Back to Camden, Maine for Some Photos of the Harbor

Yesterday was a very, very busy day. In the morning, I had to run down into town to get an estimate on some damage that was done to our vehicle. As I was driving to Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu class last Tuesday evening, someone backed into the driver’s side door while I was waiting at a red light. So that needs to get fixed because now there’s a large and ugly dent in that door. Luckily, I’ve been moving the process along at a steady pace and by next month, things will be shiny and straight again.

When I got home, Laura took me up on my offer to drive out to Camden for some photography of the harbor. As you may recall, the last time we visited that town, the ships were all covered with shrink wrap, which protected them from the winter elements. Well, they’re all unwrapped now and the town is hopping with action. Around 1pm, we jumped in the car with the dented door and drove an hour and 45 minutes out to Camden, Maine.

Camden is a photographer’s dream. It’s the kind of place that sort of overwhelms you with its picturesque nature. After parking, we walked across town to the library. Before we got there though, I spotted a statue and began snapping away at it. It’s so distracting being there, but I guess that’s a good thing. I took hundreds of photos yesterday that I’ll filter through to show you here.

Here’s a few photos of the statue.

Since we were so close to the library, I thought that I’d like to get some better photos of it than we were able to last time. The last time we were in town, it ended up raining for part of the day. This time, it was sunshine from morning to night. This is the side of the library and the lower level. As you can see, the entire lower level is under ground.

From the same point, I turned around to take a look at the harbor, which is probably the easiest thing on earth to photograph. Trust me when I say this, it’s tempting to just stand there taking the same photo over and over. I tried to control myself though.

These are three ships that were sitting side by side. I must have taken 40 pictures of these things, so prepare yourself for more of them down below.

Here’s one of the boats more up close. I wonder how large a ship needs to be to cross the Atlantic. Do you think one of these could make the trip?

If I had to guess, I’d say those boats were about 60 feet long. I think they could make it if they tried.

Right outside the library was a small area that had something to do with kids. Something like a kid’s park or a kid’s patio. I forget. The cool part of this area was how they put together the concrete benches. The made the pillars in the shapes of books. Take a look.

Here’s another one.

And since it’s spring, I felt that I should add some photos of the many beautiful flowers at this small area. There were lots to choose from, so I’ll only add a few.

Right past the small park was one of the entrances to the amphitheater. You may recall this area from my last post. I thought one of the potted plants that sat above the entrance looked pretty cool, so I took a picture of that. I’ll even add one of the back of the library across the lawn as well.

Okay, moving on. I’m not sure we got any decent photos of the front of the library last time, so we had to get up there to do so. On the way, I took a picture of the Camden Main Street.

Here she is, in all of her glory. What a place.

Now it’s time to really get down to the harbor. There’s a road that travels across the back of the library and connects to one that heads all the way out so you can get a nice view back to the town. I found this on Google Earth and have been eager to see the view for myself. The view out into the harbor from the first road is really perfect.

It’s the kind of place where artists set up their easels. It’s so pretty.

The road we took to the outer edge of the harbor was called Sea Street. It led to a marina that had tons of docks and great vantage points for some rather stunning photography. After we arrive, I noticed some big houses across the water. My kind of houses. If you look at the photo below, you’ll see the houses, but you’ll also see some islands to the left of them. Look closely because those islands are tough to see. Maine’s coast is full of interesting islands. Some are inhabited and some aren’t.

There were tons of boats stored at the marina. If you’ve ever wondered how these places put the boats in the water, perhaps this will help you out.

What a machine.

Looking back at the town from the very end of the last dock was so exciting for me. I love going as far as I can go, and in this case, if I went any further, I would have been in the water. The photos were a bit tough to take because I was looking straight into the sun, but I’m sure you get the idea.

Here’s one somewhat more up close.

The part I enjoyed the most was looking at all the boats. Each and every one of them was beautiful. There were no “not so nice” ones to find anywhere, which made the exploration all the more sweet. I’m telling you, the money in these things was incredible. Here’s the first boat I noticed.

And here are those three large boats from a different view. I told you there’d be more of them.

This is the library view from all the way at the end of the docks.

You don’t get much prettier than that.

What would a trip to the Maine coast be without a photo of some classic lobster traps?

For the next few photos, I think I’ll just say that they’re boats. I like all of them, but I don’t have much to say about them more than that, so I’ll just list them.

This is a double-hull sailboat.

And these are almost twin sailboats.

These two boats were so beautiful. The woodworking was incredible. Here are the names of the boats.

Just to add some wildlife to this post, I’ll show you some strange black ducks that were sitting on one of the docks out near the middle of the harbor.

As I was doing my exploring, a large sailboat came in to dock. I think there are rides out into the ocean available in Camden, so I think we’re going to check that out. Here’s one of the men working the ropes at the front of the boat.

Hey, you wanna see the last of those three boats? Here you go. Now this is a nice photo, if I don’t say so myself.

From the harbor it’s fairly simple to see the tower at the top of Mount Battie. Every time I visit the coast of Maine, I’m surprised at the number of large mountains nearby. Mount Battie is one of them that can be hiked. The tower is a few miles from the park at its base. I’m assuming the view from the top is spectacular.

After leaving the marina, we walked back to town via Sea Street. This is a very nice road with many beautiful homes on it. If I were a wealthy man, I could picture myself picking up a house in this area.

Here’s a tree lined Sea Street for you.

This is one of the back yards that belongs to one of the houses on this road. I haven’t seen grass like this in a long time. Right over the hump of grass is the water. And then there’s the town in the distance.

Perhaps this will make things more clear. You can see the town through the trees in this photo.

This is one of the homes on this street. They were all beautiful. I just randomly chose one to photograph.

Finally, for my last photo from Camden, I preset “Megunticook Falls.” There’s a small river that runs through town and at the end of that river are these falls. The water leads right into the ocean.

After all that action, we left Camden. I actually wanted to go to one of the local restaurants for some late lunch, but they were packed solid with people. They wanted us to wait 25 minutes for a table. Can you believe that? Since I’m not one to wait, we got in the car and left.

The route we took home leads right through a very small town called Belgrade Lakes. This is a quiet town that sort of reminds me of Camden. It’s got some money there and the houses are very nice. I love being around that sort of thing. We’ve passed by this area a few times and every time we do, I say that we should have stopped for some photography. There’s a small waterfall right off the side of the road and behind that waterfall is the prettiest and smoothest water you’ll ever see. Actually, the movie On Golden Pond is supposed to be based in this area. I don’t see why it wouldn’t be; the area is quite tranquil.

This time, when we passed through Belgrade Lakes, we stopped. There’s a tiny parking area right off the road that leads into a tiny park. The area is called Peninsula Park.

This is the small man-made waterfall. I guess it isn’t a waterfall as much as it is a water barrier.

As I said, the park is tiny. What I wanted to photograph were some boaters out on the lake. They were fishing and having a good ol’ time. Check this out. This is what you call the “golden hour” in the photography world.

It was so nice and so much fun taking photos of these guys. Here’s one more.

The shoreline of this lake is beautiful as well. It’s not tough to find a nice area.

Across the street is just as wonderful. There a cove that leads to Great Pond. This is what leads out to the lake.

And this is the area that sits up against the road.

Okay, so that’s all for the photos, but don’t despair. I have some video too. Please click the link below to visit the video or simply click inside the video to watch it here. If you’re reading this via email, you’ll need to click the link, since video doesn’t appear in the email. Also, please excuse the wind. It dies down towards the end, but I couldn’t get rid of it at the beginning.

Camden Harbor & Belgrade Lakes, Maine