PAW 2006 - Wk#43 AnotherDeer

deer in our front yard
are not an uncommon sight
we live in their woods

Of course hunting season is about to begin...somehow they realise this and will make themselves scarce until deep winter.

PAW 2006 - Wk#42 Gratuitous Foliage Photos

Peak hit so quickly
I nearly missed all the leaves
that would have been sad.







These are all from within 5 miles of our home.

PAW 2006 - Wk#41 Fryeburg Fair

masses of people
fattening treats everywhere
it smells like heaven.



Standard Bred Sulky racing has been a mainstay of the Fair for most of its history.

PAW 2006 - Wk#40 - Fall Fungi

Baxter Woods trailside
Fall Fungi delights the eye
Temporary joy!

PAW 2006 - Wk #39 - Two Lights

We now interupt the regularly scheduled BLOG for a typical cliche Maine image...


Now that that is out of the system, we can now return you to your regularly scheduled BLOG exploring the lives of a typical Western Maine family as they also head to the coast to enjoy one of the last nice Summer days...

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We went to Two Lights in Cape Elizabeth. We didn't go to the State Park, but rather had lunch at the Lobster Shack at the end of Two Lights Rd. and then explored the rocks and the periwinkles and crabs down below the Two Lights that gave name to the State Park.


If I had had a teacher like this when I was in school, I think I'd have had much more fun and got much better marques! (Yes, my kids know that I have the hots for their teacher...even after almost 20 years of marriage.)

home education
often means leaving one's home
to explore the world

Learning opportunities never end for a homeschooling family...Tracey is really great with the Earth Sciences especially when we can get hands on and do some field work with the grrrls.







While not part of our class activites this MECCA student was working with a nice 4X5 view camera down on the beach below one of the Two Lights for an upcoming assignment...

PAW 2006 - Wk#38 - Jockey Cap

we climbed jockey cap
the hill overlooks Fryeburg
only a short walk

Late summer is the time that we really like to get out and enjoy Maine. The weather is perfect for outdoor activities and we need the exercise. These are views from the top of Jockey Cap a small hill (barely a 1/4 mile walk to the top) that gets you up overlooking the valley wherein lies Fryeburg, Maine and the mighty Saco river. The horizontal shot here is looking across the valley out to the White Mountain National Forests and the Presidential Range. Mt. Washington is in the middle of this shot. In another month Mt. Washington will be covered with bright white snow at the top and will stay that way for most of the following 12 months. It seems only in late Summer that it is all green.

PAW 2006 - Wk#37 - Another Rainbow

a very dark storm
ended in a bright rainbow
fear subdued by light

We drove throught the terrific thunder storm all the way home from the wedding and when we crested the hill, the brilliant stormlight of the setting sun hit the cloud vapours just right to produce this wonder in the field on Fessenden Hill. We are entering that time of year when the light is most conducive to great photography in Maine.

PAW 2006 - Wk# 36 - Guardian

at the windows edge
our guardian spins and waits.
her web will work well

Huge barn spiders have taken up living in the deep overhanging eaves of our roof. This one lives just outside of the kitchen window where I made this photo just after dusk. We like them there becuase they tend to keep the more prone to biting bug population down a bit. (or rather a bite as it were!)

A Beth Photo of Me

I know this is my PhotoBlog, but my youngest grrrl keeps amazing me with her photography as much as my eldest impresses me with her drawing. Until we set her up with her own Blog, I'll share these here for the grandparents as well. (What can I say, I'm a dad who is proud of his grrrls.) We hiked up to the top of Jockey Cap today in Fryeburg. Beth took this portrait of me in my sage survival Utilikilt while I was shooting with an ancient Ziess Ikon 6X9. I like this one so much, I'm updating my Blog avatar with it.

PAW 2006 - Wk#35 - Royal Enfield

A hot summer day
Phil, Maylene and the Enfield
out behind the barn.

PAW 2006 - Wk #34 - Dr. Ralph Stanley

My dad and I scored tickets to see Dr. Ralph Stanley at Carol Noonan's newly opened Stone Mountain Arts Center (SMAC) which is in Brownfield, just down the road from my hometown of Denmark.

Last night's show was the first major act that has shown at SMAC and it sold out pretty quickly. I think Ms. Noonan has a sucessful venue on her hands.

All societies need beautiful places to foster art and performance, more especially rural societies where community tends to play such an important role in people's lives, but SMAC will also be a venue for weddings in the area (which is sorely in need of quality wedding venues.) I welcome the possibility of lessening my own carbon footprint (especially at $3.10/Gal!) and to maybe once in a while not have to travel so many hours each week just to work my own craft.

SMAC is a lovely timberframed entertainment facility situated deep in the forested hills of small town Western Maine. One of the charms of our region of Vacationland is that it is no more than an hour from the Atlantic, no more than an hour from the greatest contiguous alpine area in the United States east of the Mississippi, but still wonderfully located in relative seclusion of wooded hills and lakes! Don't let anyone know that though. We've got enough folks here to enjoy it all already.
:)

PAW 2006 - Wk #33 - Burnt Meadow Mountains

No Haiku on this one at the moment. Just thought it was a great scene. These last five weeks of Summer are always my favourite of the season. We are headed into Fall -which is my favourite season- the light is fantastic, the weather is perfect and the bugs have subsided enough for us to really enjoy the warm days and cooler nights.

PAW 2006 - Wk #32 - Angela's Wedding

I don't usually post any wedding work here as I have an entire business site devoted to that, but this one was even more special than the weddings that I get to document on a weekly basis. This is a photo of my little sister's wedding (and just about everyone who was there) at Ft. Williams Park in Cape Elizabeth, ME on the 6th of August.

