Late Summer Sunrise

     Every once in a while I wake up just as the sky is starting to get light.  It's usually much later.  The newspapers don't come until eight, and we've been known to sleep 'til nine.  It's fine with Baxter whenever we get up.  Since it was just before sunrise, I brewed a quick mug of coffee, slung the camera around my neck, grabbed a folding chair, and headed down toward the water to find a good vantage point.  I set up the chair and the camera and sat down with the coffee to wait for some good photo-ops.  There was some morning sea-fog, and nestled in it was a freighter waiting to move into the Searsport harbor.

     You can tell that this was gentle, pre-dawn light.  The colors didn't stay subtle for long.

     I suppose I should have had some sort of filter to shoot straight into the sun, but I didn't so I shot anyway.

   As it crept above the horizon it began to blast every pixel collector I had, so I used an oak tree for a filter.

     As I turned my back to the sun, it was nice to see the homes on the far side of the bay starting to reflect the morning light.

     These homes are in Northport or perhaps the southern edge of Belfast.  While I was sitting there, I saw a gull pick up a mussel and carry it aloft only to drop it onto the rocks below.  After he released it, he followed it down and had a tasty mouthful as it broke against the rocks.  I tried hard to capture it with the camera, but with no success.  The best I could do was to catch one guy ready to launch.

     The mussels are pretty firmly attached to the rocks, so it's hard for the gulls to rip them loose in the first place.
     Prominently located in the entrance to Belfast harbor is an aid to navigation called a monument   It has been there since the 1800s and has special meaning for several of our Maine camping friends.  This morning was low tide as you can tell by the black portion of the monument that is exposed.  The waterfowl are cormorants.

     This evening the full moon put on a display to compete with the sunrise.  It rose in the same place and was nearly the same color in a very muted way.  The first shot was when I was too lazy to move away from the campers and elected to shoot between them.

     Then I decided to move out to where I could see the reflection.

     When you consider that all of these shots were taken in one day from the same place, you have to agree that it is a very special place..