Luminous Landscape Forum
Equipment & Techniques => Landscape Photography Locations => Topic started by: jamesf99 on May 15, 2005, 11:00:31 pm
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It depends on the weather, but the Maine coast including all the islands are beautiful as you probably know. I personally love cape cod in the late winter to early summer (before it's too busy).
You could also try the Berkshires in western Mass.
Enjoy your trip.
Jim
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If you want to really see New England, then you should pretty much forget about Rhode Island, Connecticutt, and Massachusetts (too hard to spell!!) .You want to go up to Maine or into northern Hew Hampshire to the Presidential ranges where Mount Washington is located. Even northern Vermont is better than those other states. The three you mentioned are so heavily populated that you will be very dissapointed after having come from so far away to experience New England.
Unfortunately, the time of year you are going to be here is the peak tourist season and will be crowded pretty much where ever you go. But a few days way down east along the coast of Maine will do the trick nicely. Once you get past the Bar Harbor area (Acadia National Park) and continue on up the coast, it really is peaceful and beautiful. Most of the tourists don't go much past Bar Harbor area. I know as I live up here.
It takes about 10-11 hours to get up here from down in NY so a day up and a day back gives you alot of time to explore up here. You can also take the high speed ferry from Bar Harbor over to Nova Scotia in about 2 hours.
How's that for some places to see?? :p
PLUS: We have LL Bean up here in Maine!! and an outlet store here in Ellsworth. It is across the street from my framing store. If you actually do head up here, you are welcome to stop in and say hi. I'd like to meet someone from Australia!!
Fahringers Framing Gallery (Ralph)
69 Foster St.
Ellsworth, Me.
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Sounds good! :cool:
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Hi Ken! Been away for a few days. Thanks for your post too!
Cheers
Bob.
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Found them. THanks.
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Thanks, Dennis. I definitely want to visit NH's White Mountains. I saw a web page with lots of great fall color pictures in that area. And I'm sure Vermont would be great too.
I know peak fall color season varies year to year, but in general, what's the best time to visit this area, accounting for changes in elevation? If you had to pick a 5-day interval, what would you pick? And that question goes to anyone that lives in New England.
Ken
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Paul, thanks for the link, and I suspect others will enjoy it.
Ken
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Ken--
I have a list of notes on shooting Maine lighthouses (http://www.nicholsonprints.com/Lights/NewEngland.htm#5) on my website that might help.
Good luck.
--Chris
Chris Nicholson
NicholsonPrints.com (http://www.NicholsonPrints.com), NicholsonSports.com (http://www.NicholsonSports.com)
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Thanks Dan, and all of the rest of you who've posted. Really looking forward to our trip!
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I lived in Maine, on an island off the coast, for 13 years. Did a lot of photography, produced a book of photographs and poems called "Acadia: Visions and Verse." Also worked on about a dozen videos around Maine.
This summer I'm leading a group of eight photographers and artists for a two week journey along coastal Maine and here are the places I've selected for us. Might give you some ideas.
Sebago Lake: For a taste of lake country and inland. Some wonderful sunsets over this placid lake.
Freeport: In part because there is L.L. Bean's and a wonderful inn, but also because of some of the coastal opportunities of lobstering and crabbing. And a short hop day trip away, Pemaquid Point with one of the most scenic and storied lighthouses of all.
Monhegan: The great artist's island an hour offshore, whee Winslow Homer, the several generations of Wyeths and countless other artists found inspiration over the years. Little village. Sheer cliffs. Woods dotted with "fairy houses" people put up to accomodate the blithe spirits of the woods.
Stonington: Great fishing village. Deer Isle. Monumental bridge leading to and from.
Isle au Haut: Part of Acadia National Park, accessible by mail boat twenty minutes off shore. A wonderful inn made out of the Keeper's House (and that's its name) of the light house on Robinson's point. Island is mostly woods and sea but with a village (fifty residents), classic old church on a hill, fishermen and -women (Linda Greenlaw, one of the fisher folk caught in the Perfect Storm lives and writes here). Also on islands nearby, puffin rookeries.
Camden: Along with adjacent Rockport, great opportunities including the Maine coastal schooners harbored in Camden, and the three hills which Edna St. Vincent Millay saw in her poem "Renascence". Rockport is also home of the Maine Photographic Workshops.
We're not going up as far as Bar Harbor this time but that is another great opportunity as Acadia National Park is principally centered around there and has all kinds of wonderful possibilities.
In all, with Maine, you really can't go wrong. Enjoy.
jack perkins
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I haven't check on this posting in a while.
jackperk... Don't give away ALL of our special places like Monhegan and Isle au Haut!! We won't have any place left where we can go when the season is over and the tourists are almost gone! Those are my places I go to recharge my batteries from a summer of tourists and artists hitting my store to get everything under the sun framed. I love the Keepers House!! Jeff and Judy are the best!!
If you are in the Ellsworth area, stop into my store and say hi.
Fahringers Framing Gallery in Ellsworth.
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I'm going to be visiting New York in august and plan to spend the last 10 days or so of the month touring the Massachusets, Connecticut, Rhode Island area. Can anyone suggest some good photographic sites?
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Thanks for your reply Jim. I was beginning to think no one knew where new England was!
We're coming over from Australia, so it's all new to us.
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G'day Ralph! The consensus so far seems to be Maine. My wife and daughter are keen to visit Nantucket Island because of a book they once read, so it is definitely on the list, tourists and all, but the Maine coast sounds good to me. If we get there I'd be pleased to meet you.
