Storm, Eagle Lake, Acadia National Park, ME

   This is one of my favorite photographs. It was taken in late September on the western side of Cadillac Mountain in Acadia National Park. The weather along coastal Maine can be a bit unpredictable, and changes frequently. The forecast for the day was partly sunny as we set out on our day exploring the park. Late in the morning, rain clouds began to form so, eager to get a view of the clouds from above we headed for the top of Cadillac Mountain. As we approached the top, it became apparent that the mountain didn't quite have the height to get above the cloud layer. I also noticed that I was right in the middle of a quickly progressing storm with wind and rain.
    I find myself most connected and inspired with weather in the landscape; just about all of my favorite photographs have been taken either during stormy weather, or as the storm is clearing. I worked to set up my camera on its tripod, metering the scene and composing the landscape in the viewfinder, all the while envisioning what I wanted the final print to look like. The lens stayed dry for about a split second, so once the scene was framed and metered, I dried off the lens, and with the help of an umbrella, worked to adjust the focus. The wind was now blowing the rain sideways, and the umbrella only kept the lens dry for just more than a second.
   Once I was satisfied with the focus, I dipped the umbrella to cover the entire camera, dried off the lens, and then simultaneously raised the umbrella and hit the remote shutter release two times. ( I do this because the first raises the mirror and the second releases the shutter. This extra step helps to ensure tack sharp focus as it takes some of the minuscule vibration out of the camera resulting from the mirror raising in single lens reflex cameras which degrades image sharpness.) I repeated this process several times as I was hoping to get one image that was free of drops on the lens. This print resulted and careful inspection reveals one or two barely perceptible diagonal streaks; these are the raindrops. Most are not visible as I used a slow shutter speed to hide them, however, a few show up and add a nice touch to the feel of the image.

Hope everyone has a good week, Colin

You may view this photograph along with many of my others on my website www.colinseitzphotography.com.