f7.1 | 25s | ISO200
Surely you’ve thought about it at least once or twice. If you could only visit one scenic place on Earth one more time, where would you go? (If you haven’t considered it, now you have. This also makes a great icebreaker at parties.)
Despite living and traveling in East Asia for two solid years, I still can’t betray my roots. My answer to this question comes from my hometown of South Portland, Maine (technically I grew-up 30 meters across the border in nearby Cape Elizabeth, but it’s basically the same thing): Spring Point Ledge Lighthouse, just across the harbor from the modest skyline of Portland. After a windy but entrancing walk to the end of the breakwater, standing before this handsome classic headlight never fails to render me speechless and impressed. Every time I come home I make a point to visit this lighthouse and always am glad I did.
On this particular outing, my efforts to lug my camera equipment with me were rewarded with a magnificently saturated sunset. After many failed attempts to do it justice, I finally decided to stop messing around and open my shutter up to a full 25 seconds in order to take in that color properly. It was tricky to find a shooting window between passes of the Casco Bay Ferry as well as other ships coming to port. If photography demands anything, it’s a simultaneous exertion of patience and vigilance. My final results are displayed. Not much was done in post processing.
Below are a few shots I took somewhat spontaneously as part of a small experiment of style and technical creativity. I was hoping to tone these intentionally grainy images in Photoshop in a way the would visually allude to the nearly bygone era of darkroom color development and Polaroids. I have a soft spot for the images produced by enthusiasts in their own makeshift basement labs. The imperfect balance of hues mixed with film grain exude an organic quality that is generally edited out in this Photoshop era. The shots below are the result of considering this loss while also holding a camera and then further experimenting later during post production. I don’t think they are much (actually, now that I’m finished they look rather tame and bland), but the process of experimentation and discovery was wicked refreshing (I’m in Maine now, so I can use the colloquial terms). It’s important to enjoy what you’re doing, even if you’re not always 100% successful.
I would love to hear you thoughts on the matter.
Directions to Spring Point Ledge Lighthouse.
History of Spring Point Ledge Lighthouse.
I really enjoyed your post and the images were amazing. There is something about lighthouses that ground us to the earth. Here in the Quebec maritime regions, we’re lucky enought to have many of them throughout our territory.
Also, I love your question about one scenic place to visit one more time…I might just “borrow” it for my fans. I’ll have to think about my answer though…I’m not ready to commit to one place only.
Thank you for sharing this with us
What a great pic! Love it.
thanks so much!
Hello Andrew,
I’m with Portland Magazine and I was wondering if we had your permission to use the Pine Point Ledge images? They look great! Thanks! Hope to hear back. If you have any questions please contact us at portlandmagazine@gmail.com or (207) 775-4339
Andrew, Spring Point Ledge Lighthouse iis my favorite place on earth too… These photo’s do it the justice it deserves, I try to get there at LEAST 4 times a year. It is very comforting to me and also hold meaning to my life. I run out to the lighthouse and back across the breakwater. It helps clear my mind and brings me “back to good”. I Love the fact these were taken before the solar panels were installed. Good luck in your career and Thank You for posting these pictures.
Terrific photos. I really like the last one, a great perspective; makes the lighthouse look pretty lonely. Nice work.
Thanks for the feedback on the last images. It’s fun to mess around with photography once in awhile. Reminds me of your timelapse experiment of the NYC skyline at sunset.