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Fall 2011

I have been hunting for trees to photograph while they are still colorful. There are a few left, but usually in spots I can not get to and so it is time to post what I have. First of all I have setup a facebook page (look to the right). I tend to post there most often. So don’t forget to ‘like’ the Nearly Vertical page on facebook. Also the photos will click through to my flickr account where you can view a larger image and other images that are not posted here.

The following was taken at Fuller Farm Reserve, a large plot of land that is still farmed but is open to the public for hiking. I am going to call this photo ‘Peak’ for obvious reasons.

During my hunt for trees I found this beauty in Payson Park, Portland, Maine.

But I am getting ahead of myself. Before I was hunting for trees I took this photograph at Higgins Beach in Scarborough. It is the shipwreck of the Howard W. Middleton that wrecked on Higgins Beach back in 1897. You can find a link on my facebook page that will tell you more about the wreck of this three masted schooner.

Also from Higgins Beach is this photo of the rocks at the beach. Those are seagulls flying along the rocks.

And Higgins Beach itself, which is one of the most beautiful beaches in Maine.

September did offer some warm days. This is Old Orchard Beach on a very nice September day. It was a tricky shot as I had to fly behind the ferris wheel while standing on the beach.

The ferris wheel photo is certainly a bit far from straight down photography. So lets get our bearings again with the following photo taken at Biddeford Pool. The camera is pointing straight down at the rocks and there appears to be quite a drop off from the rocks to the ocean bottom. You really need to click through to flickr to see the image clearly.

The following photo shows the exceptionally clear water off of Marginal Way in Ogunquit. Marginal Way is a beautiful walking path that starts from Perkins Cove and follows the shore in the town.

And I end with one lighthouse shot – Nubble Light in York.

Posted by James | November 13, 2011 | Categories: Fall 2011 | 1 Comment »

Buildings and Towns

This shot was taken of Morning Street on the east side of Portland. I am standing nearly two blocks away on the Eastern Prom. Clicking on this photo will take you to flickr. I find this works better for viewing the photos in more detail.

Around the corner from the Eastern Prom area is Portland’s water front. I drove down the morning after a February snowstorm to catch the fresh snow. I had to stand in a few feet of snow in a little clearing to get the kite in the air. Having done winter shots for a while now I come prepared with heavy gloves, boots, and snowshoes. But it still gets cold and you can’t generate much heat by flying a kite.

Munjoy Hill on a hazy afternoon.

Posted by James | August 5, 2011 | Categories: Buildings and Towns | Leave A Comment »

Landscapes

I only recently started shooting landscapes. I started out on this shooting photos straight down to differentiate them from an airplane or helicopter. But after my first landscape shot I could not pass up doing more. Below is the first shot I took with the camera pointed for a landscape shot. The low tide at Scarborough Marsh really shows a richness of colors and you can even see a clam boat on the left side. In the largest size of this, not shown, you can pick out the seagulls sitting on the sandbar closest to the boats. To allow better viewing of my photos I am now linking the photos to Flickr so larger sizes can be seen.

Another photo I took recently of the Scarborough Marsh in landscape is below. In the photo you can see egrets flying across the marsh. This is one of the first photos with a new camera and it is working very well.

The above photo was shot on August 17, 2011. You can see traces of the change in color that takes place at the end of summer. The following photo was taken August 30, 2011; just 2 weeks later. The shot was taken from the Eastern Trail.

Old Orchard Beach in August

Pine Point Beach near sunset. The beach is deserted for an August day and showers are approaching in the distance.

Posted by James | August 5, 2011 | Categories: Landscapes | Leave A Comment »

Sports

Just starting on the sports section. Beach to Beacon 2010

Beach to Beacon 2011

Maine Marathon 2010

Junior Olympics 2010

Posted by James | August 5, 2011 | Categories: Sports | Leave A Comment »

Boats

Just to get this started, I am posting a recent photo of a lobster boat. More boats will follow soon.

The following blue dinghy is sitting in shallow water at Pine Point in Scarborough, Maine.

Pine Point is my favorite spot to photographs boats as the wind is usually good and steady. The nest two photos are also from Pine Point.

