EMAS Photography
EMAS PhotographyImagery, Art and Musings from DownEast, Maine and other travels. Come see things from my point of view...
Campers???
Buy now at
Barnes & Noble!!
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/round-the-campfire-elizabeth-s-masterson/1104130197 
Found a friend..
$19.95
Now Available:
“Round the Campfire: A Family Guide to Successful Camping by Elizabeth Masterson:
Online orders at: http://www.publishamerica.net
or by mail:
Publish America, LLLP
P.O. Box 151
Frederick, MD 21705
ISBN: 978-1-4626-1297-0
State of Maine Summer Photo Contest 2011 WINNER!!!
Beachcomber, Roques Bluff
First Place Winner
Coastal Scenes Category
Photographer: Elizabeth S. Masterson
Second Place Winner
Cities & Towns Category
Photographer: Elizabeth S. Masterson
'Round the Campfire, A family guide to successful camping
Press releases and book signing dates available, email me a request! =)
Summer Season is upon us...
Festivals are starting just around the corner and I for one, am looking forward to them. I missed the Margeretta Festival in Machias, Maine but coming up soon is:
June 17-19 Lupine Festival
10th annual celebration of Island springtime: garden tours, local foods supper, open studios, boat-plane-schooner trips, quilt show, craft fair, kids activities. 2011 Lupine Festival printable schedule.
Sponsor: Deer Isle-Stonington Chamber of Commerce – 348-6124
And don't forget:
The Bar Harbor Mussel and Wine Festival Jun 25, 2011
2011 BAR HARBOR MUSIC FESTIVAL Jul 1, 2011 – Jul 31, 2011
Civil War Cannon Firing at Fort Knox Jul 2, 2011 – Jul 3, 2011
If you know of any festivals, not listed on the Maine Tourism site, please feel free to share them with me. I am always in search of great photo opportunities! until next time, enjoy the sun!
Been working on a new gallery
Seems I spend more and more time trying to get my work out there, but..at times it can be frustrating! I've spent hours setting up different sites or galleries, only to be informed one month later it is a trail or after it is done be told to have it displayed I need to spend big money to have it published on the web. It would be so much less frustrating if things were just plainly laid out, being told the facts up front. I hate to agree with the old adage , it takes money to make money. I'm just a regular, blue collar worker who has a dream. I wish I had the opportunity to open a gallery, somewhere I could entice travelers and lovers of Maine to take home a little piece of Maine home with them. But, it seems this economy, I am lucky to be where I am, much less try to make my dreams come true. I can't let go of the notions of, not fame, but .. well.. I guess recognition. I'd like others to enjoy the images I capture as much as I do. I want to see my images in more than just the screen of my computer. This was supposed to be a hobby, but as I get older, it seems to almost consume all of me. Everything I see, I think about how I can capture it, what is the best angle, if the lighting is right.. I believe my hobby has turned into an obsession!! Much of my time is spent entering contests. Winning really gives me a sense of satisfaction that others enjoy seeing things from my point of view. Admittedly, I am my own worst critic. I have some images I just fall in love with, but in too many I see errors or think if the light had been a little different or if I could have captured just a little more detail. My fan base is slowly growing. I started to twitter in addition to the facebook and standard websites. Thank goodness for technology, otherwise, I would surely still be just keeping old, leatherbound journals of my images that I share with company over coffee.
I am anxiously awaiting the announcement of the Summer 2011 State of Maine photo contest. I was very pleased with my entries and over the weekend, captured an amazing shot which will be the entry to next years Spring contest. I still haven't figured out this whole internet thing, some things spread like wildfire, others seem to just be there. Until I hit a break, I just keep on keeping on and at some point, somewhere, somehow maybe my dreams will come true.
