Pic of the Day

Herring Smokehouse

Cans of Sardines - The last can of Sardines

 packaged at Seal Cove is displayed.

     Sardine Museum and Herring Hall of Fame:  While driving south to Seal Cove on Grand Manan Island this summer I “saw a sign, “Sardine Museum and Herring Hall of Fame.”  My first thought……Herring Hall of Fame?”  Well, indeed!  At Seal Cove I saw directions to the Sardine Museum and Herring Hall of Fame.  With a name like that I had to stop.  I made the turn, and pulled into a open spot beside a run downed building. 

     I wasn’t really sure if I was at the museum or not, but was soon greeted by a young woman who began to tell me about the museum.  Herring fishing and sardine canning was part of the Seal Cove economy until the early 1990.  At that time the herring fishing came to halt, and thus the end of sardine canning in Seal Cove. 

     In the late 90’s the buildings and were bought by Michael Zimmer from New York City.  Zimmer founded the museum to preserve this part of Grand Manan’s history.  I found the museum to be quite fascinating.  The artifacts used in the sardine canning process that had been arranged by Zimmer made for an interesting photo opportunity.

     By the way, at its height the Seal Cove sardine factory produced a million 10 and 18 pound boxes a year.   Eighty percent of the world's smoked herring was produced at Seal Cove.  To learn more about the museum follow this link:

http://www.redgage.com/blogs/bikermom/a-man-a-can-a-plan.html

Pic of the Day

     Thunderstorm from Grand Manan; New Brunswick, Canada:  I must confess that I have not obtained the number of quality images that I had hoped over the summer.  I added many adequate bird photos and even new species, but unique images seemed to escape me.

     On my last evening at Grand Manan, I found myself on the northwest corner of the island.  Looking west across the Gulf of Maine the setting sun was shinning through a major thunderstorm. 

The light was beautiful and the scene memorable.  As I looked west the landmass to the north was Campobello Island, New Brunswick, the vacation destination of U. S. President, Franklin Roosevelt almost three quarters of a century ago; to the south, the Maine Coastline.  The golds and blues of sky and water were harmonious and exquisite. 

     Beginning my photography career at 15 years old, I shot black and white film and made my own prints from the first time I picked-up a camera.  I grew-up seeing the world in color and in my mind visualizing those color images in tonalities of black and white, a necessity for creating dynamic black and white images.  So, when I saw this scene I not only saw a beautiful color image, but a stunning black and white photograph as well. 

     In this post I am showing both the color image and the black and white conversion.  I do some manipulation on all my photos.  I have never seen a digital image that did not need some curves (contrast) and color correction manipulation, and the black and white conversion requires much more.  I also do    manipulation when printing from black and white film as well.  The idea with both mediums is to utilize the full potential of either medium to create a full tonal range image. 

     As the thunderstorm moved from Campobello Island into Maine, I continued to shoot many images as the sun set.  The scene that evening provided what I felt I had missed over my summer travels.   


Nikon D7000, Nikkor 24-85mm set to 24mm, 1/50sec @ f8