Wings on a lake in northern Maine

It's amazing how relaxing and productive it is for me to spend a week on a remote lake in northern Maine. It's also a place where I can pretend to be a wildlife photographer-something that I wish I had done long ago. 
I love to visit Spencer Pond Camps, a place that I've stayed often over the past ten years, and not surprisingly, it happens to be one of my favorite places in the world! Situated on Spencer Pond, which is about 34 miles north of Greenville Maine, on logging roads, the camps are rustic and cozy. The area is full of wildlife, including moose, bear, pine marten's, fisher and deer; and many varieties of birds, including bald eagles, osprey, merlins, owls and others. This year, the loons were especially plentiful and thankfully, very "outspoken"!
While I was able to spend time relaxing and reading, I was usually photographing in the early mornings and into the evenings. I'll share more images in my next post, but for now.....
Each morning before sunrise, I'd climb into one of the kayaks with my camera, binoculars and a bottle of water and head across the pond (only in Maine would it be called a "pond"), to see what I could "see. One morning, as I was paddling back to camp, I happened to have the camera in my lap with the "right" lens, (70-200) and settings, (autofocus and a fairly fast shutter speed), when I noticed a solitary loon flying towards me, coming fairly close off my starboard side. It was a beautiful thing to have seen, and I was lucky to get a few nice images as she flew by.

Here's one of my favorite images from that sequence:

"Flying Loon"

Another evening, as we were watching the early evening sky from our private dock, I had an idea for an image. Needing a willing model, I approached the mother of a young girl whose family was staying in another nearby cabin, and asked if her daughter would be my model.
She was happy to help.
Thank you Veronica!!

"Soaring Veronica"


It's been said that as a parent, you should give your child "wings and a nest". Speaking from the perspective of a son who loved to endlessly wander and explore, I would agree, and I am grateful to my parents for having this philosophy while I was growing up.

Thanks for visiting my blog!