At the Conference

A busy first day, and MaryEllen was the heroine of the morning as she stayed fully awake through the early presentations and managed to wake up the rest of the "crew" with the intensity of her concentration and constant pushing for deeper understanding of the concepts that were being presented.

For the "TL.2" people, (you know who you are) here is evidence that the "TL.1s" were actually working during their afternoon session "behind closed doors" working with Jay and the concept of a "depository" or "repository" or whatever it's being called. Great first day!

Check out this link to begin some "empathy" thoughts and the possibilities around the use of photography to present a concept, lesson, or even just information to students.

http://chartliej.blogspot.com/2012/07/what-are-lobsters-thinking.html

Gathering Pollen

I was screening some soil for planting things on the west stone wall, and I had been instructed to remove the giant thorny, scary thistle plants from the area. I approached one and saw that on the bright pink blossoms there were two bees working themselves right down into the flower. By the time I went back to the house and got my camera there was only one, but I was able to get close enough before I "spooked" it to capture even the detail of pollen all over the blossom and the body of the bee. Maybe it would be a good photo for a segue way into a science lesson, eh?

Biking Schoodic

This morning I loaded my bike onto the Sonic and went to Frasher's Point in Winter Harbor to ride the loop around the Schoodic Peninsula. Of course I brought a camera, and I'm just going to post six pictures without a lot of comment. I took sixty and liked a lot of them, but here are six pulled out of the hat at first glance, no criteria!

A Black Bird & Almost Blackberries

The crow was making all kinds of a racket down on the apple tree in front of the house. I waited patiently as I had done with the Eagle the other day, but he just flew off suddenly and went straight down to the rocks... hard to follow.

Also, there is a branch of the blackberry bush that has invaded through the stone wall and into the patio on the East side of the house. I ate one - bitter, but coming along in another week or two will be big and sweet!

What are Lobsters Thinking?

I had a number of shots of lobsters from Jen's birthday cookout the other night and I started playing with them, coming up with the combined image below.

We talked about putting lobsters in the boiling water and how dreadful it must be for the lobsters, and while I am usually able to remain somewhat scientifically objective around that sort of thing, the fact is that lately there have been so many emotional things going on in our family that feelings spring up in the most unexpected places.

Conversations always seem to center around the eyes... eyes are the focus when shooting a portrait or when conversing with someone, and they tell a great deal about what is inside the conversationalist's mind when combined with facial expression. I blended together two photos of a lobster and matched them around the eyes, and even though the pictures were taken at different points of view, that centering becomes a focal point in the photograph. The red, which I removed in the top blended layer, really takes on a dominant role in the picture.

Now, for a moment, to really get into the "mind" of the lobster, one must suspend commonly held belief that lobsters are not sentient, thoughtful creatures with feelings... such as ourselves. If one can find enough "empathy" for another life form here on Earth, then the projection of feelings that a lobster might experience can happen for any circumstance, not just being put into the pot, but being trapped, going through the "molting" of the shell, and crawling around on such an alien (to us anyway) surface as the bottom of the ocean. Just thinkin'...

Hassled Eagle

So I sat for thirty or so minutes waiting for an Eagle sitting in a tree over by Spruce Lodge to do something. Well, he didn't really do anything, but one of the Ospreys that has been fishing here in the bay went at him a bit, and he just kind of shrugged and sat there. I got a sequence of three shots sort of describing the experience. As far as I know, the Eagle is still sitting in the spruce tree.

Studio Window Sunset

After a tough day, laden with anxiety over family decisions and a difficult visit with Matt, who could still admire the beauty of the clouds today while suffering a great deal of stress, I could see the emergence of the sun and knew there would be another miraculous sunset this evening. I had forgotten, after doing a couple of minor tasks when we got home, about the sun and the clouds and was reminded by the light bouncing from the spruces on the east side of the house.

I hustled upstairs and took four shots. Here are two of them, unaltered.

Hipstamatic Photo

I'm still working on getting my boat engine running right, so I took it out for a spin this morning and went across the bay to Treasure Island. Here's a shot of one of the houses sitting on top of the island taken with the "Hipstamatic" photo app on my iPhone. The edges are a part of the process and give things a sort of "retro" or "vintage" look. I like some of the effects I get with it, but others not so much. The jury is out on this shot.

Half a Day on the Water

David took off in the Teacher's Pet shortly after lunch, and I went out to repair the outboard motor on the Sprite, thinking that a new battery post terminal would take care of a problem or two with the way it had been starting.

I like to get out in the kayak and paddle as it is so quiet and relaxing, and whenever I get on the bay, I kind of "hang out" a long as possible. I had gotten a lot of work done around the house with staking plants, watering and weeding the upper garden and repairing a few things, so I went out in the bay with a clear conscience, nothing major sitting on the "to do" list. The boat ran fine, for a while, I still have an air leak somewhere in the fuel line, but I'm narrowing it down. What a day!

