Most photographers will talk about the light they have found - at a given place or time - and which makes certain images simply special. In Maine, most of us have relatively easy access to vantage points which overlook mountains or the Atlantic Ocean.

I had a wonderful morning today, watching sunrise over Casco Bay from the Portland Head Light in Cape Elizabeth. I arrived at 5:30, shortly before the blue hour ended. Slow rollers, the remnants of Hurricane Dorion which had passed us the day before, came and splashed on the rocks. 

Quickly the sky grew brighter and shifted in the spectrum from blue to a light gold. It skimmed across the tops of the waves as they tan into the rocks on the shore. Brighter, crisp. 

And then, in Kipling's words, "the dawn came up like thunder across the bay" completely changing the vision in front of me. 

A beacon to the east. The first lobster boat slowly chugged across the trail of the sun, today its engine heard close to a mile away. It would not have been out yesterday as the storm passed. 

How the cliffs glowed! 

Portland Head LightFirst light.

These images were captured over a 30 minute period of time. 

A trip like this is priceless. I will be back.