East coast Point Lobos?

[talkingfish]

Hello there.

While I don't have the means for a jump across the pond right now, my brother is in VA, and I was wondering if there are any significantly beautiful spots on the east coast which resemble the rock formations and florae that you can see in many of the photos from Point Lobos?

Also, are there any places on the east coast of the US that have become famous for their geology, photographically speaking?

Thanks in advance, Jon.

 

[deisenlord]

I'd recommend Maine; google Pemaquid Point for images.

Ike

 

[Monophoto]

The coast of Maine, generally north of Portland, is pretty spectacular. Ike mentioned Pemaquid Point (the site of Pemaquid light). Acadia National Park has a number of interesting spots. I've also liked the Owl's Head area (just south of Rockland).

The rest of the East Coast is pretty bland sandy beaches.

 

[2F/2F]

The coast of Maine, generally north of Portland, is pretty spectacular. Ike mentioned Pemaquid Point (the site of Pemaquid light). Acadia National Park has a number of interesting spots. I've also liked the Owl's Head area (just south of Rockland).

The rest of the East Coast is pretty bland sandy beaches.

I find the east coast beaches very beautiful in their own way...but like he said: Wide, largely uninterrupted, gradually sloping beaches in VA, as far as what I have seen myself. You can walk out so darned far and still be in very shallow water, and have very tiny, gentle waves. It's warm too! Our beaches here (at least the natural ones; IMO the only ones worth visiting) are narrow, drop off quickly in depth, are noticeably colder, have harsher waves, are very rocky, and usually right at the base of mountains or cliffs. Being a born-and-raised (and sixth-generation) Los Angeles resident, it was very strange my first time in the Atlantic. The over all calmness was striking.

 

[Nicholas Lindan]

Also Canada: Newfoundland, Labrador, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, Baffin Island (someplace I've always wanted to go -- http://www.lewyckyj.com/Nestor%20Rostyslaw%20Lewyckyj/Baffin%20Island%202007.htm).

 

[keithwms]

I live in VA and I have to say, I could care less about the coastline of most of the mid atlantic coast. Beach is beach. Why people put houses up next to houses next to other houses on a featureless beach is beyond me! And all the houses look precisely the same, what a nightmare! There are a few spots in this area like Cape May that have unique houses, but it is so heavily touristed.

In VA, some very special scenes may be found in the 'tidewater' area, that's where you get the cypress trees and vines and such. The swamps around there and down around Charleston and Savannah are very interesting. Not really similar to Point Lobos in any way, but a great place to photograph nonetheless. So, I'd say look slightly inland in the swamps, that's where you will find more interest. You might also consider the everglades, also a very unique habitat.

Should it interest you, the East Coast sports what I consider to be the ugliest piece of real estate in the entire country: Atlantic City. Actually it has to be seen to be believed. I've been dragged there, kicking and screaming, by friends and let's just say that each time I swear "never again." But its relative proximity to Cape May and Manhattan may appeal. If it were me I'd head down to Charleston though.

 

[climbabout]

block island

Try Block Island off the coast of Rhode Island - accessible by ferry boat. Lighthouses, rocky shore and beautiful interior landscapes - stone walls etc...
Tim

 

[eddie]

If your brother is in northern Virginia, Great Falls might be a good destination. It's only a few minutes outside of DC, but has great rock formations, and white water opportunities.

 

[2F/2F]

Good point, Keith.

I'd check out First Landing State Park if you have the time to get down to The Beach (speaking in Richmond terms). Like Keith said, not rocky beaches, but very beautiful. I believe it is the northernmost stand of Spanish moss in the country. Say hello to all the good-ol' SSNs for me when you are down there!

 

[Bruce Watson]

Hello there.

While I don't have the means for a jump across the pond right now, my brother is in VA, and I was wondering if there are any significantly beautiful spots on the east coast which resemble the rock formations and florae that you can see in many of the photos from Point Lobos?

Also, are there any places on the east coast of the US that have become famous for their geology, photographically speaking?

Thanks in advance, Jon.

There's only one Point Lobos. The geology of the two coasts is markedly different; our east coast NA beaches have little in common with west coast NA beaches. About the closest you'll come (and it's really not very close) is the rocky shore of Maine.

What we have instead are completely different landscapes. Our eastern beaches are wide and sandy with dunes instead of rocks and cliffs. Where the west coast has the coastal range of mountains, we have a coastal plain -- several hundred km inland the elevation rises less than 100 meters. Where the west coast has large fast flowing rivers full of snow melt plunging down steep slopes, we have lazy calm rivers flowing slowly out into huge salt marshes and vast marine estuaries.

Our mountains are less than half the height of the Sierras and Rockies, but every bit as nice in their own way. Far more lush, covered in flora. The closest the west coast NA has to the Smokies is the Olympic rain forest in WA, but it's not really comparable either, especially in the summer when it dries out and so many of the plants go dormant.

