I grabbed my camera, and my rain gear (yes, the monsoon that is “Summer 2009 in Maine” continues) and headed off.

When I first got there all that was visible were two dark brown spots–his ears. Apparently the moose had been feeding earlier (when the TV folks got their photo), but now he was frustrating all the curious onlookers by taking a rest.

(I say “he” because it appears the moose had the beginnings of some antlers.)

For the next hour and a half that’s about all there was to see: two dark ears sticking out of the foliage. And, a bit of a traffic jam on the  adjacent bridge.

Every now and then the ears would twitch and the crowd would twitter (in the old fashioned sense.)

The ones of us who stuck it out in the rain eventually got our payoff. The moose got to his feet, grazed on more foliage, explored the island, and the most exciting part was when he considered an escape via the Androscoggin. He entered the water, swam out a bit, but then he returned to the island.

The water in this area, coming off the dam, is very fast, and that’s probably what chased him back to the island. He was lying back down and night was falling when I decided to call it a wrap.

The story, found here is my source for information (other than what I witnessed in person), with one correction: The moose is not visible from U.S. Route 1. Route 1 runs alongside the Androscoggin River for maybe a mile, but the restored Cabot Mill, now known as the Fort Andross office and retail complex, blocks all view of the island from Route 1. The bridge for Maine Route 24, however, offers a great view of the island and even has a pedestrian walkway, which provides a safe spot for moose watching. I took most of these images from the bridge’s pedestrian walkway where you see these folks standing.

Wildlife officials were guessing he went over the dam immediately above the island; he doesn’t appear to have sustained any injury from the wild ride.

Moose are common in Northern and Western Maine, but not so common in Southern Maine, despite the fact that the first moose I saw after moving to Maine was only a few miles away, in Topsham. Intent on photographing moose, I had enthusiastically purchased Bill Silliker’s Maine Moose Watchers Guide and I had doggedly pursued the beast, making several trips to Moosehead Lake with the book on the passenger’s seat of the car. I followed all the tips, but each time came home with no moose pictures.

Months later, on assignment for the Bangor Daily New, I was on my way to Brunswick to photograph the annual Memorial Day parade when I spotted a moose  in a clearing alongside the Topsham exit from Interstate 295.  All that work I’d done to find a moose, and instead I just had to wait for the moose to find me.

Which I guess goes to show that while we may not have a lot of moose in the Brunswick area, our moose apparently aren’t as elusive as their Moosehead Lake cousins.

Wildlife officials estimate there is enough foliage on the island to sustain the moose for two weeks, and they say they aren’t making plans at this point to remove him. So, grab your camera, your binoculars and your kids, and drive over to the Androscoggin for Maine Moose Watching at its easiest.

P.S. Visit the Times Record online for their poll on what the moose should be named.

Nothing says “Fourth of July is right around the corner” like Maine strawberries. The sweet gems are one of summer’s many delights in Maine.

If you have the time, pack the kids in the car and harvest your own.

The Get Real Maine website of the Department of Agriculture  is chock full of information on pick-your-own farms.

It’s very easy to find a farm near you.

Or, if you don’t have the time, pick up berries at your local farmers’ market.

Get Real can also help you find a farmers markets nearby.

(The luscious berries in this picture came from the Brunswick Farmers’ Market, which is held Tuesdays and Fridays on the town green.)

Also, you might get lucky and run up on a vendor selling strawberries from a booth set up alongside a state highway.

This past week I ran up on a booth on Route 1 just outside of Wiscasset.

Normally, there is a huge booth on Route 3 on the outskirts of Ellsworth near the Home Depot.

If you pick your own and come back with too many to eat, visit the website for the Rome Strawberry Patch, which has a half dozen yummy-looking recipes for your berries.

Enjoy!

My assistant Angie, her fiance Tim and I recently attended a Pecha Kucha in Portland and we had a blast. Among the 10 presenters that night were photographers, furniture makers, a filmmaker, an animator, an architect and an artist who draws only Labrador Retrievers. It was a fast-paced evening and we came away impressed with the presenters’ creativity.

The next Pecha Kucha will be June 15th right here in Brunswick, and I’m very excited to have been chosen to present that night. I’ve decided to expand on the “20 slides x 20 seconds” format by making my images from 20 unique places in Maine. So, no two slides will be from the same place. At first I worried that might be tough, but I’ve been fortunate to have assignments in so many wonderful places in Maine that it wasn’t hard to come up with 20 unique area to feature.  Below is a shot from a cabin on Daicey Pond in Baxter State Park as the sun rises behind Mount Katahdin.

The Brunswick Pecha Kucha is being coordinated by the Five Rivers Arts Alliance and starts at 6 p.m. at Frontier Cafe, Cinema, & Gallery.  There will be two other photographer-presenters plus  a painter, an arts therapist, two furniture makers, a sculptor, a puppeteer, and a fiber artist. Reservation are recommended and can be made by emailing Five Rivers.

Bowdoin Commencement is always fun to photograph because the day is filled with great traditions, starting with a grand parade through The Quad.

Seniors assembled in front of Baxter House where they donned caps and gowns, grabbed juice, coffee and blueberry muffins (one hardy senior brought his own blueberry ale!) and lined up in alphabetical order.

As the seniors milled around waiting for the start of the parade, it was fun to catch some of the great details, like these gorgeous stoles sported by members of the African-American Society and the quirky Converse High Tops with lime laces worn by one senior.