Maine Tourism~Trenton: Acadia Zoo-Kisma Preserve
Trenton: Acadia Zoo-Kisma Preserve
Admittedly, I gave them a bad review on TripAdvisor. I was disappointed, not because I was expecting a zoo, but by the conditions and the staff. Granted, I will give them the benefit of the doubt that they were just opening for the summer season, but the grounds seems poorly cared for and the staff was not very informative. I was disturbed to see it advertised as so much more and the emphasis on "preserve" and yet, domesticated dogs wandered through the grounds antagonizing the animals. Preserve is supposed to be a stress free environment. It was wonderful to see tigers and wolves up close and personal, however, there were far fewer animals than advertised. The staff was young adults/teenagers with little knowledge and of course, we can just say.. boys will be boys.. but, I found the behavior outright discouraging, bordering abusive and cruel to the animals. The interior was dingy and dirty, not only poorly accessible to the general public. The website seems to justify the conditions of the place as it is meant for wildlife preservation and not to please the public, but it just seemed poorly run and maintained overall. My recommendation was to skip this and head directly to the Maine State Wildlife Park.
Getting in full swing.........
FREE framed, matted images....... seriously!! F-R-E-E
Out of all subjects to photograph
It somehow portrays a lonelines to me that I can all too well relate with. I believe at one time perhaps, the home or the car or the toy was a treasured item. Was it forgotten or was there no choice but to leave it behind? Why did the owner never come back for it? Often in Maine, I come across places that just seem to suddenly be abandoned. There are still curtains in windows and things are left almost in a sense that one did not plan to leave, did not pack or prepare.. but just vanished. Never coming back and it has set there for years, alone and undisturbed. Did the owners pass on? Without heirs or did the heirs just have no interest in what was left behind? Did the owner just get tired of struggling with the long hard winters and hard laboring with no profit of Maine and leave for greener pastures? I feel every picture has a story, but forgotten things have a mystery. It is the appeal of what it doesn't say that draws my eye and imagination.
Honorary Mention State of Maine 2011Spring Photo Contest Recreation Catagory
Funny, out of all the photos I enter in contests, this one by far was not one of my favorites.. no pose, no great capture... just happened to be a random snapshot of my feet after a day of four wheeling on the trails. Pleased, but absolutely surprised that it even was considered. Guess that is one of the reasons I love photography. Something I may see as amazing, someone else may not see it as such.. other shots I think are mundane, someone else may think are wonderful. We all see things from a different perspective and it's wonderful to be able to capture an image and share it with people who will appreciate it!
Most the snow is melted
Having technical difficulties due to image size, had to reload smaller images. Don't like the fact I cannot upload as many and as large of images as I want... ~ but.. working on it! Woke up this morning to peeps outside my window, have two little feathered friends sharing some breakfast!
Comic Relief in winter............
My favorite toys.......
Sample sheets
Basic Samples of some of my work
Available SOON!
Available soon! 200+ pages of camping tips, ideas and knowledge. Site selections, fire building, safety, camp cooking, tried and true open fire recipes, nature crafts, games.. even camp songs. Lots of good information for the newbie camper, great ideas & recipes for even the most seasoned camper.
Flying Saucers | The Portland Press Herald / Maine Sunday Telegram
Flying Saucers | The Portland Press Herald / Maine Sunday Telegram
Another photo contest~
The White-tailed Deer (Odocoileus borealis)
The White-tailed deer (Odocoileus borealis ) common throughout Maine and most of the United States. Most deer to not reach their life span potential. Captive deer have been known to live 12 years or more. One deer in captivity was recorded to live nineteen years, the oldest known record. It is estimated most bucks (male deers) are killed within the first five years of life and does (female deer) before they even reach their prime, does do not live much longer. Bucks can be recognized by their antlers, which begin to grow in late spring, covered with a highly vascularized tissue known as velvet which is later shed. Females can birth one to three spotted young called, fawns per year, in spring between May and June. Does are pregnant for approximately 200 days. Fawns lose their spots during the first summer, for the first few weeks of life, they lie very still, hiding in vegetation while their mothers forage as protection from predators. They are weaned at 8-10 weeks and while males leave their mothers at one year but young does will stay for two years or until they reach sexual maturity. Fertility decreases with age and deer population, but they remain able to conceive throughout their lifespan. Males tend to be slightly larger and heavier than females.
The number of points, the length or thickness of the antlers are a general indication of age but cannot be relied upon for positive aging. A better indication of age is the length of the snout and the color of the coat, with older deer tending to have longer snouts and grayer coats.There is a more accurate method, which requires laboratory equipment, and that is counting annual rings inside a deer's tooth.
