Tag Archives: maine

Hermon Pond Ice Shacks

After seeing a New York Times post on different ice shacks in Canada, I was inspired to document some found in Maine.

I headed out to Hermon Pond, a pretty quick drive from the office, to see if I could find any.

I was pleasantly surprised to find a good amount of all different shapes and sizes spread throughout the pond. I threw on my micro-spikes and started the long walk down the plowed runway.  No, I wasn’t a real Mainer and didn’t drive my Jetta on the ice.

I’ve never been on that large of a frozen body of water. To be honest, it kind of freaked me out. Every time the ice released pressure, I jumped a little, even though I knew the ice was over a foot deep.

By the time I started shooting, the sun was starting to set. Some of the shacks were illuminated by a golden light, while others were cast in a blue shadow. I played with both lighting situations and seemed to like the deep blue better. To me, it almost lets you feel the cold in the photos.

After about 30 minutes of shooting, I started my haul back to my car and was pleased with what I came away with.

Any day where I can spend most of it outside making photos is a good day.

5@50 January 2, 2015

I give you  five more pictures from the streets of Portland taken on Friday Jan. 2 with my 50mm lens. It’s a test of my skills. If all goes well, I’ll be publishing a new set of five pictures taken with the same lens every week with no crazy cropping or Photoshop trickery.

The weather was warm, for January, and quite sunny. The streets were not empty. Folks seemed to be in good spirits. I easily struck up conversations with Kelsey and Heather.

I’ve been trying to walk pretty much the same beat since I started this. It hasn’t gotten boring yet. I figure, if I take the same walk over the course of many weeks, I’ll really start to notice what it is I’m looking at.

Incidentally, I know Glad Swope. He’s a musician and quite a character.

5@50 December 15, 2014

The weather was warm today and folks were strolling, rather than scurrying, as I shot this installment of my 5@50 series.  Two men and a woman were skateboarding in Congress Square. The sky was blue.

If you remember, I’m shoot five photos a week with my 50mm lens in Portland: no crazy cropping or Photoshopping. So, far I’ve posted each set of five from a single walk through the city. I haven’t saved any pictures to publish later. I pick five from what I shoot and erase the rest.

I’m thinking I’ll do this for a year and then see what I have. Maybe I’ll have a show in a gallery.

We’ll see.

5@50: December 2, 2014

Here I go again.

These are five more pictures from the streets of Portland taken on Tuesday Dec. 2 with my 50mm lens. It’s a project I started a few weeks ago as a test of my skills. If all goes well, I’ll be publishing a new set of five pictures taken with the same lens every week with no cropping or Photoshop trickery.

This week it was quite cold. Most Portlanders were scurrying to their destinations. I didn’t see anyone hanging about until I met Helen. She was just finishing up a Christmas decoration project. She was friendly.

Sometimes it’s hard to approach strangers on the street. You have to get a decent photo and then get their names. There’s lot’s of great shooters out there, but to do this job you also have to be friendly enough to make people feel vaguely comfortable giving you their names for a photo project they’ve never heard of before.

Here in Portland, I also have to include my now well-worn paragraph about how I work for the BDN, yes, but this is my hometown and I work here. I live here and cover it for that paper “up north.” My business card usually helps make me seem legit.

The other pictures I came up with this week were much easier. The stairs, the watches and the blue sky with buildings and wires were free for the taking.

The man walking by the window was a gift. I turned. I saw it, focused, snapped. Then he was gone. It takes all kinds.

– TROY.