Bear Brook Beaver Dam - a photo on Flickriver

Reviewing my images from the recent trip to Maine, it’s amazing how different some of my favorite shooting locations look. Bear Brook has been one of those almost shots every year. Sometimes those types of locations take on a mythic quality to me. Ever since dad said he saw a bald eagle swoop down to grab a fish along the pond’s glassy surface one afternoon, I really wanted a good image from this spot. It became frozen in time on eagle’s wings if you will. That sense of anticipation rounding the corner through the trees on the Park Loop Road is electric. I’m a kid again no longer asking “Are we here yet?” We’ve arrived. Each autumn, I head back thinking that this will be that special time and although I didn’t get a swooping eagle in the frame I’m pleased with the show nature put on for us. One of my most beloved areas, Duck Brook, however will never be the same.

Duck Brook has always provided a wealth of photographic opportunities from reflected color with the chance of catching a beaver floating across the pond’s calm surface to the carriage trail bridge and its pools. On my return this year, things were a little different. The beaver dam at the far end was either washed out or removed, draining most of the water from the pond. The beaver dam looked to be vacant above the water line and the park service was busy with a construction project making the overall scene less than visually satisfying. Hopes dashed, I had to accept something strange to me. Things change!

What! This was my little slice of nirvana or used to be when I didn’t have to jockey for space after word got out to workshop leaders that this was the place to be. Faced with the reality before me, acceptance was a cold chill. I tend to think of nature as a relatively static system and that for the most part a location won’t change much year after year. This isn’t at all true.

If I’m able to take something positive away from this unfortunate situation, it is embracing two things. First, to enjoy the now. Yoda is popping into my mind saying “All his life has he looked away… to the future, to the horizon. Never his mind on where he was. Hmm? What he was doing.” That accurately sums up a large majority of my life. So, I’m going to try to center a little bit better and breath in the world as it occurs. Honestly, I think that is one of the reasons that you can’t be taken seriously as an artist until after you are at least thirty-five. Being young makes you force life, living from moment to moment instead of being in the moment. It’s a natural progression and one I’m glad I have discovered in these rather hectic times. Second as can be applied to nature photography, stop. As we drive around Acadia each year, we always say how if you see something that you want to shoot you’d better stop right now. The thinking is that as a location, Acadia changes rapidly and that is true. Weather patterns change much faster there than say Arizona but the point is broader than just adapting to the weather. I was in Antelope Canyon earlier this year, completely focused on trying to move fast from one composition to another to maximize my inventory of images. I will be efficient. A Navajo cat came along playing a Stone Temple Pilots song on a flute. This made me pause long enough to chat a few minutes about the weird weather and resultant fine sand raining down on us as the wind whipped across the plain above. As I sit here, I think that was the one that got away because I didn’t stop the mindset I had preoccupying me. What better way to create a sense of place and I blew it. Part of my goal as a professional landscape photographer is to help people learn from my mistakes so they don’t have to repeat them, so remember now, stop.

Gear:
Canon 5D Mark II
Canon 70-200mm 2.8 IS II Lens
Canon 1.4x Extender III
Canon RS-80N3 Remote Switch
Benro C-168 Tripod
Really Right Stuff BH-40 Ballhead

Byron O'Neal Photography | Facebook | Blog | Google+ | Field Workshops l 500 px

Taken in: United States / Maine / Bar Harbor (show map)

Taken on: October 17, 2012

Tags:

acadia

national

maine

pond

reflection

outdoor

fall

autumn

leaves

color

yellow

water

landscape

tree

trees

foliage

mount

desert

island

beaver

mdi

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Sets appears in: • Acadia/Mount Desert Island

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