The week before Memorial Day we went
to visit Bar Harbor and Acadia National Park in Maine. It is a good 5 hour
drive north from Boston but no doubt worth the trip any time we make it. Mount Desert
Island and the park always stand for good times, beautiful nature photography
but also great outdoor adventures that includes hiking, biking, canoeing and
more. Although this time the weather was not playing along and it was pretty
much raining nonstop we enjoyed hiking around Jordan Pond and The South Bubble
in the drizzle, having afternoon tea and the famous popovers at the Jordan Pond House and browsing the streets of Bar Harbor where businesses were buzzing
and most of the restaurants, galleries and shops were open for business. As Memorial
Day weekend was approaching the crowds became larger and people were flocking onto
Main Street of Bar Harbor. It will only get busier from here when the summer
crowds arrive and cruise ships with plenty of passengers stop for a day. The
night before full moon when I was just driving back from a foggy photo shoot
along the Park Loop road of Acadia National Park I realized the opportunity for
a shot that I had on my bucket list for many years. The sky suddenly opened up
for a few minutes in the evening, while twilight was fast approaching. Instead
of turning right to our motel I made a quick left turn down Main Street towards
the harbor. I immediately found a parking spot at the harbor parking area which
made it very convenient. Only a few steps away I set up tripod and camera gear.
I choose the Canon 28-70mm lens and composed a picturesque New England town
picture of Main Street and its buzzing nightlife. I made it a priority to
include the lit up moose on top of one of the restaurants. Switching to manual
focus allowed me to pin point sharpness where I exactly wanted it, metering on
the bright moose and deviating a bit off it provided the exposure for this
image. Another challenge was to keep the cars driving up and down Main Street
out of the picture. Breaks of passing by cars, multiple rounds of exposures and
an aperture of f/5.6 at ISO 200 providing an exposure time of 3.2 seconds finally
provided me with the photography image of Bar Harbor that I was hoping for,
lots of ambiance at beautiful twilight.
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