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BEN MCCANNA/PRESS HERALD
This photo, taken with a 30-second exposure, shows a circular ice floe spinning counter-clockwise in the Presumpscot River. BUY IMAGE |
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Photographers are hesitant to admit it but luck plays a big role in our daily work.
It was nearing sunset when my editor called with an assignment. Her voice was doubtful. She needed me to check out the seemingly improbable reports of an “ice disk” rotating on the Presumpscot River in Westbrook. I’ll try, I said, but I expected to be delayed by the afternoon commute and it was getting dark fast.
As luck would have it, traffic was light and when I arrived, I was surprised to see the tipsters were right. The angle was too low to get a decent view of the disk, but I noticed a parking garage on the other side of the river. I arrived there just a few minutes after sunset, enabling me to capture a long-exposure image to give the photo a sense of motion – something that wouldn’t have been possible in broad daylight.
And again, as luck would have it, the light was so perfect that I was able to set the ISO to achieve the crispest image possible (ISO 50) and set the aperture to achieve nearly the greatest depth of field possible (f18). These lighting conditions lasted for a few scant minutes.
- Ben McCanna |
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RICH ABRAHAMSON/
MORNING SENTINEL |
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From left: Brothers Lincoln, 9, Levi, 12, and Mason, 14, lay on a bed of snow while taking a break from ice skating Feb. 5, 2024, on China Lake. The boys joined their brother Jesse, 6, and mother Renee Tilby in the skating adventure. |
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JOE PHELAN/KENNEBEC JOURNAL |
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People ice skate behind Jaxson O'Boyle as he sets an ice fishing trap Dec. 30, 2022, on Little Togus Pond in Augusta. There was about six inches of smooth ice near South Belfast Avenue/Route 105. |
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ANDREE KEHN/SUN JOURNAL |
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Alex Sun, left, Peter Simplicio and Matt Connelly jump through a hole in the ice Feb. 9, 2024, into Lake Andrews on the Bates College campus. The annual Bates College Puddle Jump started 50 years ago as a Winter Carnival tradition.
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GREGORY REC/PRESS HERALD |
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A skater casts a long shadow on the ice Feb. 7, 2023, while making their way along Massacre Pond in Scarborough. |
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DARYN SLOVER/SUN JOURNAL |
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Ken Nason of Auburn sits protected from high winds while ice fishing Jan. 9, 2025, on The Basin in Auburn. With wind gusts of up to 30 mph, Nason said that his shelter allowed him to take his hat and gloves off while fishing for bass, perch and pickerel. "I just ran out of bait. I will call that a good day," said Nason. |
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DEREK DAVIS/PRESS HERALD |
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A drop of water falls from icicles that formed on a bicycle shelter at Bates College in Lewiston in 2016. |
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RUSS DILLINGHAM/SUN JOURNAL |
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Telstar High School student Brandon McLean, a member of the Region 9 Outdoor Skills and Leadership Program, watches as students pull up a trap Feb. 16, 2024, during the ice fishing extravaganza on Roxbury Pond in Roxbury. |
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ANNA CHADWICK/
MORNING SENTINEL |
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A lone ring-billed gull floats down stream Feb. 15, 2024, on chunks of ice that remain in the Kennebec River in Gardiner. |
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BRIANNA SOUKUP/PRESS HERALD |
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A small burst of red splashes against ice-covered trees as a cardinal flies by March 24, 2023, at the Stroudwater River Reservoir in Portland. |
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SHAWN PATRICK OUELLETTE/PRESS HERALD
Ice forms on a bench Feb. 7, 2020, at Bug Light Park in South Portland near Portland Breakwater Lighthouse. BUY IMAGE |
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Take a look at some of the best work of the year by the photographers at the Portland Press Herald on display now through Feb. 22 at the Portland Public Library. Join us for light refreshments and conversation from 5 to 7 p.m. Friday, Feb. 7. |
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