Places Volume 2

PLACES
On Assignment with Jerry Monkman
DISCOVER ACADIA
A 100th anniversary visit to
Maine’s beloved national park.
MAINE WOODS
ADVENTURE
Good times in the
100 Mile Wilderness.
STONEHOUSE FOREST
Protecting some big woods in
southern New Hampshire.
WORKING MAINE
WATERFRONTS
How the Land for Maine’s
Future program is preserving
ocean access in the state’s
traditional fishing villages.
SUMMER 2016 ECOPHOTOGRAPHY 1

Lobsterman Ryan Schultz, after a day of working the wharf at the Friendship
Lobster Coop in Friendship, Maine. This wharf is one of 40 along the Maine
coast that has been preserved as working waterfront. See story on page 14.
2 ECOPHOTOGRAPHY SUMMER 2016

From Jerry
This is our second issue of “Places” and it could just as easily be titled “People.” Though I
first became known for my nature and landscape photography, I am increasingly called
upon to describe the places I shoot in terms of the people living, playing, and working
there. That has been especially true this year, although I can’t help but shoot some
landscapes as well. I’ve devoted much of my summer to a project for the State of Maine’s
Land for Maine’s Future program, which has been working to preserve access to the sea
for fishing families up and down the Maine coast. This project has been a fascinating
glimpse into the lives of the hard working men and women striving to keep alive the
tradition of fishing in the Gulf of Maine.
This year hasn’t all been about hard work though. I’ve also been fortunate to be making
friends while shooting adventures in Acadia National Park (while finishing up work
on the 4th edition of my book, Discover Acadia) and in Maine’s 100 Mile Wilderness,
among other places where hiking boots or paddles are required, and where the scent of
pine and the warm light of summer define the rewards of the day.
Cheers!
Jerry
Table of Contents
DISCOVER ACADIA.................................................................................................4-5
A 100th anniversary visit to Maine’s beloved national park.
MAINE WOODS ADVENTURE................................................................................ 6-11
Good times in the 100 Mile Wilderness.
STONEHOUSE FOREST........................................................................................ 12-13
Protecting some big woods in southern New Hampshire.
WORKING MAINE WATERFRONTS..................................................................... 14-18
How the Land for Maine’s Future program is preserving ocean access in the state’s traditional fishing villages.
On the Cover: A hiker watches daybreak over the Gulf of Maine in the Schoodic section of Maine’s Acadia National Park
P.O. Box 424, Portsmouth, New Hampshire 03802
p. 888-705-8274
m. 603-498-1140
e. jerry@ecophotography.com
www.ecophotography.com
SUMMER 2016 ECOPHOTOGRAPHY 3

Discover Acadia
Guide Book
MAINE
A 100th anniversary visit to Maine’s
beloved national park.
By the time you read this, my wife Marcy and I should have turned in the last of our text
for the 4th edition of our book, Discover Acadia National Park. (If not, I’m screening
my calls, trying to avoid the wrath of our editor at AMC Books!) In addition to the usual
tasks of revising a guidebook, like checking out new trails and the condition of old
ones, I’ve been working on shooting some new images for the book. This will be the first
color version of Discover Acadia, so I’m excited to have some fresh views of the park to
show off. While we already have a good collection of stock photography from Acadia, I
had a great time exploring some new locations with my camera as well as visiting old
favorites with new friends. In addition to seeing some amazing sunrises, I also learned
that I can get models to work for the fun of the adventure - as long as I throw in a free
lobster roll in the process.
4 ECOPHOTOGRAPHY SUMMER 2016

Above left: The sun rises from behind Acadia’s
mountains as fog rises from the shores of Echo
Lake.
Above right: Kayakers ply the waters of Jordan
Pond in the heart of Acadia.
Bottom right: A couple takes a break from hiking
in the quiet forest below Beech Mountain.
SUMMER 2016 ECOPHOTOGRAPHY 5

Recreation
MAINE
Maine
Woods
Adventure
6 ECOPHOTOGRAPHY SUMMER 2016

Maine’s 100 Mile
Wilderness holds
the key to classic
North Woods
recreation.
When I began my photography career
more than 20 years ago, one of my first
clients was the Appalachian Mountain
Club (AMC), a New England-based NGO
that focuses on conservation, recreation,
and outdoor education. Back then I
shot a story about Mahoosuc Notch for
their publication, AMC Outdoors. The
notch, north of the White Mountains on
the Maine/New Hampshire border and
considered by many to be the hardest
mile of the entire 2100-plus miles of
the Appalachian Trail is filled with
house- and car-sized boulders that must
be climbed over or under with a full
pack to get from one end of the notch
to the other. This one mile of trail takes
2 to 3 hours to hike and the rocks are
relentless, leaving the shins and knees
of most hikers bruised and bloodied. Of
course, after that shoot I was hooked on
photographing in the Appalachians, and
I’ve been shooting projects for AMC ever
since. This past June I took advantage of
one of their Maine Wilderness Camps
to shoot some new adventure photos
in a little more comfort than that first
assignment. Any blood donated to the
cause this time was taken by the black
flies that the Maine woods are famous
for, but the beauty of the landscape more
than made up for this minor annoyance.
Left: Ben Williamson paddles on Long Pond at
dawn.
Above right: Ashley Reed defends against black
flies.
Below right: Ben takes a turn in the canoe as the
sun sets.
SUMMER 2016 ECOPHOTOGRAPHY 7