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Ralph has it almost right but he lives to close to civilization. Fly directly to Bangor( Pronounced BangOR). Drive down to the coast at Ellsworth and head up the coast. That is the start of the unspoiled part of New England. Go to Scoodic Point, Corea Harbor, Machias,and Campobello. Go back to Bar Harbor and take the high speed ferry to Yarmouth and drive to Hall’s Harbor. The tide will blow you away.
Ken
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For the folks that live in Maine, which lighthouses do you recommend visiting--especially for photography? Thanks.
Ken Smith
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Southwest Harbor and Quoddy Head are my 2 favorites. Now for you to find them on a map. :p
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Photographing New England can be challenging - there are few "vistas" where you can see a lot of landscape, and fewer that don't have visible signs of civilization. If you accept that, then the two common approaches are to either intentionally include civilization (typically quaint New England colonial charm, seaside villages, or rural farm scenes) or to do "intimate landscape" work. Either of the latter two can be done in any of the New England states. I live in Litchfield County, CT and could spend every waking hour photographing here ...
One place that's a little further north (without venturing way up into mid-Maine) is the White Mountains area in New Hampshire. Vermont is just littered with photogenic spots. In Rhode Island, I recommend the Narragansett area - the fishing village of Galilee and a trek over the bridge (it's about 20 feet long to "Great Island" ... all around the shore in this area, then north 15 minutes to the bridge that takes you to Newport and the mansions along the cliff.
There are zillions of places to photograph here, assuming you're in the mood to photograph whatever's there to be photographed
- Dennis
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re: New England
Strongly recommend you visit this web site. It will point you to many interesting locations of both historic and photographic value.
The Trustees of Reservations (http://www.thetrustees.org/index.cfm)
(http://www.thetrustees.org/images/full/4397.jpg)
I'm a member of TTR. Highly recommended.
Browse “Properties” via the pull down menu. Use the property locator map view and click away. Most locations have a small gallery of photos, none of which do justice to the real thing.
re: the mission statement
Since 1891, The Trustees of Reservations has been saving the Massachusetts landscape for people to enjoy. Our conservation work has helped protect more than 53,000 acres across the state. We care for 23,687 acres on 95 reservations and inspire conservation awareness through a variety of educational programs. We are a nonprofit organization supported by our 40,500 members.
From the Berkshire mountains to the beaches of Cape Cod and the Islands, we have worked to protect more than 53,000 acres of land across the state.
Enjoy!
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Ken,
I honestly can't tell you that exactly when to expect fall foliage peak ... it's just one of those thing - I'm here every year for it when it happens, so don't pay that much attention to the dates ! Basically, in early-to-mid September, it starts in northern New England and high elevations, then works its way south over the next month or so, hitting us, in Litchfield County, by mid-October. Then onto the shoreline and further south. I remember going on a fall foliage photo workshop at Acadia Nat'l Park in September, then coming home with plenty of fall foliage yet to come.
And it varies a little year to year. You can find plenty of websites devoted to the when & where on the web.
I find that "peak" doesn't matter that much anyway, because I tend to shoot smaller scenes anyway, and there's a pretty big window of opportunity for getting fall color in small scenics. And I actually prefer post-peak browns to pre-peak greens.
- Dennis
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In August, I would avoid Cape Cod and Martha's Vinyard. Beautiful places, but they are so crowded they are difficult to navigate.
I have often done the drive from Boston, up to Portland, Maine. Boston is a great city to photograph. Full of history, small neighborhoods, great buildings.You pass through the little sea-side town of Portsmounth, New Hampshire, which has a great "old New England" feel, with a beautiful church in the square and some cobblestone streets. Be sure to drop by the Portsmouth Brewery for dinner. Then continue north. When you get to Cape Elizabeth, Maine, check out the Portland Head lighthouse (http://www.portlandheadlight.com/), which is one of the most picturesque lighthouses (made famous by a painting by Edward Hopper). Then stay in Portland awhile. Great restaurants, and active boat yard and harbour, brick streets, and some beautiful Victorian buildings. (Like San Francisco, Portland suffered a major fire around 1900, and so many of its buildings were rebuilt with Victorians). Then, keep driving north along the ocean.
Another beautiful area is Northampton (http://www.northamptonma.gov/aboutNorthampton/Visitors/), Massachusetts, in the middle of the state. A great college town (with 4 colleges and one university nearby) with a lot of old character (and again, great food). Drive up Mount Holyoke for a view of the whole Connecticut River Valley. The little preserved town of Deerfield gives a glimpse of how the towns used to look way back. Drive north to the tiny town of Montague and visit the Book Mill (http://www.montaguebookmill.com/), a used book store/restaurant in an old mill on a great little stream. Drive north to Brattleboro, Vermont, and then you can meander up north, or head west over the rolling hills.
Hope this helps.
Dan
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I know peak fall color season varies year to year, but in general, what's the best time to visit this area, accounting for changes in elevation? If you had to pick a 5-day interval, what would you pick? And that question goes to anyone that lives in New England.
Last year I visited central Vermont to see the autumn colors and I believe the peak there occurred during the first week of October at the higher elevations and during the second week of October for the lower elevations. As you and others have said, it does vary a bit, so this is just a guide. Sometimes I say don't worry too much about hitting the peak days -- it's just a gorgeous region to visit, so if you miss peak in one region, just keep moving around and you won't be disappointed.
Eric