Biddeford pool Maine

All the equipment were soaked in the rain but were still good. Thanks to their excellent seals.

On our third day in Maine, the weather was still not cooperating but that didn't stop us from going around to explore the beautiful scenery around us. We went to Biddeford pool to hang out and take shots of the beach on this rainy day. It was a pretty good experience.

I had to use an ND4 filter for this shot to slow down my shutter speed to get the slow water flow effect. It was pretty overcast but I still was getting a lot of light from the sky. 

It was pretty good because there was no lightning. Only rain...lightning would have changed the game and we wouldn't have gone out. I wouldn't recommend going out to shoot in a thunderstorm...I break this rule sometimes as I can get really awesome lightning shots in a thunderstorm.

Houses by the shore. I wonder how much it costs to own one?

I was alternating between my 17-40 f/4L and my 70-200 f/2.8 lens. It's awesome to take really wide angle shots of the shoreline with everything in it but the scene from faraway rocks and structures made me swap lenses. It takes skills to swap lenses in rain and water without getting stuff in your sensor.

The rocks near the beach has stuff in it, probably seaweed which gave it a little texture.

I just can't stop taking shots of the rock up close. They kinda looked prehistoric.

We came back days later only to be stuck in a thunderstorm in the parking lot of the beach. We just wished that we saw the beach on a very sunny day at least once. We had fun in this place though. 

A close up of the houses near the beach.

Nubble lighthouse

A close up view of the Nubble lighthouse

On our third day in Maine last June we decided to drive to Nubble lighthouse in York Beach Maine. It was about a 20 minute drive from where we were staying. The weather was still rainy as it was the past few days, though that still didn't stop us from going down and taking photos of this magnificent lighthouse.

At the side of the lighthouse where I mostly photographed most of my shots.

This time I brought along my huge bag filled with photographic goodies from lenses to wireless triggers. 2 particular lenses were very useful that day for me. My favorite 70-200 IS USM became my main lens that day. The 17-40 f/4 L was an awesome companion to it for the wide angle shots of the beach.

A very close up of the lighthouse itself

The 70-200 was perfect in zooming in at the lighthouse. It was across from where we were standing and it has restricted access. Only people that work in the lighthouse are the only ones permitted to cross to get to it. That does not stop me from using the 70-200's awesome reach to get really close to the lighthouse. It was just enough to fill the frame with the lighthouse without me moving back. 

Swapped the 70-200 with my 17-40 to capture the lighthouse and the sea.

The 17-40 enabled me to capture the lighthouse and the sea in one shot. I was hoping to get a photo of the raging sea and the lighthouse together, and my ultra wide angle let me to do that. I actually filmed a couple of videos of the sea with it too. On situations where you don't know how far your subject is away from you, like in our case because it's our first time in this area, it's really helpful to bring multiple lenses. 

On the other side of the lighthouse was this. An awesome view of a structure and the raging sea.

Man the place was great and had a ton of photo opportunities. We were going from side to side taking shots everywhere we look. We really didn't mind the overcast sky as it added drama to our shots. Well, that's what my wife told me, lighthouses and storms do look good together on photos. After we came back home I was looking at my shots and she was right.

I had to take a portrait orientation shot of the lighthouse of course. 

It was getting late so we headed out and ate. It also loked like a bad storm is headed our way so we called it a night. We had dinner and promised to return another day to take shots of the lighthouse at night.

Cape Porpoise Maine

By the dock. It was empty when we arrived. 

Our 2nd day in Maine was stormy. After arriving the day before and deciding to just stay indoors the rest of the day, we decided to drive around the area and explore. Weather wasn't cooperating but it really didn't matter. We were determined to take some photos of the area no matter what. So I packed up my camera gear and off we went. I packed my bag with the 5D MK2 and my favorite lens for landscapes...my 17-40mm f/4 L.

Lobster cages everywhere...Maine isn't called the lobster capital for nothing.

We went to this dock and started taking shots. There was no one there, we weren't sure if it was the weather or if it was something else. That didn't stop up from taking shots around though. It was overcast so I set my camera to aperture priority and set a wide aperture to keep up with a reasonable shutter speed.

Took this from the top of the dock to get the maximum view of the sky and the sea.

I zoomed in to 40mm to get this shot. It's not as wide as the other ones.

The temperature was around maybe 65 degrees and it was really windy. it was good we bought windbreakers with hoods before we went out. The rain was non stop. The shots show that the sky was really dark. 

The restaurant at the side of the dock. I guess the sell buoys too.

The other side of the dock. That building on the right I think is a restaurant.

After about an hour, we decided to wrap it up as our equipment were drenched in rain. Again, it's the perfect time to be using the weather sealed Canon L lenses. My wife was using a Canon Rebel XT with a 28-135 lens and that did survive the rain too. Although it's not really advisable to use non sealed equipment in the rain but I guess we were lucky.