Last time I saw waves like these was when Hurricane Bill brushed the coast of Maine a few years back. Bill was over 100 miles offshore, and even though this time Sandy came ashore some 600 miles away, there was still some pretty high surf. Iffy weather meant that there wasn't a lot of color, so I just went with the black and white. All scenes are from the Loop Road in Acadia National Park from Sand Beach down as far as Otter Cliffs.

David,
Those are some epic waves & seas!
You be careful out there...
Dan

dswiger wrote:
David,
Those are some epic waves & seas!
You be careful out there...
Dan

No worries Dan... used a longer lens (70-3200mm) for all of these. Some serious water being pushed onshore with this storm... impressive and unnerving at the same time.

Edit: Yikes... added a few mm to that lens of mine, didn't I

Wow, how heavy is a 70-3200? :P

Really love the first and the last, the third is nearly as awesome, and I find the second just 'very good' (I wish you'd framed it a little more to the right, so the land didn't seem quite so chopped off).

Great work!

David: these are really spectacular. I have an idea how big those rocks are! I really like the B&W treatment.

Dave

Lee Saxon wrote:
Wow, how heavy is a 70-3200? :P

Really love the first and the last, the third is nearly as awesome, and I find the second just 'very good' (I wish you'd framed it a little more to the right, so the land didn't seem quite so chopped off).

Great work!

Thanks Lee... I was able to hand hold that 70-3200mm with ease

Wish you hadn't mentioned about the composition in the second. I had been quite liking it until I read your comment... now I'm bummed. You are right of course!

dalongfellow wrote:
David: these are really spectacular. I have an idea how big those rocks are! I really like the B&W treatment.

Dave

Thanks Dave. Otter Cliffs are listed at 110 feet high, so yes, those were some decent sized waves.

David Patterson wrote:
Wish you hadn't mentioned about the composition in the second. I had been quite liking it until I read your comment... now I'm bummed. You are right of course!

Haha sorry :/

It's not like it's a throw-away; it was still worth posting. You just set the bar really high with the others

Since Lee sent me over here, I am going to play the pedantic card. I very much doubt he could have gotten substantially more of the cliffs in had the frame been moved right, instead we are allowed to catch the entirety of the white capped breaker which helps reinforce the sense of power that the wave has.

Or maybe I have just been studying too many amino acids for my upcoming test and am currently losing it. Either way, these are phenomenal photographs! Your juevos are very much larger than mine to even attempt to get as close as you did to the water line with a surf like that.

kezeka wrote:
Since Lee sent me over here, I am going to play the pedantic card. I very much doubt he could have gotten substantially more of the cliffs in had the frame been moved right, instead we are allowed to catch the entirety of the white capped breaker which helps reinforce the sense of power that the wave has.

Or maybe I have just been studying too many amino acids for my upcoming test and am currently losing it. Either way, these are phenomenal photographs! Your juevos are very much larger than mine to even attempt to get as close as you did to the water line with a surf like that.

Thanks for the alternative reasoning. Makes me feel better

Most of the time I was using my famous 70-3200mm lens (better known as a 70-200mm lens), so most of the time I was perched out of reach of the waves and wasn't in any danger.

David, these are excellentm very dramatic!
Douglas

David, Thanks for posting these... I was wishing I was up in Acadia for the storm just so I could shoot the waves attacking the coastline. Well done on all of them... If i am not mistaken # 3 is the wider angle of # 2... So I am not sure what all the fuss is about. Keep up the good work

Charlie

douter wrote:
David, these are excellent very dramatic!
Douglas

Thanks Doug... it was quite a sight!


CheechzeppLn wrote:
David, Thanks for posting these... I was wishing I was up in Acadia for the storm just so I could shoot the waves attacking the coastline. Well done on all of them... If i am not mistaken # 3 is the wider angle of # 2... So I am not sure what all the fuss is about. Keep up the good work
Charlie

Thanks Charlie. #3 is a wide view of the same scene in #2. I totally get Lee's point about the composition in #2... guess I got a little excited when the biggest waves hit

The first seems the most dramatic, and nicely composed...

David- These are powerful and excellent images.
Food for thought? "The best way to show the overpowering gray of Beijing is with color film."
Spoken by Roger Mudd- years ago when he was a correspondent in Beijing. AND a serious B&W photographer.
I often think about the possibilities of that thinking.
Charlie

Zeph wrote:
The first seems the most dramatic, and nicely composed...

Thanks Zeph... appreciate the comment.

Charlie Shugart wrote:
David- These are powerful and excellent images.
Food for thought? "The best way to show the overpowering gray of Beijing is with color film."
Spoken by Roger Mudd- years ago when he was a correspondent in Beijing. AND a serious B&W photographer.
I often think about the possibilities of that thinking.
Charlie

Thanks Charlie... for the kind words and the food for thought. Here's the first one in color:

Four very nice shots! I'm drawn to the last one because there's a lot going on, which goes along with the chaos of the sea during a storm like this. I think you made the right choice going B+W. The B+W version seems more dramatic.

Great shots as always. We did a day of rock climbing at Otter a couple of years ago and it's amazing to see waves as high as the full face.

Must've been very sketchy around Thunder Hole.

Thanks for sharing them.
Bob.

Some seriously awesome wave action David, what a gorgeous series!

Mike

Excellent b&w's. 1st and 3rd are my faves.

Barry