Kayaking, hiking and Industrial Ph0tography

It was a perfect day for Kayaking on Runaround Pond in Durham, Maine Thursday. The Lake was like glass, and all you could hear was the sounds of nature. Birds calling and Frogs croaking. Turtles are a challenge to photograph. The hardest part is to get close enough to click the shutter without them slipping quickly into the water. There were five turtles on this log, and I just let the kayak slowly glide through the water. I must have posed no immediate threat as a couple of them even looked at me and appeared to smile. At least smile as much as a Painted Turtle can smile. Just as I focused on the turtle on the end of the log, another one crawled out of the water, as if to say, "me too, me too".  As I glided away, they were still sunning themselves and soaking up the heat. The second difficulty with photographing turtles is balancing the light between their dark shells and the lighter log, as well as looking out for the sun reflecting off their shells. That can cause quite a glare and blow out the highlights. That day was another gift of nature. Little did I know that when I got home, I would have another little "gift of nature" waiting for me.

As for that other gift, sitting in the driveway when I arrived home was this Monarch Butterfly. One of two conditions occurred to me, it was either at the end of its life span, or just beginning. The wings looked so fresh and whole, I believed it had just emerged from its cocoon and was trying to dry its wings before being able to fly. Not wanting it to be run over, I put my hand down and it clung to me. I then put it on these Black-eyed Susan's and watched. It sat there for about an hour before showing its complete wing span, and flew off. It posed nicely for some photos and then began its new life in earnest, probably the beginning of its migration to Mexico. Patience is a virtue, especially dealing with insects and Macro Photography.

A photo shoot had been arranged for members of the Capital Area Camera Club on Saturday. We began by hiking to White Granite Quarry in Jay, Maine. It was a nice mile hike through an Apple Orchard, with antique farm equipment at the side of the trail, then through a nice woods with trail signs, and on to the Gazebo that looks over the Quarry. The morning began with heavy rain at times, and settled into fog. Though challenging, fog can add some very nice looks to your photos. Too much light shining through will be highly reflective, and care must be taken to constantly check your histogram to prevent burning out the highlights and getting a photo of nothing but fog. All in all, an interesting start to a Saturday morning. I will elaborate on the the afternoon portion of the CACC shoot next week. We left the Quarry and headed to the Mill Cafe in Jay, for a well deserved break and food, good food. More next week, and keep shooting.....

 More photos of the Industrial Shoot, of the Quarry, Farm Equipment, and the Otis Paper Mill in Jay can be seen on my web site:  www.jimwalkerphotography.com.