AnotherMaine & GoodPhotos

28th Annual Popham Beach Beltaine

Just this one here this year. The rest are on my Facebook account.

Open Carry BBQ in Portland

Nearly 100 people gathered on Portland's Back Bay today to have a BBQ
and celebrate the fact that in my home state it is still legal for
adults to carry a firearms openly in public.

Counter to the illogical claims that more guns = more violence, Maine
has nearly the highest firearm ownership per capita of any State in
the Republic and yet we also have some of the lowest rates of firearm
violence in the Nation.

There was also a small gathering of anti-self defence folks who would
make Open Carry illegal in certain municipalities. This movement is
spear-headed by a local Portland politician. Augusta took the reigns
of gun legislation from the political subdivisions of the State back
in 1989 when then Portland Police Chief "Media Mike" Chitwood tried to
enact a 19th Century Blue Law of restricting firearm carry in daylight
hours. I think it was telling that even in Maine's most liberal
municipality, the anti-self defence folks were outnumbered by about
3:1 by the pro-self defence crowd.

The only mar to the cheerful, articulate and well mannered pro-self
defence crowd that I saw was some moron had decked his truck out with
a Confederate flag flying high above the United State Flags and the
truck was laden with claims of communism and socialism from the
President. While this truck owner has every right to voice such ill
informed opinion (Obama is a Corporatist just like his predecessor,
not a Socialist nor a Communist), flying the Confederate flag in a
State which lost many brave men fighting against that flag is a grave
insult. Flying it in prominence over the flag of the United States of
America which stands for the ideals of the Constitution which
Guarantees the very Rights which s/he are celebrating, is just
outright stupid and should be called such by anyone regardless of
which side of the open carry issue we are on.

The man with the 'Yes We Can' sign stated as much..."I believe that these people have every right
to wear their guns in public, but I oppose the racism and hatred that
that [Confederate] flag represents here."

An interesting afternoon regardless.

(download)

Click here to download:

Open_Carry_BBQ_in_Portland.zip (531 KB)

In Bloom, ForCynthia

When my mom was little my Nana used to tell her that Forcythia was
"For Cynthia."
That has given me an extra smile while I've been enjoying these
brilliant yellow expressions of New England waking up for a couple of
weeks now.
Some of the other trees and bushes are also looking spectacular.

(download)

Click here to download:

In_Bloom_ForCynthia.zip (747 KB)

PAW #10, 2010

Nicole and Rusty.
Snuggling on the warm couch.
At my mom and dads.

PAW #9, 2010

We had nearly a full moon last night shining brightly on the newly fallen ice/slush/snow. This allowed me to revisit the trees from the bathroom window (hey, it was cold out there!) but with different camera settings. The previous shot (see:First Attempt at Pictorialism below) were made at 12,800 ISO, this one is merely 800ISO. Far less noise (~grain) and much better colour (which I retained this time), but then again, Luna was a quite a bit brighter. I'm REALLY happy with this little camera.
800ISO, 1Sec. f/2.0 handheld (braced) Canon S90.

PAW #8, 2010

It has been mostly a very mild Winter but we got hit with a Slush Storm Nor'Easter last night. 8 inches of very heavy wet slush on top of very slippery roads.

PAW #7, 2010

Meg trying to look innocent...I'm not buying it.

PAW 2010 Wk # 6

The County of Cumberland hired me to photograph and print all of the Great Seals from each of the 27 towns in the county for the 250th Anniversary of the County.
Most towns didn't have much worth photographing (with a few wonderful exceptions) and some towns don't have an official Great Seal, but I came up with something for each of them, printed them all up 12"X12" at the Photo Market on Forest Ave. in Portland and had the fine folks at Artiplaq, Inc in So. Portland mount them all in their wonderful archival fashion.
They all hang now in the County Courthouse and copies have been given to the towns as well.

PAW #5, 2010

Kevin styling in Mark's Hat.
(Canon S90)

First Attempt at Pictorialism

I'll make better attempts at pictorialist work in the future.
It is a genre that I think should make a resurgence in the digital age.
This was an insanely high ISO (12,800) handheld lit only by moonlight.
The soft and intense noise in the image makes it look like something shot turn of the 19th C.
Canon S90 Special High ISO mode.