566 - Jordan Pond
Fun fact, “Acadia” translates to “Heaven on Earth” in French. Second to “baguette,” I think that’s the only French I’ll ever learn.
And speaking of god(s), today’s adventure is largely responsible because of one man- George Dorr. This dude single-handedly made Acadia National Park what it is today.
He spent his entire life acquiring this land in Maine to make it available to the public, for free. And fun fact, Acadia is the only National Park in the United States created solely from private land donations, and the only National Park in the Northeast.
Which is crazy when you think about it. National Parks weren’t even a thing until the late 1870s. Creating one in the Northeast, where the US started (an established area,) must have been a ridiculously difficult task.
He had to manually go around and buy people’s land, pool together donations, and fight against the Maine government, which wasn’t in favor of taking taxed land and making it free to the public.
So shout out to George for the following photos. In fact, I mind as well just say this dude took them. Fuck it. I got enough to go around.
I decided to hit up Jordan Pond for today’s shoot, which is located in the dead center of the park. This is probably the most “famous” part of the Acadia, hence the mini history lesson at the start of this post.
This 187 acre glacier runoff is quite literally a freak of nature. It’s a massive, 3 mile long pond littered with photogenic boulders, logs, trees, and shrubs at every turn.
Which might be the thing I enjoyed most about this place. Most “famous” photography spots have one main scene that every photographer huddles around. Here, shooters were dispersed at all different corners of the lake, taking in their own, original angles.
The angle I chose coordinated with a fantastic ray of light that ran over the fall-stricken trees for a few minutes:
“Peach Cobbler”
Taken with Sony a7rIII + Sony 24-105mm f/4 G
[ISO 2000 ~ 58mm ~ f/8 ~ 1/500s] [Focus Stack]
(Want a Print? Get one here.)
For some reason that photo reminds me of peach cobbler. Don’t ask me why.
I kept walking until I eventually landed on this composition:
“Quintessential Scape”
Taken with Sony a7rIII + Sony 24-105mm f/4 G
[ISO 2000 ~ 54mm ~ f/8 ~ 1/400s]
(Want a Print? Get one here.)
That photo reminds me of Japan. Again, don’t ask me why. Just snippets of my subconscious mind here for you.
I think this year I have more autumn scenes than my past 5 years of photography combined. We’re getting close to the end here though, I can feel it. Maybe one or two more fall shoots then we’ll switch focus to the Atlantic for a bit.
Stay tuned.
I’m on a mission to explore as much as humanely possible.
Want to see my progress? Check out the Adventure Map.
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