Comparing our two coasts in NA is like comparing apples and oranges. And don't even get started on the coast lines with the Gulf of Mexico! Yet more completely different and unique scenes.

 

[talkingfish]

Great stuff, thanks.
I recognise the light house at Permaquid from magazines. Acadia looks wonderful.
I agree VA coast is pretty dull from what I have seen; you really have to work hard. I have been to the swamps when we went to a campsite at VA Beach - I find the swamps very noisy, in terms of detail, when you do them in black and white, so not much success for me that time but colour was ok. Also I nearly stepped on a snake (yikes!).

My brother is north of Skyline Drive, so that is what I have seen the most of. I like coastal rock formations and I was kind of hoping there might be some relatively unknown gems in terms of sandstone, ganite etc, known mostly to photographers.

I'm taking notes, so thanks a bunch. Looks like it will be a journey north of some kind, Maine etc, to replicate the Point Lobos abundance.

Jon

 

[tim elder]

Block Island is a great idea and I would also suggest Montauk, the far tip of the south shore of Long Island, as another interesting place to photograph. Nothing on the East Coast that I have seen reminds me of Point Lobos.

Tim

 

[Monophoto]

There is a fundamental difference between the eastern landscape and the western landscape - and the coastal areas are simply one dimension of that difference.

Landscapes in the west are dramatic - Wagnerian, if you are into musical analogies. In the east, landscapes are more intimate. That's not to same that beautiful images can't be created in the east, but one must look more carefully, and focus more closely on small things.

 

[talkingfish]

I suppose the geological maps are going to look quite different then. It would be interesting to have a wall chart of the US.
The northwest coast of the UK has an amazing amount of variation and I just assumed that with such a large coastal area there would be some corresponding Point Lobos-type areas further south than Maine. Maine is worth a trip in itself, though.
There's enough variation throughout the US (southwest etc) to keep one busy photographing rock for ever, never mind living things.
Cheers.

 

[c6h6o3]

He might try Dead Link Removed or Seneca Rocks. They're on the other side of the mountains from him in eastern West Virginia. A long way from the coast, but unique.

 

[Nathan Potter]

If you're talking coastal rock formations that might have the allure of Point Lobos then with few exceptions you are talking about the Maine coast and generally the central and north coast. But of course there are fundamental geologic differences from the west coast as has been alluded to. You will find various forms of schist, granite and basalt in polished bedrock form and in very impressive arrays of polished cobbles and boulders.

The rocks at Pemaquid are quite astounding especially the folded metasediments. I spend a lot of time around Acadia and north to Cutler and Quoddy Head. But to mention some of my favorite places.

In the Schoodic subsection of Acadia Nat. Park accessible from Winter Harbor is a classic cobble barrier beach partway in on the right that can be worked best at low tide. Marvelous driftwood appears at times. At the tip of Schoodic you'll find granite bedrock of some interest interspersed with wind stunted firs with pretty interesting character. Work the Schoodic penninsula carefully.

In Winter Harbor you need to go out to Grindstone Neck for the cobble worn bedrock at the end of the road. Here you will find black basaltic intrusions into the granite country rock - some are really dikes 5 to 20 feet wide polished to incredible smoothness and interspersed with pockets of polished cobbles that will surely remind you of fragments of scenes from Lobos. Doing justice to the polished basalt will challenge your ability to capture the full texture of nearly pure black rock.

Further up the coast go to the town park in Milbridge (called McCleland, sp. Park) ask for directions. It is another cobble and boulder beach with great outcrops of granite along the shore. In Steuben I'd really recommend Dyer Point but I haven't visited it in some years and may be hard to get to by now because of development. When I was a kid I camped there in January in a tent in a snow cave behind the cliffs for about a week so the place has a special memory for me. It is photographically magnificent.

A final great place easily accessible is Quoddy head light and shore. It's another cobble beach with inspiring cliffs and an unusual grotto has inumerable photographic possibilities but as always has to be studied and worked carefully with your own vision in mind.

If you go you need the current atlas of "The Back Roads of Maine"

And lest I forget - for something different, the blueberry barrens north of Cherryfield, particularly along the Pineo ridge are close to a moonscape with glacial erratic boulders strewn along the Pineo ridge. The leaves and stems of the low berry plants are brilliant red in the fall and winter and wildflowers quite spectacular in the summer.

Hell, I should be back there now.

Nate Potter, Washington DC. ex Steuben and Winter Harbor ME.

 

[rmann]

Near Boston (about 45 min from Logan Airport) you will find Rockport, Mass. and its small harbor that has been the subject of a lot of photos & paintings. The surrounding Cape Ann area has a rocky coastline and a lighthouses. On the southern part of Cape Ann is Gloucester, Mass. with its working harbor and what is left of the fishing fleet.

 

[jgjbowen]

Nate,

Next time I head to Maine I'll be sure to take your post along

THANKS!!!!!

Hell, I'm in Richmond, so maybe I'll pick you up on the way