Maine's Fall Splendor

I hope you are all doing well, and if you live in the Northern Hemisphere, have been able to get out and enjoy the fall season.  Since I’m not traveling internationally quite yet, I took the chance to spend time up in Maine earlier this month, where the fall foliage this year was quite extraordinary, and I thought I’d take this chance to share a few of my new images.  

You can also scroll down and check out my latest idea on how to share my images and spread our shared love of birds.  I’ve created a line of 5x7 inch greeting cards featuring my backyard birds-in-the-snow and other images.  Have a look and maybe you’ll find one that will make a perfect holiday card.

My timing was perfect on my trip to Acadia National Park this October, and the fall colors were at their peak.  After passing Upper Hadlock Pond and seeing the potential for a beautiful image of the hillside with the amazingly variety of color in the trees, I kept checking back to try to get the right conditions.  I actually waited till after sunset on this day, when the afterglow reflecting from clouds in the West lit the scene evenly.  The wind also died at sunset, as often happens, and I got the perfect reflection that I was hoping for.  For you photography enthusiasts who like to hear these details, I made the broad panoramic image below taking a series of seven vertical images, each about 50% overlapping, and used Lightroom to stitch them together.  Since nothing was moving in the scene, this worked beautifully, and the result is very high resolution file that I could easily print ten feet across if I wanted.  The square portion above it just a section from the center of the larger image.  I love the amazing variety of hues of yellow, orange, pink, and red that came out in the trees under this soft light.  And of course, a perfect reflection just ads a lot to an image.  

Loons In The Fall

Some of you may recall that last summer, I spent considerable time in Maine filming loons for our short film “Loons of Mount Desert Island”.  (You can see it here if you missed it).  In October, the loons had not left yet for the winter, so I went to check on them and photograph them amidst the fall color reflections.

This adult is molting to its winter plumage, and you can see the bold black and white summer markings beginning to be replaced by the more muted winter feathers.

Juvenile loons, like the one you see here in the middle (easily recognized by its pale bill) will soon make the bold move of leaving their natal lake and their parents, and flying off to the ocean to spend the winter.

It was spectacular to see the loons swimming among the colorful fall reflections in the lake.  Adult loons may remain on the lakes for several more weeks, but need to leave before the lake freezes over for the winter.  They will spend the winter in the ocean before returning again in the spring, often to their same territory, to pair up and breed again.

NEW IN OUR STORE - HOLIDAY CARDS

For those of you who have shown so much appreciation for my pandemic project photographing my backyard birds, especially in the snow, thank you!  You have inspire me to create a line of cards that are now available in my store.  They are beautifully printed 5x7 inch cards that I hope will solve your greeting card needs for the holidays, and let you share these backyard beauties with others.  You can see the full selection and place orders here.

Thanks for tuning in to my adventures.  Fall isn’t over yet, so I hope these images might inspire you to head outside!  It’s a beautiful time of year.

Warmest regards,

Tim Laman

PS.  I will be launching my annual HOLIDAY PRINT SALE  in the next week or so at  TimLamanFineArt.com.  So if you’re starting to think about your holiday shopping, please stay tuned!

Filming Loon Families in Acadia

Dear Friends,

As I reported in my last newsletter, I had a chance to spend time filming in Maine’s Acadia National Park and vicinity for the Cornell Lab of Ornithology this summer.  Besides peregrine falcons, the other primary focus was to document breeding pairs of loons and their chicks.  This was a partnership with the Somes-Meynell Wildlife Sanctuary [www.somesmeynell.org] who not only allowed us to film on their private reserve near the park, but also helped guide us to good locations for filming other pairs of loons on territories all over Mt. Desert Island, so a huge thanks goes out to Billy Helprin of Somes-Meynell.

Our video for the Cornell Lab is currently in production, but in the mean time, I’d like to share a few images.  Loons are an iconic species of the North, and a true indicator of a healthy environment, and it was a pleasure to spend time with them.  A real highlight was being able to see chicks from hatching through several weeks of age, and document their rapid growth and development.  Enjoy!

Featured Photos

Loon chicks leave the nest the day they hatch, and can immediately swim, like this one-day-old with its attentive parents.

Loon parents work hard to feed their chicks, and they grow rapidly, but sometimes the fish come so fast, they can’t get the chicks to take another bite.

When not feeding, it’s either rest on mom’s back, or practice swimming, and flapping those tiny wings!  These chicks are only four days old.

Nice afternoon light catches the loon family as the chicks rest on mom, and dad in the back is about to stretch is wings after a busy afternoon of feeding.

Photo Notes:  Like the falcon images in my last newsletter, these images are all still frames from motion capture on my RED Digital Cinema 8K camera.  Can’t wait to share the moving images with you in our upcoming short film!

Behind the Scenes

Most of our loon filming was done from shore because filming requires using a sturdy tripod.  But at this site, I shot from a kayak, with my tripod in the shallow water – it was the only way to get a view of a loon nest!

Labor Day Print Sale to Benefit Papua - Starts Friday September 4th.

Some of you may recall that last spring I ran a print sale to raise funds for the local people in Papua (the land of birds-of-paradise) who lost their income due to covid and the lack of birders and photographers like me visiting.  Thanks to you, we distributed over $3000 in aid directly to over a dozen village families we work with in the form of unemployment compensation and food care packages of rice and other staples.  Of course, we all hoped the pandemic would be under control and international visitors would be traveling to Papua again by now, but this obviously hasn’t happened.  So we would really like to be able to continue to give these folks some support. 
 
So on Sep. 4 I’m launching another print sale on my Tim Laman Fine Art store to raise funds for Papua.  Once again, I’ll donate 50% of Bird-of-Paradise print proceeds to the local people in Papua who look after their forests as a way to have a livelihood from guiding birding trips.  By helping these people, your purchase will also help safeguard the forests of Papua for the birds.  Thanks for your support!

If you are collecting my “Birds-of-Paradise Square Prints” series, then you will be happy to note we have added new images to the collection, including those above, a new image of the Greater BoP in display and the Vogelkop Superb BoP
 
Thanks for reading, and stay safe everyone!
Tim