Lynn WiezyckiOn each visit to Acadia National Park, there is a spot that I photograph every time. On my first visit, it was the first place we photographed. On my second visit, I could not remember where the spot was until I saw it as I glanced to the side of the road as we drove by. We stopped so I could get my shot. On the third visit, we stopped on the first day. This special spot…
looks out onto Eagle Lake! We stopped that first day in the morning and then went back at night a couple of days later as we were in Maine during the new moon expressly to shoot the Milky Way! We were very lucky to get two cloudless nights to shoot the night sky.
The Morning Visit to Eagle Lake
There is a small parking area at the northern end of Eagle Lake, off of Eagle Lake Road, that is along the famous Carriage Road (Forty-five miles of rustic carriage roads, the gift of philanthropist John D. Rockefeller Jr. and family – Pedestrians, bicyclists, and horse-drawn carriages share in the beauty, access, and safety of these auto-free roads across the park.) in Acadia National Park. This is a great place to get a view of Eagle Lake and the mountains on the other side including Cadillac Mountain.
On this visit, a good bit of the Carriage Road was under repair or maintenance. To get to my favorite spot I needed to walk through the woods and around some heavy equipment to get to the exact spot. It was Sunday so there was no work going on, luckily.
The spot has four trees, two on one side and two on the other with a view across Eagle Lake with a view of Pemetic Mountain off in the distance.
I have visited Maine in August and September and this time, in October, I was hoping for a bit of fall color at this special spot! I was not disappointed!
After capturing this special image, I continued to get some great shots along the shore. The rocks and grasses just added to the scenes.
The water was somewhat higher than on my previous visits so some of the rocks I have stood on were not above water this time. But I made the most of what I had! Here is another view of Pemetic Mountain from another viewpoint.
I had my Nikon Z6 Infrared converted camera with me so I had to get some images of the dramatic sky in black & white IR.
There were so many possibilities along this shore! These leading lines just pulled me in.
I found another view that I preferred in color!
Duck Pond Road Visit
From Eagle Lake, we drove a bit further east on Eagle Lake Road to Duck Pond Road. There is a stream that flows into Eagle Lake along this road. Just before it hits the Carriage Road there is a parking area. We stopped and walked over to the stream and followed along until it went under one of the famous old bridges that were built for the Carriage Road. Just prior to the bridge there were a few small waterfalls and some small whirlpools. I was carrying my things in my waterproof hunting backpack so I decided to get quite close and managed to take some great pictures. I spent a few minutes working to get a long exposure with a swirl!
I wanted to shoot the small waterfalls but the light was a bit bright and then another photographer came in and sat more or less in the view a wanted so I decided to work my way up to the Carriage Road for a view of the other side of the bridge.
I had never been down this road before so I want to thank my friend, Colleen Miniuk, for her tremendous guidebook, Photographing Acadia, The Essential Guide to When, Where, and How -2nd Ed. Her book was a great aid in getting us away from the more popular and yes, very crowded areas (even in October).
As we walked back to the SUV we noticed that the cloud cover was getting thicker so after getting some lunch we made the decision that this would be a great day to visit the 2 botanical gardens that are both in Northeast Harbor. But more on them in my next blog post.
The Night Visit to Eagle Lake
During my very first visit to Eagle Lake, in August, we were fortunate to get a fairly clear night with the moon only in the sliver crescent stage. This was in August and the Milky Way Galactic Center was very visible fairly early in the night. It was so clear you could easily see it with your naked eyes once they were accustomed to the dark. The images I made on this trip were the best Milky Way shots I have to date.
During my second visit, which was in September, the Milky Way should have been prominent but we were there when the moon was almost full and we were battling clouds so I didn’t get anything that trip.
As mentioned above, we intentionally set this trip for the new moon stage so we would at least not have to contend with too much moonlight. On our fourth day, the weather cleared up and it was the peak of the new moon so we decided to hit Eagle Lake again around 7:30 PM.
In October, the Galactic Center of the Milky Way is somewhat below the horizon once it gets dark but we were still able to see some of it once it got dark enough.
For this trip, I had specifically brought a Rokinon 14mm lens that I had purchased for astrophotography. I was very disappointed in the results. There was not as much distortion as with my 15mm fish-eye lens but I had to shoot a very long exposure even though this lens is an F2.8. I was using the D850 and even though that camera usually handles the long exposure fairly well this lens made a mess of the color of the darker areas. I had to do some major work in post-processing to get a reasonable image. I tried some slightly longer exposures at a lower ISO but then I no longer had pinpoint stars!
I have a Move Shoot Move star tracker (I did not bring it) …I need to get used to using that and this would not be such a problem!
When you are visiting Acadia National Park, take a few minutes and visit Eagle Lake and Duck Pond Road. If there are no clouds and the moon is small or not visible, try your hand at shooting the Milky Way. It is so dark here that it is relatively easy!
Click on the images for larger versions or for these and several more please visit these galleries: Eagle Lake and Duck Pond Road
My next blog will be showing off the beautiful gardens in Northeast Harbor, Asticou Gardens, Thuya Gardens, and the gardens of Asticou Inn.
That is all for now.
Lynn
Mary Presson Roberts