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It Should Be Springtime Here by Rob Hanson on 500px

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Blasted cold!

I woke up this morning to single digit temperatures. The wind chill was below 0F.

Now, I know that doesn’t mean much to those from farther up north, but around here in North Carolina, this is rather unusual for this time of year. And it has been relentless.

Although I’m quite done with winter for now, I realize it’s only a matter of a few months before I’m slogging through the heat and humidity of a Carolina summer. Perhaps I’ll try to remember this popsicle in late August, finding some refreshment in the memory.

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At least I think I have that right. Or, is it the middle of the Upper Lower Falls?

At any rate, we took a few days to check out Hanging Rock State Park in northern central North Carolina… (Ugh! Here we go again.) Traveling mid-week was a blessing, as we encountered very few people in this very popular park. In addition to hiking a number of trails, we made sure to visit most of the waterfalls in the area.

This looks like a perfect spot to hide out on a hot summer day.

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HDR from three exposures. Merged Photomatix Pro to 32-bit TIFF. Adjustments in ACR and PS CS6.

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The general consensus in photography is that you don’t shoot at the height of the day. I can understand the reasoning, but… I dunno…. sometimes it seems to work out just fine. I think such is the case here, where we’re presented with a stunning view from Dorr Mountain in Acadia National Park (Maine), looking south toward Otter Cove, Blackwoods, and Southwest Harbor, where a few lobsters await us after the hike.

The ‘model’ is my lovely bride, Susan, and yes… that’s a teddy bear in her pack. “Bobo, the Magnificent” he calls himself.

As with my previous image, Boats on Somes Sound in Early Morning Fog, I employed the approach of working with multiple merged frames in 32-bit mode, without the ‘standard’ tonemapping that’s used with Photomatix or other HDR programs. It seems the results are much more crisp and ‘realistic’, while still bringing in the extended dynamic range that multiple frames can provide.

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Normally, we’re not supposed to line things up in the center of the frame, but every now and then nature offers up an almost perfect symmetry. That makes it a good time to break the rules.

This pond, called The Tarn, is found in Acadia National Park in Maine, at the foot of a remarkable trail that leads off of Dorr Mountain. The trail features some of the most engineered sections of pathway I’ve ever seen, with curving staircases, overhead arches, and ‘paved’ areas made of carefully fitted natural stone.

Or, you can simply park at the Wild Gardens of Acadia and take an easy, flat walk over to The Tarn, but that wouldn’t be as sporting, right?

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On the east side of Mt. Desert Island (Acadia National Park) are a number of spectacular hikes. We like them because the payoff in scenic views is great relative to the small amount of effort required to get there.

Across the open, rocky tops of the hills, a number trails feature the Bates Cairn, a rather unique feature designed by pathmaker Waldron Bates in the late 1800s – early 1900s. In addition to helping to guide hikers along the trail, they also make for some excellent photo opportunities.

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With apologies to Steve Martin for the comedic reference…

On our 2010 trip to New Hampshire, I finally bought a long-desired pair of Limmer hiking boots. Peter Limmer & Sons are fifth generation Austrian bootmakers, and a pair of custom Limmers are pretty much the Holy Grail of footwear for hikers.

Based on the popularity of last year’s images “The Bootmaker”, “They Never Call”, and “Homeless”, Peter once again kindly allowed me to bring my camera and tripod into the shop, but this time, he pointed me to the attic of the old barn building that houses the business. (With customers in the shop, maybe he wanted me out from underfoot, or was trying to figure out just how creeped out I could get…)

Built in 1758, the barn was once used as a dance hall. Geez… That’s over 250 years old! Today, the outer wings and attic of the barn are used mainly for storage, and in this case, for storage of old lasts used in the bootmaking process. Peter assures me that there’s no real system to the arrangement, although they are sorted by size, and are sometimes used as firewood.

I spent about an hour up in the attic. Susan, for some reason, chose to stay downstairs most of the time, chatting with some of the customers.

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Maine's Bold Coast

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Far north from the usual crowds that visit the typical vacation spots in Maine, lies the Bold Coast. Located just south of Lubec, the easternmost town in the U.S., this is a pristine area with very little development.

To get to this place, you park along a little-used road and hike in about a mile and a half, coming to these spectacular cliffs. From here, you can hike south along the rim of the cliffs to a primitive campsite that lies directly on the coastline. Hiking along the trail you can always keep an eye out for seals and whales (on the left), as well as bear and moose (on the right.)

I don’t think I know of a more lovely place on the east coast to spend the day. You might see one other person during the entire day.

Three exposures hand-held from Nikon D90, Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8 wide angle lens at 16mm, f/4.5, ISO 160. Merged in HDR Express with followup in Photoshop CS5 with Nik Color Efex Pro.

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News:

Over at OneStopPoetry, the second of a two-part interview went live on Sunday morning. You can find it HERE.

I’ve really enjoyed taking part in the Sunday Photography Interview and Poetry Challenge, both weeks. In the interview, OneStopPoetry puts a few of my images in-line with the interview responses, highlighting one shot in particular as a ‘prompt’ for their weekly poetry challenge. Interested participants use the image as inspiration, and come up with a poem or prose based on what they see or feel about the image. It’s fascinating to see the creatives take off on their path, sometimes revealing their deepest thoughts, flights of fancy, or memories that the picture might have conjured up for them.

As one who values Creativity over Certainty, I appreciate being able to come up with something creative of my own, but then watch it take a new life when someone adds their own interpretation on it. It seems like Creativity doubled.

My thanks to all who took the time to write their thoughts. Some entries have struck me so well that I’ve asked the poets if I could use their poems to go alongside the images someday. Some seem like the perfect pairing of image and words, which is something that I often struggle to achieve by myself, usually falling short of what I’d really like to convey.