Pumpkin Day 2012

Some pumpkins for sale at last week's farmers market, I bet there will be a sale on any leftovers today:

The Portland Farmers Market is in Monument Square every Wednesday from 7am-2pm and in Deering Oaks Park on Saturdays. 

The Yellow Tree

Similar to my post from yesterday concerning Canal Plaza, both of today's photos are also of one subject but were taken on separate days. I can see this section of Deering Street from my apartment, and every day this bright yellow tree caught my eye. The leaves have since been blown off by Hurricane Sandy, which left downtown Portland relatively untouched despite the high winds. 

Canal Plaza

Canal Plaza, located off of Middle Street in the Old Port, is somewhat scenic this time of year with the foliage on the trees.

Also, if you are physically in Portland today you might benefit from this press release on the City's website with some Hurricane Sandy related information. It's starting to get windy outside and it sounds like the main impact of the storm will be felt tomorrow.

Sunday Snapshots: 10/28/2012

I recently purchased a new phone that is capable of taking decent photographs, so I will occasionaly be sharing photos from said device. If you are interested, you can follow me @coreytempleton on Instagram. Here are some recent snapshots:

A peculiar fog

Town Line, Martin's Point Bridge

West End Window

Black & White Boats

A random assortment of boats anchored off of the Eastern Promenade. 

Before and After: Maine Medical Center

For this entry in the Before & After series we shall take a look at Maine Medical Center. The hospital was opened in 1874 and is located along the scenic Western Promenade. The top photo below was taken in the 1900's and is from the Library of Congress website. As you can see in my photo, the bottom one, much of the main structure is still in use. The hospital continues to expand, so it will be interesting to see if this particular view is much different a hundred years from now. 

Tree Down

I'm not an arborist, but I do like having trees around the city. Looking at historical photographs of downtown Portland it is easy to remember why we are nicknamed "The Forest City." This photo is of a tree in front of the Portland Public Library that met its end far too soon. 

Stroudwater Sunrise

Kudos to BobW and Andrea for correctly identifying yesterday's "Where is this?" photo challenge. The scene in question is indeed from the Stroudwater neighborhood and the photo was taken from Congress Street looking out at the Fore River. I go past this spot every weekday on the way to work and I've been keeping an eye on the foliage, waiting for the right time to capture it photographically. Yesterday I  brought my camera and was happy to see some of the morning fog (not sure if that's the correct term) hanging above the water so I hopped of my bicycle to grab a few shots.

Where is This: Autumn Sunrise

I haven't done one of these posts in quite a while. Feel free to leave a guess of where this photo was taken (the neighborhood, the street, the body of water, etc) in the form of a comment. I will confirm the answer in tomorrow's post. 

Reader Photos: October 2012

It is time again to share some reader photos that have been posted on the Portland Daily Photo Flickr group. If you'd like to see your photos of Portland on a future installment of "Reader Photos," please upload them to the Flickr group, the Portland Daily Photo Facebook page, or send them to me via email. There are a lot of artistic people in this city and I enjoy being able to promote other people's work to my audience.

Portland Harbor, by Paul Noble. 

Smiling Hill Farm, by Sarah Hutto Bruns. 

Sunset Overlooking Back Bay, by Flickr user Kvell of It. 

No Fishing or Swimming, by Zach Beane. 

Untitled, by William F. Hallett. You can also check out William's video work on his Vimeo page. 

View Towards Fort Gorges - Casco Bay, by Flickr user CRobishaw.

Ram Island Light, bySteve Stracqualursi. Visit his blog here: Wayupstream.com.  

Thanks for sharing, everyone!

Spring Street Doorway

University of New England

These two photos are from the Portland campus of the University of New England. The school's main campus is in Biddeford, Maine. This picturesque 41-acre campus is located directly next to Evergreen Cemetery and was originally home to Westbrook College until it merged with UNE in 1996. According to the UNE website, the Portland campus is home to the College of Pharmacy and the College of Health Professions (which includes a new building for the dental program which is currently under construction). 

Leaves of Gold

A view of City Hall and some scenic foliage in the Bayside neighborhood. 

Vertical Garden

A cool looking urban garden off of Waterville Street. I think the scarecrow was a nice touch. 

Take Shelter

A bus stop in front of Maine Medical Center, along Bramhall Street.

Pumpkin in the Window

A festive window decoration in the Old Port.

Spring Street Issues

Pedestrians strolling past an Asher Platts campaign sign (the front of the sign is facing the other way) on Spring Street.

City of Portland

A section of Congress Street was closed today for a Making Strides Against Breast Cancer walk. According to the local group's Facebook page, they raised about $150,000 today. Here is one of the city's road barriers at the intersection of Congress and Brown Streets:

Sail No More

Darling Hydrant

Here are couple shots from earlier tonight of a Darling fire hydrant on the corner of Congress and Weymouth Streets. If this object could talk I bet it would share some interesting stories from over the years...

Evergreen In the Fall

Here are just a few recent photos from Portland's Evergreen Cemetery. As described on the Friends of Evergreen website:

At 239 acres, Evergreen Cemetery is Portland's largest open space, a sanctuary for wildlife and migratory birds, site of the city's largest urban forest and an outstanding example of nineteenth century rural cemetery design.

Deering Oaks After Dark

A quiet nighttime scene in Deering Oaks Park. The lights on this bridge are quiet bright, they should install these around the rest of the park. 

Behind the Photos - October 2012

As I mentioned in my inaugural "Behind the Photos" post back in July, I am using today's post to highlight one of my favorite pieces of photography gear. The focus (I'll stop with the puns after this) of this piece is the Nikon 50mm f/1.8D AF. Here are a few photos of my copy of the "nifty fifty" lens:

Nikon 50mm 1.8 D

Wide open at F/1..8

As you know, this isn't a blog about the technical aspects of photography (so here are some more thorough reviews by professionals). I think photos taken with this lens pretty much speak for themselves. I will say that this lens is fast and produces sharp photos consistently. It's a very light and compact lens and it continues to be my "go-to" lens for walking around. What's especially impressive is that it's available new for around $130. The newer version of this lens is the 50mm 1.8 G, which retails for ~$200 new, but I have no problem recommending this slightly older model. On a DX "crop frame" camera like my Nikon D90 this lens is a nice length for a variety of situations. Here are just a few photos I have taken with mine:

So there you have it. This lens gets a five star rating from me. I only use Nikon gear but I hear that similar prime/fixed-length lenses from other camera companies are equally as competent. There's something about using prime lenses that is especially fun for the type of photography I do and 50mm is a good focal length for me  Feel free to use the link to below the check out this lens on Amazon. Any purchases made at Amazon directly after clicking this link will provide me with a small credit on the site (which I will probably use to purchase more camera stuff!):

Mariner's Church Building - Another Angle

An alternate view (compared to this photo) of the Mariner's Church Building. 

Work in Progress

A mural has appeared on the side of Colucci's Hilltop Market on Congress Street. I assume some color will be added at a later time. 

The Trestle

A photo of the old train trestle taken this morning. Available for purchase at Corey Templeton Photography. 

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A Maine-themed telephone pole on Congress Street.

Spring Point Light

A wide-angle view of the Spring Point Ledge Lighthouse across the harbor in South Portland. 

And in unrelated news, check out one of my photos of Monument Square in the October 2012 issue of Portland Magazine. The photo is part of the cover story titled "The Maine 100" and you can read the story on their website here.