Around Acadia National Park
Last weekend Adam and I headed out to Acadia National Park in Maine. I wanted to photograph the Bass Harbor Head Lighthouse for a while now, ever since I saw the first pictures of it. The dramatic cliffs emerging at low tide out of the ocean are breathtaking and creating a unique landscape scenery for capturing beautiful nature images.
I picked out this weekend since Friday was the best day to photograph the lighthouse at low tide during sunset. We left early morning and took the highway all the way to Maine. No scenic drives this time, but this gave us just enough time to check in at the hotel before going to the lighthouse. We arrived at the Bass Harbor Head Lighthouse about one hour before sunset and were lucky to find a parking space quickly. The parking lot is rather small and was quite busy and I was relieved about arriving early.
We immediately went to the trail that is about a 0.4 mile hike leading to some incredible scenic views of the lighthouse. This trail is very popular. This is one of the most iconic locations in Acadia National Park and it is hard to get away with unique compositions after the spot has been photographed so many times. But after all the iconic spots are worth photographing and very beautiful, too.
I wanted to try a shot with the lighthouse reflection in the water. I kind of missed that when setting up first, but it was so busy with people constantly walking in my frame that I figured I would like to return maybe during fall or winter and see how the scenery will be changing later on.
Jordan Pond
Next morning, we got up at 4.30 am and headed out to Jordan Pond for sunrise photography. We went down to the lake and I quickly grabbed my gear as the first colors started to appear in the sky. I set up in front of some rocks and watched how the sky was lighting up the water and rocks in beautiful pink and oranges. I wasn’t that happy with the composition though and forgot to level my tripod in the rush.
We went back to the hotel to rest a bit and headed out later on to explore the coast, beaches and Cadillac Mountain in Acadia National Park. After we returned to Jordan Pond before sunset and I took the image below with the reflections of Bubble Mountain in the water.
Boulder Beach
For our last day I picked Boulder Beach in order to photograph the impressive Otter Cliff at sunrise. The cliff rises 110 feet above sea level and is emerging dramatically out of the ocean. It is one of the most spectacular geological features that can be viewed along Ocean Path in Acadia National Park.
We got up at 4.30 am again and drove out to Boulder Beach. We were the first ones at the location when arriving, which was very nice. One thing I had not considered or expected were the incredible slippery boulders. The beach is covered in round shaped rocks in various sizes that are very challenging to walk on. When we were there a day earlier, the tide was coming in, so the rocks were dry. But when returning in the morning it was low tide leaving all the boulders to be extremely slippery. I had a hard time getting to the spot I wanted or walking easily around to find a composition.
The sky started to change and some boulders close to the shore caught my eyes since the skylight illuminated the boulders nicely. I set up in front of them. Despite all the challenges and falling one time being there paid off.