Some interesting facts:
- A deer's coat is reddish-brown throughout summer and spring and changes to a grey-brown during the fall and winter.
- Deer have dichromatic (two-color) vision but they cannot see reds and oranges.
- Deer regrow their antlers each year and shed them after rutting season.
- About 1 in 10,000 females also have antlers, usually due to hermaphroditism.
Communication: Deer communicate through unique audible noises but also by using scent, sounds, body language, and territory marking. Fawns bleat, a high-pitched squeal to call their mothers. Does make maternal grunts to communicate back. Grunting produces a low, guttural sound that will attract the attention of any other deer in the area. They also snort, a sound that often signals danger. Similarly, bucks grunt and snort with a pitch that gets lower and deeper with age. Bucks sound a distinct grunt-snort-wheeze pattern that often shows aggression and hostility. Deer also communicate using their white tail, raising it like a flag, sounding a silent alarm to other deer in the area. Rubs and scrapes are common deer communicators. A rub or scrape is made by a buck will use its antlers to strip the bark off of small diameter trees, helping to mark his territory and polish his antlers. To mark areas they regularly pass through bucks will make scrapes, using its front hooves to expose bare earth. Read more
Diet: Deer are ruminant. They have a four-chambered stomach, each chamber has a different and specific function that allows the deer to quickly eat a variety of different food, digesting it at a later time in a safe area of cover. The chambers host a complex set of bacteria that change as the deer's diet changes through the seasons. It also allows them to eat foods human cannot, such as mushrooms and red sumac. If the bacteria necessary for digestion of a particular food are absent it will not be digested Foraging deer eat a large variety of different foods including leaves, grasses, acorns, apples and corn. They will also eat grains, hay and other farm foods if accessible. Read More
Scents & Territory: Deer produce strong scents, so strong they are easily detected by the human nose. Four scent producing glands are the pre-orbital, forehead, tarsal, and metatarsal glands. Scent from the forehead or sudoriferous glands (found on the head, between the antlers and eyes) is used to deposit scent on branches that overhang "scrapes" (areas scraped by the deer's front hooves prior to rub-urination). The tarsal glands are found on the upper inside of the hock (middle joint) on each hind leg. Scent is deposited from these glands when deer walk through and rub against vegetation. These scrapes are used by bucks as a sort of "sign-post" by which bucks know which other bucks are in the area, and to let does know that a buck is regularly passing through the area—for breeding purposes. The scent from the metatarsal glands, found on the outside of each hind leg, between the ankle and hooves, may be used as an alarm scent. Deer also produce scent by rub-urinating, where a deer squats while urinating so that urine will run down the insides of the it's legs, over the tarsal glands, and onto the hair covering these glands. Bucks rub-urinate more frequently during the breeding season. Secretions from the tarsal gland mix with the urine and bacteria to produce a strong smelling odor. Rub-urination releases hormones and pheromones that tell bucks that a doe is in heat and able to breed. Deer often rub urinate into the scrapes and rubs they have left previously.
Creepy Crawlies....
View more of my images~ updated monthyl
Seagulls
In time..........
Slowly Melting
The snow is slowly melting. Not soon enough and today we are getting hit with even more snow. Yesterday was as close to perfect as you get in a New England February. This view is from a scenic outlook just outside of Gouldsboro, Maine (perhaps Sullivan, Maine?) on Route1.
Enough WINTER, Enough!!!
Surely, this is a a sign of Spring!I can only hope. It has been a long winter here in Maine. I probably shouldn't complain considering what a wonderful summer we had, but enough is enough. Spring fever has officially bitten me. As the days get longer and slightly warmer, we are trying to get out as much as possible, and the few sightings we have had of deer and partridge are helping, but.. I need more. We did see some brown grass patches along the coast, but not a single GREEN blade. There is construction going on in the Machiasport Bay, and as we watched them, I could only imagine how much the workers out on that freezing ocean with the biting Atlantic winds must also be praying for Spring to come. Yes, it is only a few short weeks, but the recent days seem like it is an eternity away! Hope everyone is finding some kind of warmth in this endless winter!