Congratulations!
Best wedding wishes to you.
May your lives be rich.

PAW 2006 - Wks #27-31 (Random Order)

I'm steady with weddings until late October and am trying to spend some time with family as well as updating my personal projects such as this and the book ideas that Tracey and I are working on. Here are some of the personal photos that I've made since my last post in no particular order...


It was a very hot day and Beth found this one way to cool off.


Window light from the '2 Cats' in Bar Harbor.


Scene from the entrance to Mt. Desert Island.


Downtown Bar Harbor on a Summer's night.


Nick flying a kite at Ft. Williams Park in Cape Elizabeth, ME.


Beth reading a book with Starbuck in the early morning Summer sunlight.

PAW 2006 - Wk#26 - Beth's Sunset Shoot

a Naples sunset.
a camera of her own,
Beth makes some photos.

Elizabeth just turned 8 years old. I gave her my little Canon SD300 as a gift. She sees much the way I do and enjoys making pictures, but has so much more opportunity as a kid to do something about it than I did that Tracey and I really wanted to encourage her to follow the passion as far as she wishes to just as her older sister follows her passion and talent for graphic arts. (At 9, Nicole has a much better talent for drawing things to proportion and acurate rendition than I do at 39.)

This is one of the photos that Beth made as I photographed her above...I did a little framing and such in Photoshop, but the basics of the image are hers alone. We printed a bunch of 8X12s on the Fuji Frontier and she is very proud. I'm allowing her to enjoy the process of image making first before we geet into the more detailed notions of exposure control via ISO, WB, Shutter Speed and Aperture.

PAW 2006 - Wk #25 - Portland Museum of Art

One of the jewels of Maine is the Portland Museum of Art. We have just joined as a family as both of our grrrls show as much interest in things artistic as Tracey and I do. I've photographed a few weddings at the museum and it is a great space regardless of the art that is there displayed.

These are the steps leading from the basement cafe to the main gallery.


General Grant's sword.


Portland's native son (and one of my distantly related ancestors via the Wasdworths) Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.


Heavily PhotoShopped, but I like it even with the banding on the wall. My grrrls admiring, Leonardo's earlier version of La Gioconda.


The painting itself.


The museum's explanation of the exhibit. (Capitalising on the popularity of Dan Brown's work doesn't hurt...all publicity is good publicity.)

PAW 2006 - Wk #24 - Shadowclef

saw this shadowclef.
photography like music,
promotes harmony.

PAW 2005 - Week #23 - Dancer

Her first chorus line,
Beth's a natural dancer.
A joy that she loves.

As we homeschool our grrrls here a mile deep in the woods of Maine's western hills, dance class is also a great activity (like girlscouts, music lessons, art class, and soon...4H, Rainbow, etc..) for them to engage with other kids their own age.

PAW 2006 - Wk#22 - Dandilion

new flowers waiting
soon to ride the gentle winds
and seed our front lawn

Got a new D70s and a Sigma 18-50/2.8 lens for it. This was a test of both. At 70mm wide open at 2.8 the background is completely muted. It should be a fine portrait lens. (I was also about 4 inches away from the flower so the close up works well also.)

PAW 2006 - Wk 21 - Wet Forest

hard rains fell, drops cling
bright green leaves on ebon bark
birds sing tart yet sweet



These, of course are bright green leaves on bright white bark, but lovely none the less.

PAW 2006 - Wk#20 - Forest

walking the forest
to photograph its spirit
some see only trees

It was time for a change. This is the new wallpaper for my Blog.

PAW2006 - Wk# 18 - Blackflies

blackfly season sucks
its not the mud that bothers
so much as blood loss

PAW 2006 - Wk# 17 - Beltaine

Beltaine at Popham
another spring halfway gone
where does the time go?

This marked the 24th annual Beltaine at Popham beach. I wrote about it at great length last year so won't repeat the story again this year. The event continues to grow. As this photo shows, we actually had to use 5 maypoles this year because of the size of the crowd!

Birds

these geese fly northward
returning from winters' rest
Canada or Bust.

During our trip to Popham Beach, these Canadian Geese flew over in perfect formation.
Here is a longer shot on the beach of the same birds...

PAW 2006 - #16 - Awen Cara

This is Awen Cara (lit. "Flowing Spirit Friend" in Gaelic)
I spent much of this past weekend making and getting to know this flute.



For our upcoming 19th wedding anniversary, my dear wife gifted me with a seat in Tim Spotted Wolf's Flute Carving Workshop this last weekend. Tim and Wood Artistian Eve Abreu hold the workshop at Eve's studio "Ravenwood" in Bridgton.


This is Seabhac ("Hawk".) I carved Seabhac into the foot of this flute. Hawks are quite special to me. We have several hawks here on our land whom I watch (and who watch us.) They teach me a lot.


This is the saddle of the flute. On this style of flute it is more than decoration, it is necessary to the proper airflow. The first saddle that I made during the workshop was supposed to be Dobhran ("Otter".) I don't work well carving in three dimensions and so as Beth said when I brought it home...it looked more like an ill dinosaur than it looked like an Otter. :)

For the replacement pictured above, I took a small piece of the wide pumpkin pine boards that we removed from the 1789 Federal Home that stood on this land for more than 200 years before the fire in 1995 and I carved and sanded it down to a correctly sized saddle. On top of this I placed a piece of real ivory that we also salvaged from the keys of the old player piano that was also destroyed by the fire. I scrimshanded Doire ("Stag") into the ivory and he looks wonderful. This saddle fits the flute better, has much more meaning for me and sounds even better than the Prehistoric Otter that I carved in the workshop did!