Tell Me a Story: November 2018: Heading back to Portland

Well it looks like WordPress has made some changes to it’s layout so hopefully I will get this write.

This month for Tell me a Story, I am picking when I left off at the last blog.  If you read it you will know that my whale watching expedition was a total failure and we were plagued by fog.  I am picking up from where I left off – heading back to Portland.  If you did not read our whale watching disaster you may want to do so here.

And can you believe it the fog is lifting and we can see this beautiful lighthouse
From the others side of this Portland Lighthouse.  I thought I would go black and white for this image
And just like that the fog has lifted.  Spirits have picked up a bit and I am sure we are all eager to get off this boat.  
This is the light house that was shrouded in fog on our trip out.
Fort Gorges is just off the coast of Portland in the bay area.  It had been part of my plan to try and take the time to kayak out to this fort, but unfortunately we ran out of time.  
Views heading back into the Portland Harbor.  I felt inclined to go black and white on this particular image.  

We saw a few of these big passenger liners on our trip back into Portland.  If you remember they were shrouded with fog on our trip out.  
I loved this boat heading across the bay as we headed back in to dock.  
Ironically it appeared to be beautiful weather to go sailing.  
And so we are back to the harbor.  Thanks Portland for all the fog.  

To say I was disappointed that I did not see whales is an understatement, but so is life, you win some you loose some.  Tomorrow is another day and who knows a third time I may be lucky.  

This is a circle blog and I am looking forward to seeing what everyone else has got up to this month.  Follow the link here to see what my fellow blogger LUPJi Photography | North Virginia Based Photographer has for you this month.  Don’t forget to leave a little love on his page.

If you missed the Salem and Manchester by the Sea, the first part of Wells Beach ,  the second part of Wells Beach and the first part of our visit to Portland click on the names and go and check out our road trip adventure.

You can also find me on FacebookFlickrInstagramGoogle+ and Viewbug.

30 Minutes in the Life: November 2018: Portland Whale Watching Expedition

Portland was a nice clear day, and so prior to walking the harbor area, we agreed we would book our tickets to go whale watching.  Once done, we walked around and then decided to grab something to eat before heading down to the boat to head out for 4 hours.

I will apologize right up front that there is a lot of photo’s but I wanted to keep the Whale watching trip together.  This blog will share the trip out.  The next one the trip back in.

The whale watching ship looked big enough and there was a good amount of people on board.

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I picked the Odyssey because they offer a 3 year option to go back if you do not see whales.

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Waiting to depart gave us some time to look around a take a few photographs

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I really loved all the reflections on the water.

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Finally we are on our way out.  I am pretty excited.  I have been wanting to see whales for the longest time.  In fact since I stood outside in the cold on our 3 hour island trip in Seattle.  I did not see a single whale then.  So I was eager to get going.

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A quick look back to the harbor area of Portland

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We were not the only crew heading out exploring.

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In Silhouette.

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As we get further out we a different view looking back

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This apparently was the largest ship in port.

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I love the color of the tug boats, but mmmm do you see what I see….I cannot see the boat behind the tugs  that well.

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My worst nightmare, the fog is creeping back in.

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I can only hope that as we get out the fog will lift.

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Big liners in the fog.

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Further out and a look back on the city of Portland.

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Large working boats in silhouette.

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It’s not looking good the fog is wrapping around the boat and we are seeing it behind us now.

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A beautiful lighthouse shrouded in fog.

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A yacht passed us by in the fog.

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A few disgruntled folk with a view of “nothing”

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And a few that were feeling the cold.

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If there is one thing that Richard hates is the cold.  He eventually disappeared inside the cabin area of the boat, while I hung out hopeful that I may still see a whale.

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Finally we manage to see a fin.  Everyone rushes to the one side.  The fin is up close to the boat so we are able to see a little bit more of it but it is not a whale.

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Apparently this is the fin of a Sunfish

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While you cannot see it well the average length of the Sunfish can be up to 11 ft.  National Geographic calls it a floating blob.

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The sunfish is apparently the heaviest known bony fish.  They can weigh between 500 and 2000 lbs.  Sadly it did not stay around too long and we were back looking at the fog.

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It fascinated me that in what felt like the middle of nowhere, there were birds flying across the water.

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And doing some fishing.

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And we hit the turnaround time.  To be honest I think we were all ready to head back.  The trip was a bust and I was pretty disappointed.

I know that I had high expectations of the whales.  I had visions of them dancing on the water for me.  No such luck.  I hope I do not become jaded on whale watching because I truly think it will be a thrill to see a whale in the wild.  Until next time, that was our whale watching trip.

This is a circle blog and I am looking forward to seeing what everyone else has got up to this month.  Follow the link here to see what my fellow blogger  Kristina of Hello Olivia Photography has for you this month.  Don’t forget to leave a little love on her page.

If you missed the Salem and Manchester by the Sea, the first part of Wells Beach ,  the second part of Wells Beach and the first part of our visit to Portland click on the names and go and check out our road trip adventure. To see the second part of our walk around Portland click here

You can also find me on FacebookFlickrInstagramGoogle+ and Viewbug.

Share Six: November 2018: Silhouette

This month is one of my favorite themes.   Katherine of Cobert Photography chose the theme {Silhouettes} and I love them.  However, between my work life and my post editing images from our vacation, and a number of visits to the dentist, I feel like my free time has just vanished.  Not only have a been part of the opening of new offices, I am part of the closing of an office, and currently part of moving an office. Added to that we had to move my daughter into her new home.  So lots going on.

So instead of shooting silhouettes, I have created silhouettes out of images I took on vacation.  I love the stark contrast of black and white when creating silhouettes and I hope that you like what I have done.

When googling the definition of silhouette I found this comment  “Silhouette photography is a wonderful way to convey drama, mystery, emotion and mood in a picture. A silhouette is defined as a view of an object or a scene consisting of the outline and a featureless interior, with the silhouetted object usually being black.”

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Manchester by the Sea

 

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Wells Beach

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Portland Harbor

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South West Harbor area

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Rockland Breakwaters Lighthouse

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Old Orchard Beach Pier

If you have not visited Maine, I would definitely encourage you to do so.  Maine is beautiful and so different from the south.  I look forward to going back there again in the future.

Thank you for joining me for this month’s Share Six blog post.  This is a circle blog.  From the sneak peak images I have seen, you are going to want to follow the circle.  Please take time to visit my friend and very talented artist Janet Douglas and see what she has for you this month. Keep following the circle to see what the other photographers have shared this month.  Don’t forget to leave a little love on their page as well.

You can also find me on FacebookFlickrInstagramGoogle+ and Viewbug.