Photographing Acadia
‘Night watch’ shot at 18mm (crop sensor) f11 15 second shutter 100 ISO
Acadia national park is a photographer’s gem. As east coast landscape photographers know, few places on the east coast have this much diversity. Woodland forest paths, stone covered mountaintops, clear lakes, and miles of rocky coast are just some of the amazing highlights of Acadia. One of the downsides is the sheer amount of visitors and traffic during the peak seasons. It is in the top ten most visited national parks in United states.
I took my family up to Acadia in October 2021 for the Autumn color, and I was lucky to photograph the park for eight days. I was not able to get a pass to go up Cadillac Mountain because it would sell out in just a few seconds when the tickets dropped. I will be highlighting some of the places I photographed, here on the blog.
Sieur de Monts
Ocean Drive / rocky coast
Any of the lakes
South Bubble Mountain
Bass Harbor Lighthouse
Passage of Dreams
Sieur de Monts was one of my favorite locations, partly because it was less crowded than ocean drive, but also the woodland paths and meadows were so enchanting. I was at Sieur de Monts on four different occasions. Jessup path and Hemlock trail, I found to be the most photogenic. The Jessup trail was a raised boardwalk thru a swampy woodland by the edge of the Great Meadow. The Hemlock trail went thru two rows of birch trees in the middle of the meadow.
Acadian Dawn for sale as a print set here
Photographing along Ocean drive or anywhere along the rocky coast, one can explore all sorts of compositions and practice their long shutter exposures. Wave photography is also exciting when the waves are higher. The ocean drive between Sand beach and Otter cliff gets very full during the day and parking becomes very challenging. Boulder beach is a photography icon of the park and one of the main highlights to photograph in the park. It will normally have a lineup of photographers in the morning for sunrise. I got some of my favorite shots from that beach, but there are many sunrise shots to be had anywhere along the rocky coast where there is no one to fight for tripod space.
‘Kaleidoscope of wonder’ North Haddock pond taken at 89mm F13 1/2 second
Acadia National Park has numerous lakes and ponds, some more crowded than others. Jordan pond being one of the busiest, it is not the spot to be if one wants seclusion. I felt that Jordan Pond was a bit overrated and super crowed pretty much of the day when I was there in October. It has potential as an astro location, but even at night there were sometimes people there getting their headlamps into your astro shots, making things very frustrating. I found North Haddock pond had very good autumn colors along it, and South Haddock pond was way off the beaten path and much quieter. Eagle pond offers another alternative although I had not explored it very much.
On one of the last days of my trip, we climbed south bubble mountain which overlooks Jordan pond and the ocean in the distance. On the evening that we climbed it, the light was disapointing , but the views were still stunning.
No photography trip to Acadia is complete until you visit the icon, Bass harbor lighthouse. Beware, at sunset the rocks are full of perched photographers trying to get a shot of the icon as the sun sets. There are few rocks at the right angle so you will need to get there at least two hours before sunset if it’s in the prime season or you will be behind rows of tripods. I’m glad I went there during my trip, but it wasn’t the most enjoyable experience of the trip. I prefer peaceful shots in nature where no one is around.
Behind the scenes photographing at the lighthouse. There are quite a few people not shown here as well.
There are many other great spots to shoot, and miles of trails to explore. Acadia is also a very good spot for astro photography. I got many of my shooting location ideas from the books: Photographing Acadia by Collen J Miniuk and Mike hudson’s book, The Photographer’s Guide to Acadia
Parting Shot
Amethyst Cove
shot at 34mm F10 1/15 shutter 400 ISO
I had wanted to get a evening shot of one of the harbors on the island and since we were in the area we decided to wait beside the road at Northeast Harbor till sunset. There was a small shoulder where just a few cars could fit. Most of the spots across from the boats were blocked by a line of trees. This was by far the best window thru the trees although there is still part of a tree blocking the one boat. I could not move over any farther because of photographers to my left. The sky lit up with some of the most amazing shades of purple over the harbor. It was one of the craziest sunsets that I have ever seen. These were the colors were this crazy straight out of camera. I actually desaturated the colors so it looked believable.
Thanks for reading,