While I started my day photographing the assembling seniors, Angie started the day shooting preparations in the ceremony area, and then climbing to the top of Hubbard Hall, the campus landmark at the south end of The Quad, from which she would get a aerial view of the festivities. It’s a precarious climb that requires carrying photo equipment up tight stairs and through a trap door onto the roof, but the climb pays off with a fantastic overview of the whole ceremony. (It’s good to have an assistant who isn’t afraid of heights!)

Here is a shot she took as the faculty were milling about in front of Hubbard, their staging area for the parade.

As the parade kicked off the seniors marched onto The Quad. Their first destination was to pass through the lined-up faculty. Here is a photo of the faculty in their colorful regalia as they took their places in front of Hubbard Hall.  Class President Christian Adams led his class through as the faculty applauded the seniors’ achievement.

The faculty traditionally joins the parade after the last senior passes, and at a later spot in the parade, the roles are reversed: The seniors stopped and flanked either side of the parade route and applauded the faculty as they entered the ceremony site and took their seats.

Bowdoin alumni play an important part of Commencement and they also joined the parade. It’s easy to spot the alums as they sport distinctive straw hats. Alums collect a round pins for each Commencement they attend, and some of the older alums had hats filled with pins.

The parade deposited seniors, faculty and alums at the seating set up in front of the Walker Art Museum. Here’s a great shot Angie got of the entire area from her perch on top of Hubbard.

What would a graduation ceremony be without speakers? At Bowdoin the tradition is to have students, chosen through competition, address their fellow graduates.  This year’s speakers were Samantha Scully and Ian Yaffe.

Here are seated graduates listening to speakers; Angie found a child amusing herself with a stuffed Polar Bear, the school mascot.

Finally the time arrived for the awarding of degrees. Seniors lined up, many were nervous and excited at the same time as they waited their turn to walk up to the stage.

Parents and friends cheered as their graduate’s name was called. (Notice the martini glass; it will show up again in a later photo.)

Bowdoin College President Barry Mills personally handed out each diploma and shook each graduates’ hand.  

Parents jockeyed for position to get pictures of graduates returning to their seats with diplomas in hand.

Finally, the ceremony ended with the traditional hat toss.
As the crowd filed out of the ceremony site, families and friends united to celebrate and take photos. Here’s a fun shot Angie got of some guys posing with celebratory cigars.

To wrap up the day there was a luncheon at the Field House complete with champagne toasts. (Yep, there’s the martini glass again.)

For even more photos, surf over to Bowdoin College’s Flickr site where hundreds of low resolution photos are posted from our coverage of Baccalaureate and Commencement. The easiest way to use Flickr is to click on the icon for the slideshow function on the right-hand side; the icon looks like a tiny screen. Prints of these images will be available for purchase from Bowdoin’s Printroom site beginning June 3, 2009.  For  in-depth coverage of the speeches and weekend events, check out the full write-up on the Bowdoin site.

The talented coach has been selected as womens’ basketball coach at the U.S. Naval Academy. In her ten years on the Brunswick campus Stefanie has guided the Polar Bears to a 235-48 record and amassed the fourth-best coaching record (.830) in Division  III history.

It was just a matter of time before a Division I school snapped her up, but of course Polar Bear faithful hoped the inevitable might be delayed as long as possible.

The photographs with this post are from the Polar Bears’ 2004 season when the team went 30-1, losing only in the Division III national championship game. That year Stefanie was named WBCA Division III Coach of the Year and senior Lora Trenkle was named All-American.

The popular coach leaves big shoes to be filled. For more details of her incredibly history with the Polar Bears, see the Bowdoin College web site.

The Polar Bear women came out on top 62-54 in a back-and-forth battle; the Polar Bears started slow and trailed by as many as eleven points before going into the half tied at 26-26.

The game was played on the campus of the University of Southern Maine in Gorham, and even though Bowdoin is in its Spring Break, a vocal contingency of fans–students, parents and friends–made the trek to Gorham.

The host USM Huskies, ranked #1 in Division III, overcame Bridgewater College of Bridgewater, Virginia, 68-55 in the second sectional Friday night to set up a rematch between USM and Bowdoin for Saturday night on the USM campus; when these two rivals played earlier in the season, the Huskies dealt the Polar Bears a 64-55 blow, one of only two Bowdoin losses this season.

On a night when many of the Polar Bears struggled to make shots, Bowdoin Junior Eileen Flaherty (below right) turned in a stellar performance, leading all scorers with 29 points.

This will be the sixth consecutive Sweet Sixteen appearance for the Polar Bears, coached by Stefanie Pemper. Pemper, who is in her eighth year at the Brunswick college, was named NESCAC Coach of the Year.

The smart and athletic Polar Bear team played before a packed house on campus.

With a comfortable 73-54 win over Colby-Sawyer Friday evening and a 59-56 nail-biter over Brandeis on Saturday evening, the 26-2 Polar Bears set the New England basketball record with 70 straight victories at home, surpassing the record formerly held by the UConn women.

Tournament play continues Friday on the University of Southern Maine campus in Gorham. Bowdoin takes on Mary Washington at 5:30 p.m., while host USM takes on Bridgewater at 7:30 p.m. The winners will square off Saturday at 7 p.m.