Photo / Fred Field
Updated: August 28, 2023
Photo Essay
Light, camera, moment! One photographer's take on Maine sights
By Fred J. Field
I’m Fred Field, a photojournalist shooting images for Mainebiz stories. Tim Greenway shoots the lion’s share of Mainebiz assignments while I’m known as the ‘road warrior’ shooting many of their distant Maine assignments. I really love the state and her people, so the road trips are always a blast. Mainebiz editor Peter Van Allen asked me to say a few syllables about photography and the images on these three pages.
“Lights, Camera, Action!” It’s a famous Hollywood expression. It’s stereotypically shouted just before a movie scene is filmed. For photojournalists I think the exclamation should be modified a bit to become: “Light, Camera, Moment.” I’ll explain.
Light: It is the essence of photography. It’s a Greek word meaning writing with or drawing with light. Understand light and you’re on your way to better pictures. Soft, beautiful, diffuse light is the way to go and this is most often naturally found near dawn and dusk.
Camera: It sounds obvious, but the camera is a pivotal element. If you’re shooting digitally, I suggest a camera with at least 10 megapixels; these cameras are relatively affordable and easy to find. The more pixels the better because more pixels means you can enlarge an image without appreciably degrading the quality.
Moment: The moment extends beyond the timing of the photograph’s capture. Capturing a meaningful moment is what it’s all about. For pictures to speak to people they need to have inherent depth. They need to have something to make them special and/or distinctive.
Hopefully each Maine moment here will speak to you in some way.
Old Orchard Beach is the place to be on a hot mid-July afternoon. The population of OOB can swell from 8,900 in the winter to more than 75,000 on a hot Summer day.
Photo / Fred Field
Portland Head Light in Cape Elizabeth sends out her warning at dawn amid Arctic sea smoke. The sea smoke forms as frigid air passes over relatively warm ocean water (generally with air temperatures of 0° Fahrenheit and below). Commissioned by President George Washington, this is Maine’s oldest lighthouse.
Photo / Fred Field
Blueberries provide the foreground as Micmac Indians from New Brunswick and Nova Scotia come to Washington County, Maine each August to rake blueberries as their ancestors did. They are in Maine’s Twp. 19MD.
Photo / Fred Field
A fogbound deer spots the photographer shortly after dawn at Bowdoin’s Schiller Coastal Studies Center on Orr’s Island.
Photo / Fred Field
A lobster boat heads for open water amid the beauty of a wintry dawn as sunlight illuminates cloud tops and lobster boat interiors in Stonington.
Photo / Fred Field
A Bowdoin Crew Team member is illuminated by the sun shortly after dawn on the New Meadows River in Bath.
Photo / Fred Field
The cool ocean waters off Peaks Island provide relief on a hot summer afternoon.
Photo / Fred Field
This quintessentially Maine view of Kezar Lake in Lovell is from the Quisisana Resort’s theater in the round. Quisisana performed impressively in the 2023 Travel + Leisure best awards as voted by their readers. The resort was voted #1 Best Resort Hotel in New England, #4 Best Continental US Resort and #22 Top Hotel in the World.
Photo / Fred Field
A rare simultaneous double lightning discharge hits Casco Bay in this view from Cumberland Foreside. This was a 30-second exposure.
About the photographer
Photo / Robert Field
Fred J. Field is a photojournalist who has completed more than 15,000 newspaper and magazine assignments. He has been a staff photographer at newspapers in Maine and Massachusetts, becoming photo director at two of them. He has done long term projects (greater than one year) for Harvard, Boston College and Bowdoin and has taught photojournalism at the University of Southern Maine for 21 years. He has worked for dozens of newspapers and magazines all over the US and beyond. Fred is the author of Maine Places, Maine Faces, a photojournalistic tribute to Maine and her proud people. He has earned state, regional, national and international awards for his photojournalism.
Most Recent
Most Recent
0 Comments