

This morning, I went with my daughter to the Bug Light Kite Festival in South Portland, Maine.  It was a lot of fun--tons of kite flying, happy people, blue skies and warm, Spring weather.  We also got to go inside tiny Bug Light, which is something I'd wanted to do for a while, but the pictures aren't all that noteworthy. . . 

You can see these pictures and many, many more on my new Bug Light Kite Festival Gallery!

Tuesday, May 15, 2012

Night Photography in Deer Isle, Maine

A 35 minute exposure at ISO 160, f/4.5 taken in the field across the street from my mother's house.
The identical perspective and camera placement to the above shot, but a dramatically shorter exposure and higher ISO to be able to capture the stars not moving.  ISO 3200, f/4.5 for 45 seconds.
Taken by turning back across the street towards my mother's house.  Same exposure as the second shot here.  Amazing, how the dim, soft lighting inside ended up looking like I had placed bright flashes behind each window.  It even created light flares up in the pine trees and on top of the house. 
We visited my mother in Deer Isle for Mother's Day this past weekend and had a great dinner with her and my brother and his wife!  I had determined that if it remained as clear as it had been all day long, that I would get out well after dark and finally try my hand at some star trails and star photography.  So I am really happy that I was able to do that and got some nifty pictures.  It would have been better had I had some foreground element, but at least I got to practice! 

I was also very happy the next morning that the birds woke me up exceptionally early (4:40 am!) and I looked out the window and saw that it was mostly cloudy.  I thought I might go back to bed, but then I thought that I am hardly ever up in Deer Isle, so I dragged my butt out of bed and headed over to Marriner's Park, about five minutes away with my camera and tripod, where I was able to get some nice shots at high tide of the sunrise.

Marriner's Park at Dawn:  this water-filled canoe drifted into the picture and I placed my camera and tripod so I could capture the sunrise along with it and these beautiful rocks. 
This is an in-camera HDR.
You can see all of these shots and many more in my brand new Deer Isle Gallery.

Cindy

Cindy
welcome to my world!

Blog Archive

cfw photography store