The Other Outer Banks

Streaking Clouds — Pea Island NWR, NC © jj raia

For the most part, the Outer Banks is known for its beaches, and rightfully so. It is a string of barrier islands about 200 miles long stretching from the Virginia border along most of North Carolina, many miles of which, like the Cape Hatteras National Seashore, remain uninhabited and much as it has for millennia. In addition to the obvious lure of ocean sunrises for landscape photographers, the Outer Banks offers several historic lighthouses, the Atlantic Coast’s largest living sand dunes in Jockey’s Ridge State Park, and a prime example of a maritime forest at Currituck Banks Reserve. The Wright Brothers Memorial is also located there and is well worth the visit to see where man’s first powered flights occurred.

One of the rather pristine areas I’ve visited a few times is Pea Island National Wildlife Refuge, on the south end of Oregon Inlet. Arriving early one morning in the dark and being the only car in the parking area, I began putting on some waders before taking the short hike through some dunes to the ocean. Then two or three SUV’s pulled in, parked right next to me and out poured a photo workshop!! Their arrival was encouraging to validate it being a good spot to photograph, but also in a way disappointing, realizing I would be sharing the location with so many others, and having to be concerned about intruding into anyone’s photo. They gathered up their gear and were off to the races even before I could get my second wader on! But I caught up to them at the shoreline, and in near complete darkness, they began shooting the hint of horizon light on this very cloudy morning. Long exposures needed for the dim light blurred the fast-moving clouds and the water making for a messy image. I liked the movement in the clouds though and ran over to a distant line of dunes to try something different (top photo). Looking west instead of east, I took long (25-second) exposures to blur the clouds as previously, and used my headlamp to illuminate the dunes themselves. In addition, I attempted to “spotlight” a small bush on the dune as a kind of focal point. Luckily, my headlamp has both a spotlight and a softer setting, and I made use of each in painting the dunes. Taking those photos in the several attempts to get the lighting right, was a race against time before the clouds were too bright to allow a single exposure long enough to sidelight all the dunes from both sides of the camera. So there was a lot of running around in the sand after each time I tripped the shutter.

Opposite Sunrises

Ripples at Sunrise – Corolla Beach, NC © jj raia

One accomplishment I hoped to achieve on last year’s photo trip to California, was to create an image along the coast of waves crashing among the rugged sea stacks during an epic sunset with shafts of sunlight streaking through a fiery sky filled with clouds. I wanted to fill the frame with the movement of the surf and angry sky that was typical of the images I’ve seen in the past and admired. But alas, during the entire three weeks of the trip, there was barely a cloud in the sky…the bane of any landscape photographer. I did get a few decent shots showing some movement in the waves, and did actually witness some color in the wispy, high-altitude clouds on one occasion, but for the most part, that single accomplishment went unachieved.

Outside the Golden Hours

Tide Pool at Little Hunters Beach — Acadia NP, ME © jjj raia

For the most part, color landscape photography takes place during the times surrounding sunrise and sunset. After all, that is when the light is most advantageous for sculpting the elements within the frame if you are shooting in the right direction where side-lighting wraps around subjects, and the light is much warmer. The middle of the day is not utilized much because the light is much brighter and more harsh, and most folks tend to spend that time with the camera in the bag waiting for the next opportunity for the “good light”. Tide pools tend to be one of the things that can be better photographed during midday because the overhead light shines directly into the recesses and really make the colors pop. Using a polarizer easily gets through any glare on the surface of the water and accentuates the colors below as in the image above  discovered at Little Hunters Beach. Not all tide pools have this astounding red coloration, but when I find them, I am immediately drawn to them as being quite unique. The addition of the kelp made it even more interesting.

Low Tide at Seawall — Acadia NP, ME © jj raia

But very often, if there are cliffs around these beaches, parts of them are in shade, and the even illumination there will offer opportunities to work with the bluer tones that a clear blue sky will provide, especially later in the day when the eastern sky is to your back and shooting into the shade.

Kelp at Little Hunters Beach — Acadia NP, ME © jj raia

One note about these particular tide pools during this day at Hunters Beach, the water contained within them was not stationary. The level of the ocean was about the same as the tide pool and therefore the fluctuations from the wave actions made the kelp sway with those motions. So in this instance, a higher ISO was used to freeze the movement and the use of a tripod was helpful because once the shot is set up, you can step away from the camera and observe when the movement had momentarily stopped. It just made it much easier to accomplish and spared my back from continually bending over the camera.

