The Beauty Of Maine

Upon a recent visit in October of this year, photographer, writer and influencer Thomas W. P. Slatin photographed numerous beautiful landscape images from various cities in Maine, to include Acadia National Park. Upon Slatin’s visit to Maine, he and his fiancée, Angie Conklin choose to visit the lowland region of Acadia National Park, where they encountered beautiful monarch butterflies during their visit. He stated, “It has always been my style to head directly for the top of the mountains, ever since I was a child.” Continuing, “this year, at the suggestion of my fiancée and location scout Angie Conklin, we photographed the valley and lowlands of the region. She did a phenomenal job. The monarch butterflies were out in a large concentration this year, which was deemed “unusual” according to local residents.” Slatin discussed many of the beautiful sites one encounters when traveling to Maine. He described Belfast, Maine as a small city "quite reminiscent of a mini New York City," in terms of the great shopping experience that this area provides, as well as due to the abundance of book stores and many local restaurants. According to Thomas Slatin, the restaurants are “some of the very best of the entire region.” When asked about Bar Harbor Slatin stated, “This area has so much to offer if one is seeking new and exciting experiences. I have tried to go whale watching several times, but these tickets sell out very quickly, so it is best to plan ahead which I will do next time. He visited the “The Owls Head Transportation Museum,” www.owlshead.org, which Slatin found to be nothing short of "amazing." Continuing, in terms of the staff at the museum, "they are extremely welcoming to photographers and encourage all to take photographs, which I greatly appreciate." Castine, Maine is another area that Slatin refers to as “absolutely beautiful.” It is a coastal town. Pemaquid Point Lighthouse is located in a coastal region also, all of it is "stunning," concluded Slatin. His photography work depicts his sentiment and high regard for Maine, upon review of the photographs, his appreciation for this state is clear.

Thomas Slatin, through his passions of photography and writing has documented many natural landscapes, in addition to his work in urban exploration and locomotive photography. He discussed his frequent travel to Maine and plans to continue to do so because of the “natural beauty and the ability to explore,” another fascination of Slatin’s since his younger years, going back to childhood. “What I love the most about Maine, summarizes Slatin, it’s the contrast between civilization and wilderness, truly one trip to Maine and all can experience the very best of both worlds.”

During Slatin and Conklin’s most recent trip, he photographed exclusively with his Canon 5D Mark IV digital camera with a range of 24 to 105mm - zoom lens. Stating, "I prefer taking landscape photographs with my 4 x 5 film camera, though due to the size, weight, and time-consuming use, it makes it impractical when on the go, wanting to focus on taking in and capture the beauty of the scenery.” He photographed the images in program mode for general photographs, and in aperture mode for the landscape and close-up photographs. “There is one exception, states Slatin, I did utilize "time mode" to allow enough time to capture the falling water in my photograph in an artistic manner which I entitled “I Can Go With the Flow.” This image was photographed in Acadia National Park, located on Mount Desert Island, along the coast of Maine. The park is 264 miles from Boston and 50 miles from Bangor, Maine, according to www.nps.org. NPS.org is the website of the National Park Service. Thomas Slatin’s photograph, entitled “Mountainside Fog” was also photographed in Acadia National Park. When Slatin discussed this photograph he stated, “Admittedly, when I first took this picture, I looked at the preview and thought quite frankly that it wasn't a photograph which I would chose to keep, but after I saw it on my desktop computer, my perception regarding this photograph changed. I think it's beautiful." Stating, “Too often we are accustomed to look at our work as photographers in a manner where we expect each photograph to be what we perceive to be “perfect.” Concluding, "In photographing nature and what is real and tangible, I realize that there is so much beauty in capturing what is the most authentic. There is beauty and truth in actually documenting our experiences as they are in real-time, through our actual experience and what it presents at that very moment.”

According to an industry peer who agrees regarding the profound importance of photography and the opportunity it presents, "Through photography as in life, the precise moment does not present itself again, so that in and of itself is beautiful and profound, and represents why photography is so special.
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