Paul Howe 5/18/24 Paul Howe 5/18/24

Back to “The Cape”

I was back on Cape Cod in Massachusetts with family last week and took many images from morning until night. I have been shooting a lot of sports for a yearbook company the last few weeks, and I do enjoy the challenge of capturing the sports action moments, but it was nice to slow down take one frame at a time and enjoy Cape Cod.

Marconie sight,Wellfleet, Cape Cod Massachusetts

I photograph sunrises, sunsets, photos from atop the Pilgrim Monument, a few wild life photos and many others scenic images around Cape Cod. The light on Cape Cod never seems to disappoint me.

Sunrise North Truro beach, Cape Cod Massachusetts

From the top of the Pilgrim Monument, Provincetown Massachusetts

Piping Plover North Truro, Massachusetts

Rock Harbor, Orleans Massachusetts
Prints can be purchased of any of the images on this blog. Just contact me by text or email to discuss size and price.

Paul Howe 4/26/24 Paul Howe 4/26/24

Spring Color

Spring is blooming in the area now. Natasha and I were at a small park in Durham NH the other day enjoying the warmer weather and the spring colors. The flowering trees and bushes made for a welcome change from the subdued colors of winter. Color though, can be distracting and I have to keep in mind the composition while taking photos. The light was kind of harsh but I worked with it to try and get a few early spring images.

Paul Howe 4/8/24 Paul Howe 4/8/24

Nature Close Ups

Whenever I am out photographing, close ups of nature are always fun to find. I can be photographing an expansive landscape one moment and then I will see a still life that nature has created.

Recently I saw these crocus still showing their colors despite the snow. The contrast between the color of the flowers and the snow and showing two seasons always makes for some interesting images for me.

Walking on the ocean beach you would think the big expanse of the ocean is what I would be photographing but, sometime I will see what a blade of grass and the wind has drawn in the sand. The sun setting, lighting up a leaf on the beach or rocks, sand and light creating interesting patterns. Looking and capturing the small landscapes is always exciting and unexpected for me.

Paul Howe 4/2/24 Paul Howe 4/2/24

Wildlife

I do not pretend to be a wildlife photographer, but once in a while I like to capture animals in their natural setting.

Lighting is what caught my attention as I was photographing ducks on the Lamprey river in Newmarket last weekend. The female duck was preening herself and the sun falling on the duck made for a nice image. Later at the same location I saw some sparrows in a bush. I was able, with a long lens, to get close enough and when the bird cocked its head to look at me I snapped a photo.

Sometimes wildlife like this deer just appear while I am out photographing the landscape. I was able to change lenses and get a few shots before the deer just meandered on it way. Another time as I was walking around York Harbor looking for photo possibilities I saw this heron. I had the right lens with me and was able to take a few photos.

It is good to be prepared for these moments because sometimes I travel light and do not bring all my photo gear and have been caught quit a few times without the right lens with me.

I don’t always go far to take a few wildlife photos like the one of the squirrel . I saw it running around in the yard at home so I got my camera went outside and waited until the squirrel came out of the woods and I took a few photographs. A little patients is sometime what you need to capture the image.

Paul Howe 3/29/24 Paul Howe 3/29/24

A Nature surprise

Sometimes I get an unexpected visual gift when I am out taking photos of something else.This was the case last Sunday when Natasha I were out on Maple weekend in Maine. As we traveled inland from York Maine ice began to form on the trees all around us. Though the ice storm caused a lot of damage to the area with many thousands of people in Maine without power it was still beautiful.

When there seems to be a great photo everywhere I look I feel like I have to capture everything I see. I have to calm down from the visual overload and really look at what I am photographing so I don’t just take random photos. The world has been transformed by a weather event like an ice storm. Everything looks new. I have the same problem when I travel to a visually stunning new place.

As we walk to one of the sugarhouses the sun came out and the ice sparkled in the sunlight which made for some spectacular scenery that I hope I could capture and convey what I saw and was feeling at that moment walking on a road in Maine.

Paul Howe 3/26/24 Paul Howe 3/26/24

Maple Sugaring Time

I have photographed maple sugaring season many times and I am always challenged to find and new way to capture an image of making syrup from sap every year.

North Berwick Maine at the Chase farm is where I took my first photos. Steam coming from the vent in the roof snd ice on the trees made for a new and slightly different photo. The one thing that really stood out from a picture prospective was all light from all the windows in the sugar house that made photographing indoors a breeze.

Giles Farm in Alfred Maine was the next stop. Natasha and I had been here the year before and was not sure what kind of image I could make. I ended up with a few shots outside and inside the sugar house and basically did a standard shot of syrup being drawn off the evaporator. Nothing new but a record of what was going on that day, month and year.

We walked about a half mile to our next sugarhouse. The sun was warm and the ice storm the day before made for many nice photos before we arrived there. (Future blog post?)

Look-up at the ceiling of the sugarhouse at the 207 Tappers in Biddeford Maine, I saw the contrasts of the ceiling steam and light and captured some images. The walk back to the car was equally inspiring to take photos.

A couple of photos at our last stop at Harris Farm in Dayton, of people enjoying Maple weekend in Maine and I was good for the day and another year of a spring tradition in New England.

Paul Howe 3/22/24 Paul Howe 3/22/24

“The Cape”

Photographing on Cape Cod is always a different experience. The light is softer not as harsh, you can see into the shadows. Full sun, cloudy day, or somewhere in-between the light is more diffused. My guess is there is more moisture in the air and the light scatters.

The light was the same when my wife Natasha and I visited her aunt and uncle in West Dennis on Cape Cod a week ago. Friday Aunt Martha drove us to the Monomoy National Wildlife Refuse on Morris Island in Chatham. We walked on a trail that took us first through the woods that then opened up to a salt marsh. The trail went passed small ponds and grasses and we end at the edge of the Atlantic Ocean.

Atlantic Ocean, Monomoy Island,Chatham MA

I captured many images in the salt mash area watching the sun light come and go on the landscape before me on this partly cloudy day.

Later Natasha and I walked, and I took more photos, at the beach at Chatham light. The water was calm here, protected from the full force of the ocean by barrier islands, which made for some nice calming pictures.

The last photos I took were at the Chatham Pier. Everyone comes to the pier looking for seals, but the were no fishing boats unloading there catch for the day so the seals were absent. No seal photos that day but I did take a few photos of Turn Island Sanctuary just off shore.

Even though it was close to noon the light was still favorable capturing a few more images before lunch.

Paul Howe 3/19/24 Paul Howe 3/19/24

Beginning

I begin my first blog post on my adventures with my camera on the first day of spring 2024. Rising early to capture the sunrise at Sohiel Park in Cape Neddick home to the Nubble Lighthouse.

Arriving before the sun peaked above the horizon the first thing that caught my eye was a cloud already lit by the morning sun. After taking photos of the cloud I Moved to the other side of the park, where I waited with cold hands,(my gloves were back in the car),for the sun to rise in the East. I took many photos of the colorful sky before the sun rose above the rocks to light the day.

After many more sunrise photos and some of Nubble Lighthouse I then headed to Long Sands Beach in York for more photos of the sunshine lighting up another day.

I spotted and photographed a piece of driftwood on the beach lit up by the spring sun then headed home with new photos and new memories on a new day just beginning.