lighthouse

All photos available for print and licensing >

A little travel flashback to last year in Maine. This was my first time in Maine and loved it. As soon as you stepped off the plane you could just tell that the air was different. I believe the word that I’m looking for is clean…

And I loved how close and convient Portland Head Light was to everything. I don’t remember exactly but it was like a 15-20 minute drive from our hotel and an even easier walk from the parking lot to this vantage point. But if I had my way, I would spend more time in Maine again this fall, especially in Portland. We only got to spend one night there but it was the cutest little town. I definietly did not get to see enough of it. Don’t even get me started on the lobster rolls. I’m pretty sure I had at least one every day that I was there ๐Ÿ™‚

But if you have been keeping up with my current travel updates on Instagram stories, you’ll know that Andrew and I are on a ferry back to Bergen before we make the trek back home to Virginia. Planning this trip was fun but it depended a lot on this ferry. It was the only way Andrew and I would have been able to road trip around Norway without having to make a complete circle driving around. This was definietly the easiest and fastest way to do it. Hopefully the fun-ist way to do it too. I was super excited to see the sunrise from the water.

My camera settings for this image is F4.0 at 8 seconds and ISO 640 with my Sony A7II and 16-35mm wide angle lens. I did not use a tripod for this image, instead I just held my breath and balanced my camera on top of a rock and hoped it turned out well.

 

All photos available for print and licensing >

Sometimes I run out of things to talk about in these blog posts. So I googled one of those online quiz thingys and thought I’d answer some of them for you. Let’s see how this goes…

1. What are your nicknames? What do you prefer to be called?
My cousins on my mom’s side all call me ‘Angie’. My cousins on my dad’s side call me ‘Ang’. Somewhere between middle school and high school friends started calling me ‘Pangie’. I respond by all those names but always just introduce myself as ‘Angela’. I like it when people call me by nicknames though. It makes me feel like they’re comfortable enough with me to call me by another name.

2. What books on your shelf are begging to be read?
I’ve started all of them. I’ve finished about half. I’m mostly into self improvement books and biographies.

3. How often do you doodle? What do your doodles look like?
Not often at all but I used to all the time when I was bored in school. If I do, it’s like those line pattern things that quickly fill up the whole page.

4. What do you do if you canโ€™t sleep at night? Do you count sheep? Toss and Turn? Try to get up and do something productive?
I usually get out of bed and go sit on the couch or something and read until I feel sleepy enough to fall asleep.

5. How many days could you last in solitary confinement? How would you do it?
2 days max but I would need my camera, laptop (only for photoshop) and a puzzle.

6. Who performs the most random acts of kindness out of everyone you know?
My husband, Andrew for sure! He’s always doing nice things for people, even without them knowing.

7. Are you a creature of habit? Explain.
Ummm… Yes! Daily blogging, I maintain an exercise routine of M,W,F and Saturday workouts, every morning I eat the same exact breakfest, the list seriously goes on and on.

8. When making an entrance in to a party, do you make your presence known? Do you slip in and look for someone you know? Do you sneak in quietly and find a safe spot to roost?
Slip in and look for someone I know. If I don’t know anyone, I head straight to the bar ๐Ÿ™‚

9. What is your strongest sense? If you had to give one up, which would it be?
I’m guessing my strongest sense is sight? But if I had to give one up it would be smell as long as I could still taste without my smell.

10. Which animals scare you most? Why?
Ostriches. They are the root of my fear of birds. When I was little I had a reoccurring nightmare that one would pop it’s little head out of the ground, chase me, and peck at my hair. They’re big, scary and I don’t like them.

LOL How was that? Let me know if you liked this and maybe I’ll do more in the future.

The camera settings for this image is F4 at 2.5 seconds ISO 1250 with my Sony A7II 16-35mm lens and 10 stop neutral density filter.

 

All photos available for print and licensing >

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?

All photos available for print and licensing >

I usually have tons of plans and to-do lists before I leave for a trip, but this time I didn’t have any of that. I might of had a few suggestions here and there from friends but otherwise, I left for Maine last week with no expectations. Well, I’m happy to say that I had a blast. It was way better than expected! LOL.

About 2 days before we left, my friend Sue and I decided to stay one less day in Acadia National Park and spend that extra time in Portland. I’m so glad we did that. It’s only 3 hours away from Bar Harbor/Acadia National Park but it gave us a better idea of what it’s really like being in Maine. From the one day that we were there, I loved how seeing lobster cages in the back of a pick up truck was no big deal and you can really tell that the people who lived there, loved it there. Everybody was so happy and friendly and I don’t think I have seen such a clean city before. You can really tell that Mainers respect their land and their water.

And on the top of every to-do list that we googled about Portland was this lighthouse, Portland Head Light. I loved how accessible it was. It’s so close to the city and it’s just a short walk from the parking lot. Which was perfect when you are running late for a sunrise! Man, was I running through that parking lot like it was no one’s business. And I may or may not have jumped a fence to capture this, but I figured it was ok since I saw other people doing it, right?

My camera settings for this image is 8.0 seconds at F/4 ISO 640 with my Sony A7II and 16-35mm wide angle lens. I also had my neutral density filter on there to make a longer exposure to smooth out the water.