Continuing the Adventures

West Quoddy Light Station Viewed from Liberty Point

We left the motel at 4 AM to travel onto Campobello Island and went to Liberty Point, which is the southern most tip of the island, to photograph the sunrise.  However, nature was against us, and we had fog.  But, there was still a lot to photograph.  Across Lubec channel, the candy striped West Quoddy light station could be visualized through the fog.  A portion of a cliff, rock face was made up of a rhyolite dike of iron pyrite which gave it a reddish color.  Looking at the scene, I decided I I saw the water flowing over the rocks and decided to photograph the scene with a slow shutter speed to blur the water.  Exposing the scene, so my histogram was to the right without touching the right edge and when I looked at the picture on my computer, I decided to utilize Topaz Impressions and convert the picture as a watercolor.

Rhyolite Dike and Water

Harebells

Beachhead Iris

Because Liberty Point gets a lot of fog and salt air, which cause the trees to lose their leaves/needles and turning the trunks and limbs white.

Trees

We next drove down to Con Robinson Point, and as we were slowly driving in I noticed a snowshoe hare feeding in the grass.  Stop the cars, the participants got slowly out and were able to to photograph the very cooperative hare.

Snowshoe Hare

The Path at Con Robinson Point

In the afternoon, we was supposed to go on a whale watch.  It was canceled supposedly due to high winds and thunderstorms (never occurred).  So after lunch we drove down to Truscott Maine, where on the side of the road, there was an old house and then front of the house was a large stand of Fireweed.  This presented many different opportunities for photographs.  We finished the day down at Beal Island, which contains the lobstering fishing village of Beals.  I also spent some time talking with Merle Beal, who was a lobstermen all his life.  Despite a slight drizzle and clouds, everybody had a good time.

Old House with Fireweed and Lupines with Seed Heads

Lobster Traps

Lobstering Equipment

Lobster Trap

Merle Beal

Next morning, we left again for Cutler for a second trip to Machias Seal Island.  I have to give you some information about Machias Seal Island.  The island is about 10 miles southeast from Cutler Maine and the sovereignty of the island is disputed.  Both United States and Canada claim the island.  Ambiguities in the Treaty of Paris which ended the Revolutionary war along with the Treaty of Ghent in 1814 left Machias Seal Island in a gray zone.  The Canadians to maintain their interest in the island keep the lighthouse manned.  In fact, it is the only manned lighthouse on the Atlantic coast of Canada.  The island is also a sanctuary for seabirds and the Canadian wildlife service administers the refuge.  The number of visitors daily to the island is limited.

We traveled out on a calm sea and in the fog to Machias, where after we landed, the fog cleared and presented great light for photography.  We changed which set of blinds, we utilized to give everybody a different perspective from the first day.  Besides the Atlantic puffins and razorbills, the blind that I was in also had a large number of common murres around it.

Lighthouse Keeper

Machias Light in the Fog

Northern Gannet

Northern Gannet, Razorbills and Common Murres

Atlantic Puffin Landing

Photographing in the Blind

Arctic Tern

Common Murres

Razorbills and Common Murre

Common Murre Landing with a Fish in Its Mouth

Atlantic Puffins

On leaving the island, the fog returned and we traveled first around the island and then to not rock to photograph the seals in the fog.

Gray Seals

After returning back to Cutler, we went to the motel where we rested until suppertime and then travel to West Quoddy light for sunset.  Again, it was very foggy, so that was no sunset.  We were able, after it got dark, to photograph the light beams coming from the lighthouse.  We also had a pair of visitors, two American porcupines.  So ended another great day in Down East Maine

West Quoddy Light and the Flags Whipping in the Wind

West Quoddy Light Beams Shining through the Fog

American Porcupine

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Razorbill Antics

Razorbills On the Rocks at Machias Seal Island

Besides all the Atlantic puffins that are on Machias seal island.  There is also a large colony of razorbills probably numbering up to 4000.  A number of the razorbills were putting on a show or either talking to one another or squabbling.  Since I can't speak razorbill I do not know what they were saying.

I captured two photographs of one pair of razorbills yakking with another razorbill on the side of them.  The first picture, I like how this third razorbill was looking at the other two razorbills with its mouth open, possibly saying stop it or whatever.  The second picture had the third razorbill, looking away from the other two razorbills, but, the two other razorbills to me had a better pose.

