highest point

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You know what’s really cool about waking up for sunrise? The windy air. LOL!

Sorry, bad joke. But for real, waking up for sunrise and then driving to the top of a mountain can get real chilly and Cadillac Mountain in Acadia National Park was no exception. I was wearing 2 pairs of pants, about 5 layers including a jacket on the top half of my body and gloves while waiting for the sun in the beginning of October. It’s totally worth it though. I love being first place and when you’re on top of Cadillac Mountain, you see the sunrise first before anyone else in the United States. YESSSSS.

But usually I’m hoping for a cloudy sunrise. The colors of the sun fill the clouds and that is my favorite time to take pictures. If it’s cloudy enough, it can make the whole sky turn a variety of colors. But it didn’t happen this day. The day that we designated to shoot sunrise from Cadillac Mountain was super clear. Not a single cloud in the sky. In this instance, I think it works though. All the rocks and textures on the bottom half of the image bring the interest in this photograph and the simplicity in the sky above just work well together. I love how there is a slight gradient but otherwise, I’m staring at that guy walking across the frame. Him being there really reminds me of what it was like being on top of the mountain. Pretty chilly but totally worth waking up early and capturing a great landscape image.

And as I was putting my camera back into my backpack, my tripod blew over and almost hit someone. Again. *face palm*

The settings for this image is 1/250th of a second at F/5.6 ISO 160 with my Sony A7II and 28-70mm zoom.

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Every year in October I can expect a huge jump in texts and phone calls from my dad. No, he doesn’t miss me. We live about 5 minutes away from each other. It’s not his birthday month. It’s not my birthday month. Why all the constant phone dings from my dad? Every year he reminds me of the Harvest Moon and basically forces me to go out shooting 3 nights in a row to capture it. The day before, the day of and the day after the full moon to make sure I capture it at it’s fullest and brightest.

Well, being in Maine didn’t stop him this year. As soon as I arrived I was immediately reminded of the Harvest Moon which meant that I had to pick my location asap. I figured Cadillac Mountain would be the best since you’re on top of a mountain! If my calculations were off in figuring out where the moon would rise from, at least it would be easier to move around on the top of the mountain than it would have been to move to a whole new location if I weren’t.

Watching the moon rise was magical and definietly a lot easier than watching the sun rise. It made everything around me seem so tiny. And then when it turned orange? You could hear all the camera shutters around me going CRA-ZY! It was so bright orange that it kinda made the sky turn a reddish hue. It was absolutely beautiful.

So just in case you don’t have Daddy Pan calling you every October, make sure to catch the full moon rise during this month. Its always awesome. Unless, it’s a cloudy night then it can be super disappointing.

My settings for this image is F13 at 1.3 seconds ISO 400.

PS Where the moon cake at?

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For Christmas I got two pretty awesome gifts.

1. I got a JBL portable bluetooth speaker. I love it because it’s splashproof too. That means I can blast music while I’m taking a shower. Before I’d have to turn my iphone up as loud as I could and place it as close to the shower as I could without getting it wet. It was just not very happenin’. Now my music is so loud that I can’t even hear it when Andrew tries to tell me something. hehehe.

2. I also got a kindle. This was a complete surprise and I never thought I’d like it but this little device is pretty cool. I can read it in bed without turning on the lights but I can also drop it in my purse and take it anywhere. I’m currently reading Fresh Off the Boat: A Memoir and its pretty hilarious. Like I’ll literally laugh out loud while I’m reading it. Let me know if you have any books you’d recommend for my kindle. I want to start a list.