Posted by James | August 4, 2011 | Categories: Boats | Leave A Comment »

Lighthouses

How can anyone pass up a good photo of a lighthouse? The problem is that it is almost too easy to take a good lighthouse photo. To have something stand out from the rest you really need to work at it and just taking an aerial photo isn’t going to do it. It is said that this lighthouse is the most photographed lighthouse in Maine. It is Portland Headlight in Cape Elizabeth and on most mornings you can find half a dozen photographers snapping away trying to get that unique photograph. This photo was taken on one of those early mornings when there were several photographers around. There was a recent snow which I am sure they were all trying to capture, but I wanted it up close and personal. I ignored most of the lighthouse and tried to capture just the light as a boat was coming in from a nights work.

On another day after a fresh snow I took this photo of Spring Point Light in South Portland, Maine. The morning was so cold that there was a chunk of ice floating by. The line of snow on the rocks marks where the waterline is.

And I can’t leave out Bug Light, also in South Portland. This is Bug Light from high above.

The holy grail of light house shots for me is a photo of a light house sticking up through the fog. This is quite a dilemma as fog and wind do not mix nicely and the mist of the fog doesn’t mix well with the camera lens. But on foggy mornings I generally end up at Portland Head Light hoping I can catch the wind just as it is blowing the fog away. The closest I have come to the shot I want it the photo below. The wind picked up too late, but the fog could still be seen lifting from the ocean in the back ground.

Posted by James | August 4, 2011 | Categories: Lighthouses | 2 Comments »

Beaches

Beaches are a great place to take photographs. There is usually so much going on and a lot of room to move around. During the winter at Pine Point Beach in Scarborough, Maine, they allow horses on the beach. I spent quite a bit of time trying be there at the same time horses were. It wasn’t easy, but I finally ended up with this photo which won first prize in a Maine photography contest run by the Portland Press Herald.

Shadows play a key role in photographing from above. Pine Point Beach has a very large sandbar that is exposed at low tide. These two kayakers decided to take break on the sandbar. One is swimming in the water. The other is standing on shore. You can spot the one on shore by finding his long shadow.

In the following photograph the waves have made ripples in the sand and on a calm day they clearly stand out. Also, there are foot prints from bare feet near the waterline.

I sometimes walk the beach to search for good shots. On this day I had the kite string almost all the way out before I could catch enough wind to lift the camera. So the camera was low but the kite was high. Then I started walking to find something to photograph. As I was walking people would not see the kite. Only when they were a few feet away would they notice the string extending from my hands. This brought alot of odd reactions as they would immediately turn to see where the string went to. It also ended up generating a lot of questions since the flags were limp and a breeze could hardly be felt on the beach. But once the kite was several hundred feet high it was strong and steady.

Earlier in the summer, during one of my strolls I took this photo of the Pier at Old Orchard Beach. I was hoping I could capture people on the pier, but it was too early in the morning. I had to stand really close to get the kite over the pier.

Just before taking the pier shot I stopped to take this photo of kids boogie boarding.

Posted by James | August 4, 2011 | Categories: Beaches | Leave A Comment »

Waves

Early on in my work I discovered how interesting waves were from above. I could almost photograph just waves and be happy. This photo is one of my later wave photos taking at Ferry Beach in Saco, Maine. It was in September and the waves were quite large due to the passing remnants of a tropical storm. Almost an entire family is in this wave, the mother is talking to me on the beach.

During another passing storm I captured this image of a surfer riding a wave at Higgins Beach, Maine

This surfer is about to be swallowed.

Sometimes it is nice to take photos of just the waves. This one was taken at Scarborough Beach right after a heavy snow.

Posted by James | August 4, 2011 | Categories: Waves | Leave A Comment »

Trees

This is the first post on NearlyVertical.com where I will be posting photos taken from above. Most of the photos are looking straight down such as the one shown here. I find this more interesting than photos from an oblique angle; which are too similar to what you see from an airplane. The point of my photography is to find something beautiful and possibly unexpected from something that looks completely natural from the ground. The photo below is of a group of trees at a nature reserve in Wells, Maine. The trees are nestled in the corner between two walls of a barn, which is what I went to photograph. The photograph is called “Five Trees”.

The seasons pass quickly, but towards the end of the fall, when the leaves were almost off the trees, I went back to the reserve in Wells and took this photo. The top branches were bare and most of the leaves were on the ground under the tree.

But closer to home, in Scarborough, Maine, I found the colors wonderful with plenty of opportunities to see colors from above. The following photo is called ‘Fall from Above’.

And I managed to get closer to the trees to take this photo. It reminds me of fireworks.

This is one of the first photos I took from the air and still one of my favorites. It was also taken in Scarborough.

Posted by James | August 3, 2011 | Categories: Trees | 1 Comment »

Nearly vertical Views from Above