Calf Creek Falls

These images were from a field trip for the Nature Photography class at BYU taught by John Telford. John asked if I would go down a day early and reserve a camp sight for the class. Most of the early pictures of this post were taken during the drive down. I was accompanied by my friend McCall and we were blessed with some of the most amazing skies I have ever seen. As you can probably guess I could not in good conscience keep driving so I kept pulling over and taking pictures. I thought the colors and contrast would dissipate quickly so I only pulled out the digital, a decision which I now regret. As John used to always tell me when I was back in school, "If you don't have time to do it right, when will you have time to do it again?" I should have pulled out my 4x5.

The trip was centered around going to Calf Creek Falls. (Which, ironically, I do not have any pictures of to post yet. They will have to come later, I only shot 4x5 B&W) I was excited to go on this trip because I had not been back to Calf Creek Falls since the Raven incident of 2002. For those that haven't heard the story, the facts are these: Me and my friend Chris Parkinson were minding our own business photographing the falls when I noticed a raven over by my bag. I didn't know how long he had been there and I didn't think much of it and merely shooed the bird away. After photographing a little while longer I glanced over and saw the raven again. Only then did I realize the fascination he had with my bag, he was holding a roll of Fuji Velvia film in it's beak. While I was appreciating the wonders of nature, nature was appreciating the shiny silver things in my camera bag. (Since the medium format film was the target I'm guessing the bird had a Holga camera) I never figured out how much film that bird made off with but I learned the valuable lesson of keeping your camera bag closed even when you think you are alone or shoot with a larger format camera that birds can't steal from quite as easily. (Hence why I shot 4x5 this time around.)

This picture is only significant because my friend McCall didn't quite believe me that you can photograph using moon light and have it look like it was the middle of the day. Since I can never turn down a little competition I pulled over on the Hog's Back and took this picture for her. (11:01:53 pm in case you are wondering)

I will blame this picture on my little sister, Tianna, who has an obsession of taking pictures of unusual signs. I don't know how she will feel knowing that I thought of her when I saw this sign but at least I'm thinking of her right?

This is a candid of McCall photographing at sunrise.

This is a candid of me photographing me at sunrise.

I caught a little case of the 'macro' bug and played with some flowers for a little while.

Field Trip to Vinelhaven

First things first, namely random observations. On the ferry we took there is a painted sign down at the bottom of the boat that reads "Emergency Escape - do not block" (you may need to click on the image to enlarge it to be able to read it) Call me crazy but if there is an emergency that requires me to escape from this boat I am not going to proceed over to jump where it tells me to whether it is blocked or not. I think I would take the advice of the genie in Alladin: "In case of emergency, the exits are here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, anywhere! " I also noticed that all the lifesaving equipment is nowhere close to the "Emergency Escape" sign.


The other thing that I find interesting is how any house in Maine passes code. Look at the foundation for this restaurant. What you can't see is the water that runs by here is the tide as it rises and lowers. The opening for the tidal waters are restricted which basically gives the water the current of a large river as it races by these precariously placed supporting stones.

This is Arno Minkkinen. Arno was the instructor for the course I was in, known as "Photography for Dreamers." This was just a random shot I took with my camera sitting on my hip. I kept it just because it makes Arno look paradoxically opposite to how he really is. It looks like the course could be "Photography from your Nightmares'" Arno really is one of the nicest guys you will ever meet.

This is also Arno reaching to take a picture. This is actually surprisingly safe for Arno. If you look at some of his images you would think he was suicidal by how precarious they look.


One thing very interesting about the ferry ride over is all the buoys that you see floating in Penobscot Bay. Each one of these colorful buoys indicate a lobster trap. For those that don't know Penobscot Bay is one of the largest lobster producing areas in the world, so there are a lot of these buoys floating around. Each one consists of different combinations of colors kind of like a brand for cattle so that the fisherman can keep them straight. This picture won't do it justice but the colored buoys literally dot the seeable horizon.