Hello from Rockville, Maryland. I think? Definitely somewhere just outside of Washington, DC, and definitely not Portland, Maine, where thirty-six hours ago I still expected to be today…My big plan for this trip hasn’t wound up being much of a “plan” lately, more like a “guideline” instead. Maine was good for a bit…rocky coastal sunrises at Acadia National Park, miles of hiking along the old carriage roads, good clouds at the Bass Harbor Lighthouse, a beautiful sunset at the Marshall Point Lighthouse…it also saw the demise of Paul and I’s relationship, at which point I scrapped my remaining Maine lighthouse shoots and left New England all together. I find driving cathartic, at least when I don’t have to drive through traffic, and sometimes I wonder why I worry so much about wearing ear plugs when I go to shows for as loud as the music in my car gets some days. Eight hours of driving later I was on the New Jersey shore, where I caught a lovely sunrise this morning at the Ocean Grove Pier. A conversation with a fellow photographer, who was more than happy to fill me in on all the great local spots to shoot, headed me towards the Sandy Hook Lighthouse and the battery ruins at Fort Hancock. A couple more hours of driving landed me at the Great Falls of the Potomac, but sadly the water levels are just too low for the falls to be all that interesting. I think I’m heading towards Harper’s Ferry and Shenandoah National Park, and after that, who knows? My next round of campground reservations don’t start until Friday night down at the Great Smoky Mountains…
Unfortunately, the new photos will have to wait until tomorrow to post, sorry…Panera is closing and I’m nowhere near being done editing, and I desperately need some sleep.
Update: New pictures have now been posted in the following albums…Maine, Acadia National Park, New Jersey, and Maryland. Also, now that I’ve had my new 5d Mark II for a week, I can officially say that I am absolutely in love with it. The detail that I can capture with 21 megapixels is amazing, the LCD screen is big and pretty and automatically adjusts the brightness so I can always see it, and the built in sensor cleaner, while not perfect, is doing a nice job of keeping the dust spots to a minimum. I had heard some people say that with 21 megapixels it became all too clear how crappy their technique was when they zoomed into actual pixel level, the focus was too soft, etc, but I’ve been very relieved to find that the last couple years of forcing myself to shoot with a tripod more often than not, and pay attention to my depth of field, has actually given me fairly decent technique. Yay!