Saturday the 18th, me and my girlfriend decided to take a same day trip to Acadia National Park. It was roughly around 5 hours to go, so 10 hours there and back overall with stops. Not the brightest idea, but definitely not the stupidest.
Visiting Acadia National Park added my 5th National Park on the list this year, and my overall “ever” list. Just this year alone I visited 6 different states, and 4 new ones that I haven’t been, them being Nevada, California, Utah, and Maine. I’ll do a thorough post on each one soon.
I brought my Sony A7IV with the Sigma 24-70mm 2.8, and also my Fujifilm X100VI.
After waking up at 5:30am, 4h 45m later of driving, we arrived at Acadia National Park and we went straight to “Mount Cadillac North Ridge Trail” and started our climb.
The weather was slightly cloudy with some bursts of sun here and there. Good to hike in even lighting but not really helping adding contrast to the photos. Thankfully the editing helped the RAW photos look a little more saturated. I wanted these to look more natural but still keep that “film” like look of Fuji 400 or Portra 160.
We hiked half of Mount Cadillac because of our tight schedule, still was worth seeing all the views from above and the small islands around Coastal Maine. Hike took overall a good 1-2 hours. Perfect for all people.
After heading down, we drove through the one way “Park Loop Road” all the way towards Sand Beach. On the way there we stopped by two valleys that had beautiful tree patterns and open fields.
It was my first time photographing fall trees all the way zoomed-in in all my 10 years of living in New England. Truly a special moment for me capturing a true fall day in a Fall Wonderland that is Maine.
To be completely honest, Maine doesn’t look that different from my home State of Massachusetts. It has the same style farms as West Mass, same cliffs as Rhode Island, Mountains like New Hampshire. But in some way, it’s still more special. Its own “Maine Charm”. Everywhere we gazed our eyes it looked like a painting. Seems exaggerated but if you ask my girlfriend she will tell you the same thing. Maine has charm.
Now we have arrived at Sand Beach.
Around 60 degrees Fahrenheit, and people were surprisingly swimming, specially the children. Weird feeling witnessing hundreds of people inside a beach fully clothed all taking pictures. For a second I forgot it was a normal beach that you could swim in. Instead it felt like a Natural Monument. I’m glad people treated it that way. We also contemplated for a bit the beauty of the beach, the colorful trees alongside the coast, the shiny rocks illuminated by the rushing waves, and the blue water that appeared green from far, but beautifully blue up close.
It was already 2-3pm and we knew we had to move to our “final” scenic point: The Lighthouse. We got in the car and drove 40 minutes just to find a huge line of cars all stopped in a narrow road. The parking lot was so small, we could only go in once a car came out, and there were around 6-10 cars ahead of us. We waited long but at least it was so worth it!
“Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock” –Matthew 7:24-27
There’s something so purposeful about a lighthouse. Well “duh”, it guides ships and boats and lets them know that there’s land. But as someone who was enlightened by the Living Word, it reminds me of Jesus. The light we follow, the Light that shows safety and land specially when life is like a violent sea that rocks our boat back and forth. Jesus is that Lighthouse that guides us into the safety of the arms of the Father.
John 8:12 When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”
Psalm 27:1 The Lord is my light and my salvation—whom shall I fear?
With 2 hours to spare on our trip, we went 9 minutes inland and found a cute restaurant called “Seafood Ketch”. We had to eat some Calamari and Clam Chowder/
Just look at our view…we saw the sunset facing a small boat port that overviewed the Mountains. Just wow.
One of my favorite photographs. The yellow Jeep adds such contrast to the Red and Green image.
Then we headed back. One of the best Saturdays I’ve had in a while. Had the opportunity to spend time with Her and put my photography to use and capture beautiful shots.
Acadia National Park may have not been my favorite Natural Park that I’ve been because I’m kind of used to the same views and Fall where I live, but is definitely a must go with family and friends. The beauty doesn’t compare to any place during Autumn that I’ve seen.
Hope you liked this week’s blog, I pray all of you are blessed and inspired by these.
Robert Serra Souza 
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