Monhegan Island, ME taking an 8x10 and a hassy. suggestions?

[djkloss]

Hi all,
I'm taking a weekend trip over labor day weekend and would like some advice. I'm expecting a lot of plein aire painters, but are there any good sights for large format photography?

thanks!

Dorothy

[William Whitaker]

Nah, nothing to see in Maine! Maybe some other plein air photographers....

Sounds like challenging logistics for 8x10. Look forward to hearing about and seeing results of your adventure!

[David Aimone]

I visit my brother on Monhegan at least one week a year. Glorious! But don't let the small size of the island fool you, you'll do some serious hiking with the 8x10 if you leave the village/harbor area. And be careful on the cliffs.... I usually take a 4x5, a hassy and some pinhole cameras...

http://www.flickr.com/search/?q=Monhegan&w=21571269%40N07&s=rec


Hi all,
I'm taking a weekend trip over labor day weekend and would like some advice. I'm expecting a lot of plein aire painters, but are there any good sights for large format photography?

thanks!

Dorothy

[jp]

It's right backwards, but the boat from Port Clyde circles the island after LEAVING the island. If you somehow circled the island before you arrived, you'd see a different perspective on some of the rocky rough scenery that the island is famous for; it would be useful for inspiring excursions on the island. Hope you don't get seasick easily as one of the boats is more of a workboat than a comfortable people carrier. You'll pass some nice islands on the way which Wyeth fans might recognize.

I go out there for work once in a great while. The road system is a bunch of dirt paths and mostly non-motorized transportation, so if you have a cart/carriage, it should have taller wheels. It's a hilly place; don't expect flat easy strolls everywhere. There's plenty to photograph within a 1/4 mile of the village with 8x10. But the woods area out of town is fascinating and I think deserves some 8x10. I'd probably be happy using a 4x5 out there and adventuring more/further as I don't have a good transportation system for my 8x10 stuff.

Brush up on American art history and the painters who've done nice stuff here to see what sorts of places and compositions and light would interest you. Check David and Steve Aimone's flickr pages. For books, If you're into B&W, Paul Caponigro has much content from the Maine coast. In Color, Eliot Porter (see Summer Island and In Wildness books) has much Maine Island stuff, and you'd see lots of intimate woods like Eliot would photograph on his island. Portland (Maine) Museum of Art probably has some books/exhibit catalogs you could get of Monhegan stuff. I've been studying and sometimes working at Seguinland (now part of Georgetown), a more accessible coastal island which was used by Clarence White's school (a who's who list of dead photographers), FH Day, Strand, etc..), but there is something remote and different about Monhegan that makes it worth a visit.

I mostly photograph in the Owls Head area; one of the towns you might go through to get from Rockland to the Port Clyde dock. You could spend a very long time and large amount of film on the coast.

[David Aimone]

I also forgot, you should look at the work of Ralph Steiner in addition to Paul Caponigro (senior more than junior). Friends of our are descendants of Ralph, and still own the cottage he summered in near the harbor.