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Bailey Island Maine Lobster Shack

Maine is such a huge state it’s almost impossible to see every part of it. One place I have never visited is the Bailey Island lobster shack. This island is located south of Brunswick and Harpswell and is a quintessential coastal Maine location. The main resource is lobstering and it is in evidence everywhere. A friend showed me a photograph of a lobster shack that sits out on a rocky point in Mackerel Cove on Bailey Island.  I knew right away I had to photograph it. This proved to be a little more difficult than initially thought. It was low tide and the access was very tricky. From the road I had to climb over a guard rail and down a steep embankment to get onto the tidal plain. But it was worth it. The sun was in and out and I had to wait for the right light before making the photograph below.

Luckily the rocks and seaweed added a foreground element leading up to the shack. The calm water added just the right element, a mirror like reflection! I now have several wonderful images of this iconic lobster shack and can’t wait to bring our tour group up here in June. There were many other fabulous images around Mackerel Cove. One of them was this derelict lobster boat which was pulled up on the beach at the head of the cove with the name “Full Throttle” which was appropriate for an abandoned boat.

Cape Ann Photo Tours will be leading another group up to Mid Coast Maine in September so be sure to click the link and check it out. This tour takes in Boothbay to Camden which is a pretty large area. If we have time we might even make it down to Bailey’s Island. My co-leader for this tour is Jim Scouletis a well know photographer here in Massachsetts check out his website here.

Using Vintage lenses on Mirrorless Cameras

Rockport Harbor
Still clear morning at Rockport Harbor

Using vintage lenses that were manufactured many years ago has always fascinated me! For photo geeks it’s intriguing but for most people they just care about the image. So recently I went out to test a lens that was made in 1958 the Leica 35mm f3.5 LTM (thread mount) Summaron. I was given this lens when I was 15 years old along with the external viewfinder. A few years ago I had the lens cleaned of fungus and started using it on my Leica M-P 240. The unfortunate thing is that the thread mount to bayonet mount I have on it is for a 90mm not a 35 so the wrong frame lines come up in the viewfinder. I am sending mine to Tamarkin Camera in Chicago in return for a 35mm one. It will be fun to be able to see the frame lines correctly for once.

Rockport Harbor
Still clear morning at Rockport Harbor

This lens has a very nice vignette to it as you can see in the image above. It’s like a piece of jewelry all cleaned up. What a gem! I was curious to see how the color would be an I was pleasantly surprised at the images I got.

Dinghy's
Dinghy’s at the Gloucester Maritime Center

The black and white conversions were outstanding as well meaning that the contrast was top notch. I found very little wrong with the results they were outstanding.

Dinghy's
Dinghy’s at the Gloucester Maritime Center

Finding compositions over at the Maritime Center is a breeze as they are everywhere. I just loved poking around the old hulls etc. The combination of this little lens and camera brought me back to the old days of shooting with my Leica M3 with this lens. I can’t wait to shoot some film with that combination later on this summer it should be fun. Below is a video I did on this little project.

Foggy Morning Walk

Unless the weather is really lousy out I try to take about an hour walk around Rockport or Gloucester looking for interesting images. Last week I decided to also film it for my weekly vlog on YouTube. It was a fun experience and more like what I like to do photographically. I’m not really much of a tripod guy but I do try and get out for some stick landscape work once in a while. This particular morning the light was find of flat and it was kind of foggy but I enjoyed it just the same. I used a fun Fuji rig for this shoot the Fuji X-T30 and the XF 16-80.

Here are some of the images from the shoot.

Rockport lobster boats wait to go out
Rockport lobster boats wait to go out.

 

Colorful work dinghy's sit idle at the Rockport town wharf
Colorful work dinghy’s sit idle at the Rockport town wharf.

 

Dinghy triangles
Dinghy’s waiting at the Rockport Town Wharf form interesting triangles.

 

Colorful reflections Rockport Harbor
Colorful reflections Rockport Harbor.

 

Lobster traps and buoys
Lobster traps and buoys wait to be used behind Bearskin Neck in Rockport.

 

Lobster buoys and nets
A potted plant dies away with old lobster buoy’s and fish netting behind Bearskin Neck.

 

Old wooden lobster trap and buoys.
Old wooden lobster trap and buoys behind Bearskin Neck in Rockport.

 

Bailers and buckets
Cut off Chorox bottles and a pale sit inside a row boat filled with water.

Here is the YouTube video on my Foggy Morning Shoot