So my father and I are getting into these little photography outings for just the two of us. This was our second trip. After postponing a few times my dad brought me to a state park I had looked up a while ago in Freeport. Wolf’s Neck Woods State Park.
Now the main reason I even found this park in Freeport was because I wanted an excuse to go into LL Bean. I’ve been wanting a rather top-notch backpack for hiking and figured, with their lifetime warranty, LL Bean was the place. More on that later though.
So we get to this state park, and mind you we’re on a motorcycle, and the guy in the entrance/security shack looks at us, smiles, and says “Just two?” My dad shot back with a humorous “No, we’ve got a third folded up in the saddlebag.” Needless to say, we all had a bit of a That’s-such-a-bad-joke-but-it’s-still-funny moment.
So after paying the $6 to get in, getting a few maps of the place, and parking, we got our cameras and began our little trek.
Walking along the trail for a bit we came to an information post that was talking about Osprey and their nests out on an island not too far from where we were standing. Looking out through the trees we could see one sitting in a nest in the very tops of the trees.
I got out my 500mm lens and took a few photos. Here’s one of the better ones.
(Camera: Sony A100. Focal length: 330mm. F-Stop: 6.3. Shutter Speed: 1/500. ISO: 100)
When we moved on we headed toward some stairs that wandered down to a rock outcropping. We could really see the Osprey from there. I took a few more pictures, many looked like the one I just posted so I won’t repeat them, but while I was waiting for my dad to take the photos he was taking, I heard a little rustling in the brush behind me. Turning and looking I spotted a chipmunk stuffing his cheeks with berries. You just wanna pet him!
(Camera: Sony A100. Focal length: 500mm. F-Stop: 6.3. Shutter Speed: 1/500. ISO: 250)
By the time I had snapped a few shots of the chipmunk one of the Osprey had taken off from the island and flew over to light in the very tree I was standing under. While I was getting ready to take another picture of this one, it looked directly at me!
(Camera: Sony A100. Focal length: 500mm. F-Stop: 6.3. Shutter Speed: 1/500. ISO: 100)
Once the fun with the Osprey and the chipmunk was over I decided to play a bit with my circular polarizer filter. Now for those of you who don’t know, a circular polarizer filter is used to either remove glare from metallic and glass surfaces and/or deepen the color blue (hence the sky and water look perty!).
This was my result.
(Camera: Sony A100 w/ Circular Polarizer filter. Focal length: 20mm. F-Stop: 4. Shutter Speed: 1/800. ISO: 100)
Of course I took many other photos during this outing but I can’t say I’m all that enamored with them. Seems like I was having an off day when it came to the photography end of it all. Oh well. It happens.
Moving on…
On our way home that day we did stop at LL Bean. I looked at all the backpacks. Damn, shit at that store is expensive. But when you think about it, what you’re really paying for is that lifetime warranty thing so it’s not all that bad of a deal.
I tried on several backpacks until I found one that fit perfectly and was the style I wanted. It’s so cool. It’s made to carry the actual pack away from your back so there’s air flow between your back and the pack itself. Unfortunately, I didn’t have the money to get it (the thing was $150!) but my father said “Happy Birthday” and got it for me! Now, my birthday isn’t until October but you’re not going to see me complaining!
I’m telling you, I’m in love with this thing. I already have it loaded with some clothes, a rather well stocked first aid kit, my photography gear, and some hiking provisions and I swear, even loaded like that, this thing feels like I’m carrying an empty backpack! So now I have a “Freakin Sweet” (as Peter Griffin would say) backpack as well as a kick-ass pair of new hiking boots (they‘re actually the type of boots military and police use). I can’t wait for our trip to Acadia this Saturday.
Now, this past weekend wasn’t without it’s down point. Rewind to Friday. When I got down to my dad’s, we found out that one of my father’s cats was sick. We took her to the animal hospital in Lewiston. Luckily, we were the first ones there so they saw us right away. The vet checked her over, took blood from her, and ran some tests. It seems she was not only dehydrated, but her kidneys aren’t doing what they’re supposed to. They said they could keep her for the weekend and try to re-hydrate her and get her numbers back to where they should be.
So Aurora was hospitalized for the weekend. They weren’t sure if they were going to let her go home Sunday or Monday. Here it is, Sunday and they called my dad to let him know he could come pick her up. But, they said the vet wanted to “talk” to him. I’m not sure what to make of that. On one hand it could be bad and she’s going to have problems like this indefinitely, or, on the other, it could be just a little chat about maintaining her diet so this doesn’t happen again. We’ll see what the deal is when my father calls later tonight.
Everyone cross your fingers and hope that Aurora’s going to be ok.
Until next time, folks.
Keep on rockin’ on.
[-_-]
~A.M.
Audrey May Photography 