Josh Friedman Photography: Acadia National Park in Autumn: Nature and Landscape Photographs

Back in October, I had a frustratingly shortened trip to Acadia National Park and Bar Harbor, Maine. It had been seven years since my last trip to Bar Harbor. On the recent trip, I intended to have five full days of photography, during peak fall foliage, and I had spent weeks carefully mapping out places to photograph, in different times of day and weather conditions.

However, before sunrise on the second morning, I had a bad fall on the rocky coast near the Bass Harbor Head Lighthouse. I immediately felt severe pain and no use of my left arm and shoulder. I drove myself with one hand to the the Emergency Room, back in Bar Harbor, about 40 minute away. At the ER, they put me in a sling, and I knew my time in Maine would come to a premature end. That same day, my wife, Cynthia, flew up from Pennsylvania, packed all my stuff into our car (I was not able to lift anything), and she drove me nine hours back home. You know that whole "sickness and health" part of wedding vows? Well, Cynthia went above and beyond. Several days later, after X-Rays, an MRI and a CT scan, I learned that I had broken my scapula (shoulder blade).

On the morning in which I got hurt, the photography gods played a cruel trick on me. Immediately after my fall, as I sat in excruciating pain on the rocks by the coast, the pre-dawn sky was a beautiful combination of pinks and blues, but I was unable to lift my left arm to take any photos. During the drive to the hospital, a beautiful mist rose up from the water, with the early morning sunlight shining through. My instinct was to pull over to take photos, but the reality was that I could not even lift my left arm enough to touch the bottom of the steering wheel. Photography was out of the question.

Prior to the injury, I had one evening and all of the next day for photography. What follows are the photos that I took in that time, in and around Acadia National Park. This included stops at Jordan Pond, a sunrise at Boulder Beach (with a great view of Otter Cliff), various views along Park Loop Road, Otter Cove, Bass Harbor Marsh, the picturesque Somesville Footbridge, and a late afternoon and evening at Eagle Lake.