Kelp and Tide Pool – Little Hunters Beach — Acadia NP, ME © jj raia

Just wandering around and observing the various textures and patterns in the rocks and cliffs, as well as the variety of things you might find there can offer many hours of photography. Whenever I go on a photo trip, I try to keep searching every minute of the day for subjects to record. I can rest/eat/sleep when I return home. Not to say I don’t do any of those things during the trip, but for the most part, trying to keep photographing is the highest priority. The photograph below utilized a polarizer to eliminate any sheen on the rocks and let the color show through. If you find that there is no difference as you spin your polarizer, there is no harm in having it on your lens and you can dial in the minimum affect. If a real blue tint is desired, on a clear blue sky day, take off the polarizer and let the blue of the shadow be recorded, or you can warm it up by using the shadow white balance if it’s available on your particular camera.

Kelp and Rock at Little Hunters Beach — Acadia NP, ME © jj raia

The Tarn

The Tarn Reflections No. 1 — Acadia NP, ME © jj raia

During the 1993 trip to Acadia National Park, The Tarn never even entered into my notes nor did it even reach any research into locations to consider photographing. However, with the availability of the internet now, it came up and knew it was a place I wanted to visit for it’s potential. The first scouting of it was during a rainy afternoon, and the sedges growing from the water took on a reddish hue on their tips and it showed it had great possibilities when/if the sun shone on the mountain foliage and reflected in the waters still in the morning shade. The juxtaposition between the warm hues of the fall foliage and the cool tones of the grasses in shade would be wonderful to play with in designing each photograph.

The Tarn Reflections No. 4 — Acadia NP, ME © jj raia

At first there was disappointment that the red tips of the sedges were no longer as vibrant which was probably attributed to the more saturated colors when they were wet from the rain that first day I visited the spot. But there were still plenty of photos to be had just walking along the banks and shooting down with a medium to long lens. The first area I shot was an easily noticeable S-Curve in the reflections and surrounding sedges. It was also a benefit that the group of lily pads in the lower left created a gentle focal point to begin the journey through the frame. But the scene was entirely dependent on your position along the shoreline; walk a few steps either left or right, and the curve was lost. It can be helpful to continually walk along the pond/lake in both directions to get differing viewpoints and see things that may have been missed on the first try. Lily pads floated in various spots, more densely in certain areas, allowing for choices in what became the dominant element of the image; either the reflections, the grasses or the lilies.

The Tarn Reflections No. 3 — Acadia NP, ME © jj raia

Acadia — Day 7

Morning Sunlight from Cadillac Mountain — Acadia NP, ME © jj raia

Day 7 – Wednesday October 17, 2018

Went to sleep last night immediately after crawling into the sleeping bag with a sky full of stars, anticipating an early morning hike up Gorham Mountain. I planned ahead and changed to my hiking socks, and set up my boots before turning in at 945pm to save time in the morning. Woke up around 245am and still saw the stars out the window above me. At 430am I decided to get out and begin the day, but a look out the window revealed absolutely NO stars!! It looked totally clouded over, so it made no sense to do a hike up Gorham, and I decided to do the drive up to Cadillac instead, but it looked to be windy at the top as I drove higher and higher up. Not too promising, so I dozed in the darkness in the parking lot surrounded by the usual multitude of cars. When I woke from the short nap a while later, I saw a band of pink on the horizon, so I hustled to get my gear together, all my warm clothes on, and searched around in the dim light for some interesting rocks for foreground. After I found something, I first got the sky right, and then tried many exposures lighting the rocks with my headlamp that would otherwise simply go black. If it works, I’ll have to blend several as only one area could be lit during a single shot. Then I tried a huge panorama of the incredible red light (to see that panorama, click here) with the long lens and I thought the light might begin to shine on the rocks. But that turned out to be a disappointment and the sun retreated behind the clouds. Did another huge pano vertically, and discovered some crud on the split ND spread out all over the glass!! Ended up doing s third huge pano (9 panels) a bit after the red light without any ND (pano at the top of the post), but this time there were beams from behind the lower string of clouds that ran completely across the horizon. That string of clouds really gave the sky an additional layer of drama, not only for this panorama, but for the entire sunrise.

Young Fir and Blueberries – Acadia NP, ME © jj raia

When it finally completely clouded over and the sunrise was done, I headed for the red blueberries at the Cadillac entrance and spent about an hour there with what might be the best of the ones taken there, was actually taken last. Just a baby evergreen (fir?) surrounded by the red leaves. Luckily, it was much more calm there than the windy conditions at the top of Cadillac. From there it was just a short drive into Bar Harbor for a wonderful breakfast at ChocoLatte, a great send off for the drive back to Portland as this year’s trip heads toward an end.