Razorbills, picture number one, I like the way the third bird is looking at the other two birds and has its mouth open

Razorbills, picture number two I like the way the two birds have their mouth open, but don't like the third birds, looking away

So what to do?  I decided to use Photoshop to see if I could combine both of the pictures into one which expresses my feelings on the scene.  Here's how I did it, I I took the first picture and edited in Lightroom to give me the look I wanted.  Next I utilized Topaz clarity and detail to enhance the picture.  After this, I took the first picture without the Topaz enhancements and in Lightroom synchronized the second picture, then I took the second picture and enhance it also with Topaz clarity and detail settings.  Now the fun begins.  I opened the two images in Photoshop, created a new image with the same dimensions as the original two images.  Under the Windows Menu> Arrange> Float All in Windows.  Then I selected the first of the two images and dragged it onto the new image file, repeated the same action again with the second image.  The layer panel now will contain two new layers, one for each of the original pictures.  Now you select both of the layers and in the Edit Menu , choose Auto-Align Layers and check Reposition Only then click OK.  Click on the top layer and in the layers panel Choose Layer> Layer Mask> Reveal All and add a layer mask to the chosen layer.  Using a black brush.  I painted to reveal the image that I wanted.  When I had the image looking like the way I wanted it to.  I flatten the image and saved it.  Here is the result.

Razorbills, the composite picture, I like this picture because all the birds have their mouth open.

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Down East Maine Coast Photo Tours and Workshops

East Quoddy Light

John Slonina and I led a photo tour and workshop to the down East Maine coast, and Campobello Island from July 25-28.  Normally, John limits his group size to six so that everybody gets personalized attention, plus he supplies, transportation on the overnight to was.  However, on this trip, since I was co-leading we were able to take nine participants and we utilized two vehicles.  This tour also included accommodations, but not meals.  Since part of the time we were going to go into Canada and visit Campobello Island, all participants needed their passport.

Meeting at the hotel on the afternoon of the first day, after a brief introduction and making sure that everybody had their passport we left Machias and traveled up to Campobello Island to the very top, where we had a great time photographing East Quoddy Light.  On the way back, we stopped and photographed a number of old boats stranded on the beach.  After passing through customs, we traveled into Lubec for our supper and afterwards returned to our hotel.

Group at East Quoddy Light with John answering a question

Old beached boat

The next morning, we left at 4 AM to get the sunrise at West Quoddy Light and then photographed along the trails at West Quoddy State Park, capturing the vistas of the granite cliffs and the Atlantic ocean.  During all the stops, John and I answered questions, advised people about change in their perspective and working a scene, by taking pictures, not only horizontal, but vertical, high and low perspectives and including other elements in the scene.  After we finished the morning shoot, we traveled back into Lubec for breakfast, then returned to the hotel to rest before we left to come back to Lubec to go on a whale watch.

Photographing West Quoddy Light

West Quoddy Light ( not taken this trip)

Sunrise on Coast Guard Trail West Quoddy State Park

Granite Cliffs of West Quoddy State Park

Leaving Lubec harbor on the while watch vessel, we traveled up the Bay of Fundy in Passamaquoddy Bay looking for whales and photographing the shoreline.  We had a great look at both gray and harbor seals and did see some harbor porpoises.  The trip took us up to the head harbor passage, and we were able to see East, Quoddy light and photograph it from the ocean side.  An interesting landmark was Friars Rock on Campobello.  This rock formation was created by being hit with cannonballs fired from a fort on the American side of the bay.  However, we finished the trip put out seen any whales, but, all the other sightings were great.  Arriving back at Lubec, it was suppertime and afterwards back to the hotel for night sleep prior to our trip out to mid Machias Seal Island the next day.

Friars Rock

Gray and Harbor Seals with Eastport Maine in the background

East Quoddy Light from the ocean side

Bald Eagle on the cliffs on Campobello Island

Roosevelt Memorial Bridge with Campobello on the left and Lubec on the right

 I reported out our trip to Machias Seal Island, in a previous blog.  The only problem we had on that trip was a couple of people who got seasick.  Most of the group that was on the boat with us came back and shared supper with us in Machias.

Loading the boat for the trip to Machais Seal Island

Atlantic Puffins

I am sorry to say that one of the people who got seasick on the trip was still feeling very dizzy the next morning, so we did take her to the emergency room at the local hospital where she was treated with great care and when she was feeling better brought back to the hotel and since she was feeling better and she said she could travel, I tried to catch up with the group as they were headed home, stopping at various locations such as Beale Island, a working lobstering village, Corea harbor and the Schoodic Peninsula portion of Acadia National Park.  I finally caught up with the remnants of the group at the Peninsula.

Corea Harbor in the fog

 After leaving the park, we started the trip home.  It was a great group and the whole experience was a lot of fun.



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