Greater Portland Photography Guide Part 1

Continuing my Guide to Photographing the Maine Coast

Welcome to the continuation of my Guide to Photographing the Maine Coast. We kicked off this series on May 30. If you haven’t read that post, I’d recommend checking it out so that you can orient yourself with the structure of the guide. Each location is listed in geographic order from south to north along the coast, not in rank from best to worst!

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Here are my favorite locations in Greater Portland

1. Kettle Cove

2. Portland Head Light

3. Spring Point Ledge Lighthouse

4. Bug Light

5. Portland Harbor and the Wharves

6. Streets of Portland

7. Casco Bay Islands

8. Wolfe’s Neck Woods Freeport

1. Kettle Cove -

Kettle Cove might be the best place to watch the sun set in Greater Portland. The shoreline here faces southwest, so you have the possibility of catching some great late day light in the afternoon and evening.

A beautiful sand beach stretches between two outcroppings of granite, framed by shrubs and grasses. A few park benches can be found to put in your foreground, and you may be lucky enough to find some lobster traps on the shore. I also like to include more natural features, such as this stream outlet, as well as the striated granite rocks found on either side of the beach in my foreground.

There are usually a few lobster boats parked offshore, which also make nice subjects and give it a real ‘Maine-y’ feel.

I must admit that I haven’t had the right conditions to make a really great image here, at least one that I’m super excited about. To get more inspiration for Kettle Cove, check out these images from Charlie Widdis, who is the king of Kettle Cove in my mind.

Best Times of Day: Sunset

Best Times of Year: Fall and Winter

Tides: Mid to High

Access: Kettle Cove is a state park that requires a small fee. There is a small parking lot that fills up quickly in the summer, even at sunset. I’d recommend coming early to find a spot if you are here at that time of year. You’ll have much more luck finding a parking spot here in the off-season.

Directions: Kettle Cove can be found at the end of Kettle Cove Rd., off of Route 77 in Cape Elizabeth.

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2. Portland Head Light

When asked to name my favorite photo location, I sometimes begrudgingly admit, if I absolutely had to name one, Portland Head is probably it.

It’s easy to see why this is one of the most recognizable lighthouses in the world. The structure of the lighthouse itself is a wonder. An 80 foot tall tower is connected by rambling vernacular outbuildings to a red-roofed, Victorian-style keeper’s house with perfectly symmetrical windows, beautiful arching porches, and striking triangular dormers on the second floor.

The setting of this beautiful structure couldn’t be much better, either. The lighthouse is placed on a tall outcropping of granite pointing almost due east into Casco Bay, surrounded on either side by picturesque coves with boulder beaches, with great vantage points from either side.

Because of its exposed location, Portland Head is subject to the extremes of light and weather. As you can see from my images, this is a go-to location whenever interesting weather is predicted.

It’s also a place to tell the story of why we have lighthouses in the first place, to keeper sailors off the rocks and warm them of danger in a storm. It’s a story of humans caring for each other.

I like looking for interesting foregrounds to compose striking landscape images here, and use the lighthouse as the focal point to build the image around. It’s easy to have the classic formula of foreground, mid-ground, and background with some interesting rocks or waves in the foreground, the lighthouse in the mid-ground, and a beautiful sky in the background. The eye naturally moves through the frame from the bottom and sides, into the image this way.

The standard vantage point, and one that you’ll see the most images from, is not to be overlooked. It’s right on the southern side of the lighthouse, behind a fence. It’s even on Google Maps as ‘Head Light South Viewpoint’.

From here you can either pull back and include a wicked foreground with a wide-angle lens, or zoom right in on the lighthouse and building. Of course, I prefer including some foreground.