Wednesday, September 10, 2008
Off Season
[Above]
Image 1: Nubble Light, Cape Neddick, York Maine
Image 2: Beach Cruiser, Parsons Beach, Kennebunk, Maine
Image 3: Life Guard Towers in Fog, Wells Beach, Wells, Maine
Image 4: Marina in Fog, Wells Beach Marina, Wells, Maine
Image 5: Surfer, Wells Beach Marina, Wells, Maine [for Killswitch Magazine]
I tend to use bulmerblog2.com as a place to be more informal with content and images. The photos on this page represent the playful aspect of being a professional photographer. Not everything has to be client related.
As I look at other professional photography sites, I am often more fascinated by the offhanded photos of someone’s life rather than the staged and polished images in their portfolios. It is in these “throwaways” you can learn the most about the person behind the viewfinder.
I am rarely without some form of camera. Over the years, taking a camera with me has become as habitual as grabbing the car keys and locking the house. Long before I was a professional, my camera was my journal. And I have never lost sight of that.
We are just settling back into our daily routine after being gone for 10 days. Over the past week, we have spent time in North Conway, NH, and Wells, ME. The last ten days have been equal parts photo trip, vacation, and homage to summer’s last stand. It was one of those trips where departure is firmly rooted in summer, but over the course of a week, the seasons change. We returned to find our front lawn littered with the first sacrifices of summer’s leaves to the cold nights of fall. Things had changed. Summer had slipped out in the middle of the night like a coward hiding from a fight.
Traveling in the off-season is one of my favorite things to do. We drove to the top of Mount Washington [click here to view the photos] on the day after Labor Day. The top of the mountain was deserted. There was only one other car in the summit parking lot and the only people we encountered on the road were maintenance crews. After speaking with the man who runs the gift shop that's literally chained to the top of the mountain, he informed us that the previous afternoon was standing room only. He described it as “a beach party on the highest peak in the Northeast.” Every time I sneak in under the radar of the masses, I chalk up a little victory.
Maine had that same vacation land ghost town vibe. Signs along the town’s main road thanked patrons for a successful season and promised to see them next year. Parking lots were empty and stored closed early. There is a beauty in the off season that is impossible to attain under the summer’s heavy traffic and limited resources.
The images attached to this post are documents of my little excursion into off season: no crowds, no parking lots full of SUV’s and car campers, no 45 minute wait for a table. Now the slide into winter begins in earnest.
[Below]
Image 6: Identification Number, Abandoned Train
North Conway Station, North Conway, New Hampshire
Image 7: No. 4268, Train's Badge
North Conway Station, North Conway, New Hampshire
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