As Hurricane Earl heads up the Atlantic coastline – I thought I’d head to the beach to see what the waves were looking like (with all the talk about closing beaches, I figured it might be worth a visit).  The waves were definitely churning powerfully – but they really weren’t anything too remarkable.

What I did find was a gorgeous sky, a nice cool breeze coming off the water, a thin fog, and a ton of people (& their dogs) enjoying being at the ocean on a summer night.

Today I’ll feature two photos – taken mere minutes apart, with a feel so different that you might not believe they were both taken on the same planet (nevermind on the same beach a few feet away).

The first photo was shot later in the evening once the sun had nearly fully retreated for the day.  The photo below was taken earlier in the evening, as I was struck by the interesting patterns the outgoing tide was creating in the sand.  It was a gorgeous night with all sorts of great colors in the sky and a nice serene feeling, which I think you can get in each photo despite their drastically different results.

Fort McClary was one of the military’s defensive fortifications (primarily throughout the 19th century) along the Atlantic Coastline, and is located in Kittery Point on the Maine side of the Piscataqua River.  The site is gorgeously located at the top of a hill, now overlooking a marina of some sort – creating a serene waterfront view.

I decided to venture up into the cool blockhouse that was built in the 1880s (and has since been renovated) before heading up to Fort Foster for sunset.  The blockhouse is pretty awesome, and I stumbled upon this beauty of a scene…with the cannon mounted in the window (and coincidentally aimed directly at a peaceful sailboat).  Loved the visit here… and got some beautiful shots that might make an appearance here at The Daily Portsmouth.  Thanks for visiting and Happy September!

For today’s post we head to the other side of the Piscataqua River.  This long and inviting pier is located at Fort Foster in Kittery, ME – which is near the former life saving station in the mouth of the Piscataqua River, close to Whaleback Lighthouse.  If you look closely – you can spot Whaleback between the supports of the Pier itself.

I decided to head over to the Maine side of the river for a sunset voyage over the weekend…as it’s one of the few places where you can get a gorgeous sunset over the waterfront on the eastern seaboard (at least on the part that’s within driving distance).

I’ll be featuring several more shots from the evening’s travels – with a good portion coming from the quick hour that I spent wandering around the pier and watching the tide go out as the sun went down.  Quite a peaceful evening.

I had a blast trying to shoot the ridiculously fast aircraft (flying at up to 700mph)…even though it’s outside my normal photographic pursuits, it was fun to throw on a zoom lens for a change and see if I could come up with anything good.  I’m pretty happy with my results despite not renting any special gear and it being my first air show.  Looking forward to the next opportunity…in the meantime, enjoy the shots!  Please head over to my gallery on FLICKR to see more from the event…I’ll be putting together a video of the Blue Angels in their pre-flight exercises later this week and will share more from the other aircraft that flew during the day before the big Blue Angel finale.

Many thanks to the fine folks at Portsmouth Regional Hospital for the opportunity to see the show!  Enjoyed meeting more of the team and the great view from their sponsor area…thanks to them for supporting the event and for also featuring more of my photos on their display in the booth.  (And thanks for the water in the PRH bottle on the way out – I definitely needed it after baking in the sun all day.)

Boston – Portsmouth Air Show with the Blue Angels from Ron Risman on Vimeo.

The Boston-Portsmouth Air Show is in town all weekend!!  The incredible talents of the individuals flying the aircraft are beyond words as you’ll see in the video above.  Today’s post is a special one – the featured video was recorded and produced by a friend of mine, talented local photographer Ron Risman of Cinematic Stories (visit him at http://cinematicstories.com).

I’m planning to head over to Pease to take part in the madness on Sunday and see what I can do for photos of these amazing aircraft (that travel at ridiculous speeds only feet away from each other!).  For Saturday’s show I was lucky enough to see the Blue Angels flying overhead as I mowed the lawn and again later as I enjoyed a cup of coffee on the front patio. Looking forward to the opportunity to capture something new!  In the meantime, here’s an image to enjoy of our beloved waterfront and the Moran Towing tugboats.