Tag Archives: new england

Nubble Lighthouse

By David Howland | Published August 28, 2012

My trip to York this summer wasn’t all fireworks. One of the most famous lighthouses in the United States sits on an island just off of Cape Neddick. I made it out to Nubble Lighthouse four times to shoot. I shot a mix of stars, sunsets, and a sunrise and while I didn’t get extraordinary light during the day and while the stars were mostly blotted out by clouds, it was fun hopping around on the rocks along the water trying to find good compositions.

The shot leading this post is one of my favorites for the whole week. It was treacherous walk out along seaweed and barnacle covered rocks to the little spit seen in the very foreground. The water was breaking over the rocks and rushing around the spit with every swell that came in. Due to the way the coast and the lighthouse are arranged, I was usually shooting along the waterline to get the lighthouse in the shot. This prevented the dynamic type of composition that I was looking for, as the water was moving across my frame as opposed to directly towards my lens. This little spit provided the direct shot into the rushing water that I was looking for, along with the stunning backdrop of the illuminated lighthouse and island.

Check out the rest of the shots in the gallery below. These shots would look great as a large printed canvas for anyone who loves Nubble Lighthouse, or lighthouses in general.

Posted in Cape Neddick, Landscape, Maine | Also tagged cape neddick, lighthouse, maine, maine coast, nubble light, nubble lighthouse, york, york beach, york beach maine Leave a comment

York Beach Fireworks

By David Howland | Published August 27, 2012

I shot alot of fireworks this summer. Along with July 4th in Orleans, I shot this set of the York Beach Fireworks over Short Sands Beach. Every year there has been a fireworks display scheduled for the first night of my trip. Every year it’s been postponed. Despite a massive, scary storm moving in hours before dusk, the fireworks display went off as scheduled. I scrambled down to the rocky shoreline and found a tall pillar of rock to shoot from. It gave me a vantage point looking out over the water and the coast but without any of the roads and other spectators in the shot. You can see the lights of the boardwalk area near Short Sands including the Funorama. If you’re interested in more shots from the York area, I spent a good deal of time at Nubble Lighthouse this summer.

Check out the gallery below to view the images or to buy prints!

Posted in Cape Neddick, Maine | Also tagged cape neddick, fireworks, maine, maine coast, short sands beach, summer, york beach Leave a comment

Mt. Washington Auto Road & Sabbaday Falls

By David Howland | Published August 5, 2012

Last weekend, Ben Jacobsen and I drove overnight (I left Cape Cod at 9:45) and headed up to the Mt. Washington Auto Road for sunrise. Three times per summer the Auto Road opens their gates well before dawn to allow customers to reach the summit before sunrise. Ben and I were waiting at the gate at 3:45AM and reached the summit by 4:30.

I’ve hiked Mt. Washington a bunch and every time I’ve reached the top I’ve scoffed at the parking lots and people milling around and taking pictures at the summit sign. I saw no reason to drive up the mountain. I was actually really impressed with the road and had a blast driving up. The road is visually stunning and quite exciting to drive. For over a mile we were driving through the clouds with only the occasional glimpse down the mountainside to remind us how steep the dropoffs were.

The sunrise at the summit was quite underwhelming. The mountain was in and out of a batch of east-to-west moving clouds for most of the morning and any sunrise light that may have occured was blocked by the clouds. The undercast was pretty impressive, however, and it was nice to be up on the summit for the start of the day.

After the sunrise, Ben and I parked the car about a mile down the road and hiked out into the Alpine Garden and over the tops of Huntington and Tuckerman Ravines.

By the time we got to the bottom of the road, it was barely 9:00, so we spent an hour or so exploring Sabbaday Falls. The falls are actually quite large and there are a bunch of different compositions and viewpoints to explore. The water was piercingly cold but I had tons of fun climbing around the falls getting different shots.

Check out the rest of the photos in the gallery below.

Ben Jacobsen on top of the ravine - Huntington Ravine, Mount Washington, NH

Posted in Landscape, New Hampshire, Waterfalls, White Mountains | Also tagged landscape, mt washington, new hampshire, sabbaday falls, waterfalls, white mountains Leave a comment

2012 July 4th Fireworks

By David Howland | Published July 6, 2012

We had an extremely busy and hectic July 4th week here on Cape Cod. The holiday fell smack dab in the middle of the week this year. Usually we have one hugely busy, crowded weekend, but this year we’ve had a hugely busy weekend, followed by a hugely busy, crowded week. Good for businesses, I suppose.

At any rate, Monday, July 2 I drove out to Orleans to shoot the fireworks display over Rock Harbor. Lucked out big time on parking and managed to avoid the mile plus walk that most people endured. We watched a beautiful sunset over Cape Cod Bay and the fireworks started about 15 minutes after the sky got dark. I struggled a little bit with exposing these shots. I didn’t have a cable release so I was triggering (with a 2 second delay) various exposures ranging from 2″ to 10″. It seemed like whenever I went with a longer exposure, a huge burst of bright explosions would blow out the entire image. Whenever I went with a shorter explosion, everything would be too dim. Fireworks are tricky. If you’re interested in a print of any of these images, you can use the buttons at the bottom of this post to check out the various options.