Northeast Harbor

What a beautiful day! I took a few pictures (below) with my phone, but I'm posting one of a "peek" at the harbor coming into town and one of an end of the day briefing with Joanne.

We were engaged in a presentation (entertaining and informative) of "Mass Customized Learning", a concept promoted and described in a book called "Inevitable" that may very well be impetus to redefining education and creating reform that is actually student-based and effective. Anyway, I won't go on here, although I easily could, but I will say that the day was very worth the time spent, and I got about eight pages of notes!

Phone Photos

I spent the day very productively in Northeast Harbor today. Here are a couple of iPhone photos!

New Wide-Angle Lens Attachment

... and I'm just starting to learn how to use it and what works and doesn't work with it! Here's a couple of my first shots.

Last Night's Sunset

It never seems to get old to photograph the setting sun. The individual photos I took were hard to choose from and there were a number of not-so-good ones, leading me to think that the real glory of the event took place over time and I should do a time lapse video complete with sound to properly capture the "moments" of the experience. There was a sailboat (36 footer or so) anchored for the night in the middle of the bay and I could hear the people on the boat exclaim at the different stages as the sun dropped through the clouds. Here are three of my final choices.




This bottom photo shows the whole Flander's Bay fishing fleet!

MSTOY Presentations

I had the honor and pleasure to assess presentations from the Maine State Teacher of the Year Semi-Finalists at the University of Maine today, and enjoyed every minute of the day. The UM Master of Arts in Teaching Program students were observers as they have been for a number of years, and their questions during the process were profound and earnest.

We had a rubric to work from and it was a task to maintain consistency and make sure everyone was judged fairly. Once again, as I have seen in past years, there are so many excellent teachers here in Maine that it's a shame they can't all be recognized more often. The message within that is that we need to recognize and celebrate our colleagues as often as possible in a variety of ways.

I had in mind to photograph all the presenters, but after the first one I got too involved in the rubric and the process to remember to do that, but the first two photos here of Katherine are so typical of the expression and engagement of the presenters that I hope they convey some idea of the intensity of this process. The last photo is of Sherrie Gould presenting the candidates to the audience after they finished their presentations.

Boats in the Bay

The first one here of the Miss Cassidy I shot out of the living room window as they were hauling traps down the bay. Didn't look like they were catching much, but they might have known I was watching. It is kind of fascinating to watch the process, and after all these years I still have very vivid memories of doing the same thing!

These other two shots are of the boats in the water off our shore. Vern just set the "Wild Thing" on the pull off yesterday, and the "sprite" and the "Teacher's Pet" are moored further out. It was just a fun exploration of point of view.

Bye Jackson...

... for some reason I didn't get many shots of Jackson with Torrey & Katie, but I thought this was a kind of "pensive" last photo to post for the week they were here.

Jackson Learns to Crawl...

... and we didn't miss a minute of it! It was so much fun to watch him progress over the week, where he was almost there when they brought him last Saturday, but he really got it down with leg and arm movement over the last couple of days. He wears himself out!

And then he gets so expressive... I call the photo below "No Pictures, Please!"

Jackson Drinking & Sunsets

Before Jen and I went to Winter Harbor tonight I got a couple of shots of Jackson and Lynne playing with a water glass. He looks very sophisticated, but he wailed when the cold water dribbled onto his stomach!

A couple of sunset shots in Gouldsboro on the way back home tonight. Beautiful day!

Lobster Feed

We got a good "mess" (and the picnic area looked it when we were done too) of lobsters and our "in-laws" came over and shared some time, outdoor eating, a game of horseshoes, and enjoying the grandchildren. A good time was had by all and it was real "family" sharing.

It was pretty much about the lobsters, though, as our "Colorado" fellow grandparents had the best eating and the greatest venue for it that they said they've ever had for eating lobsters. Of course the lobsters are cheaper than hot dogs now so they were amazed at so many when they are $40 a plate in the Rockies. Here are some photos of lobsters, family and Katie & Jackson!

Katie & Torrey

I took the "Sprite" out with Katie and Torrey yesterday afternoon and we had a nice cruise around the bay and south to "Half-Tide Ledge" to see the seals. I have to go back today with a telephoto for my camera as the darn things are pretty bashful.

!00 Thousand

My Ford Ranger went by the 100k mark today and it was at Flanders Pond. I really didn't plan it that way, but it was fun that it happened there as it is a scenic spot and I got Torrey to take the picture. I was planning to do it myself with a tripod, but it turned out fine the way it did, and I knew it would hit 100k around the pond. Here's the truck and I and the speedometer reading.