The cabins at the AMC’s Gorman Chairback Lodge are an ideal base camp for adventure in
Maine’s 100 Mile Wilderness.
8 ECOPHOTOGRAPHY SUMMER 2016

SUMMER 2016 ECOPHOTOGRAPHY 9

Using the EcoPhotography Facebook
page, I recruited three friends to join
me at Gorman Chairback Lodge, which
is east of Greenville, Maine, and is
adjacent to the 100 Mile Wilderness
section of the Appalachian Trail. The
lodge and its companion cabins are on
the wild shores of Long Pond, and a short
hike away from Gulf Hagas, a three
mile-long gorge filled with swimming
holes and waterfalls. With the help of
producer Peter Dennen, photographer
Ben Williamson, and friends Ashley
and Dan Reed, I was able to shoot the
gang enjoying the area’s paddling and
hiking opportunities. In between the
intense moments of concentration while
shooting, I marveled at our good fortune
to have beautiful light on the one day we
had to shoot and at how easy it is to get
people to relax for a portrait when out in
nature. I’ve dedicated much of my career
to conserving wild places, and watching
the stress melt away on friends’ faces
while out in nature reminds me how
important these places are, not only to
the plants and animals that live there,
but to us humans who need nature’s
peace to thrive.
Above left: Ashley and Dan during their sunrise
paddle on Long Pond.
Below left: Exploring the swimming holes
below Screw Auger Falls in Gulf Hagas.
Right: Dan Reed is ready for a paddle.
10 ECOPHOTOGRAPHY SUMMER 2016

SUMMER 2016 ECOPHOTOGRAPHY 11

Conservation
NEW HAMPSHIRE
Round Pond is one of several critical wetlands being preserved in the Stonehouse Forest in
Barrington, New Hampshire. The Southeast Land Trust of New Hampshire is currently raising
funds to conserve the 1500 acre property, one of the largest remaining, unprotected forest
blocks in the state south of the White Mountains.
12 ECOPHOTOGRAPHY SUMMER 2016

SUMMER 2016 ECOPHOTOGRAPHY 13

Conservation
MAINE
Working
Maine
Waterfronts
How the Land for Maine’s Future program is preserving
ocean access in the state’s traditional fishing villages.
Maine is famous for its beautiful
shorelines and the bounty of seafood
caught offshore in the Gulf of Maine, one
of the most productive fisheries in the
world. One of my jobs this past summer
was to document several working
waterfronts in Maine where commercial
fishing operations have existed for
decades (or centuries), but are now
threatened by rising real estate values. For
more than ten years, the state of Maine’s
Land for Maine’s Future Program (LMF)
14 ECOPHOTOGRAPHY SUMMER 2016
has been giving grants to commercial
and municipal wharves up and down the
coast to help preserve access to the sea
for fishermen and women. As more and
more people buy second homes on the
Maine coast, the value of coastal land has
risen to levels well above the value of the
land if it is used for commercial fishing
operations. LMF grant money helps
narrow that gap in values while insuring
that the land will be used only for fishing
operations in perpetuity.
This gig was a blast. I spent hours at a
time on these wharves (from Harpswell
to Beals Island,) swapping stories with the
men and women working the wharves
and taking in the banter between
boat captains and their crew. I met a
7th generation fisherman, intent on
preserving his small community’s access
to the sea, as well as an eleven year-old
girl who is a fourth generation lobster
fisher (she keeps ten traps in the water,)
who dared me to walk into the bait cooler

and take a deep breath. When I told her
it couldn’t be as bad as filming in a dairy
barn in the heat of August, she just smiled
and raced me to the cooler (I was wrong –
it was nasty.) The hot sun of midday was
tempered by the breezes off the gulf, but
everyone was usually exhausted by the
end of the day.
Above left: Mark Havenar loads bait onto his
lobster boat in Friendship, Maine.
Above right: Captain Matt Clemmons (front)
and sternman Collin Grady unload lobster
aboard “Mean Kathleen” at Potts Harbor Lobster
in Harpswell, Maine.
Below right: Captain Ryan Post on his lobster
boat ‘Tall Tales’, at the Spruce Head Fisherman’s
Co-op in South Thomaston, Maine.
SUMMER 2016 ECOPHOTOGRAPHY 15

A fisherman rows his skiff in at sunset at the Spruce Head Fisherman’s Co-op
in South Thomaston, Maine.
16 ECOPHOTOGRAPHY SUMMER 2016

SUMMER 2016 ECOPHOTOGRAPHY 17

Top: A recently caught lobster at the Friendship Lobster Co-op in
Friendship, Maine.
Bottom Left: Sternman Jackson Feener (left) and Captain Erick Harjula.
loading bait onto Harjula’s lobster boat, ‘Redeemed’ at the Spruce Head
Fisherman’s Co-op in South Thomaston, Maine.
18 ECOPHOTOGRAPHY SUMMER 2016
Bottom right: Ryan Schultz, crew on the lobster boat, “Overkill”,
unloading lobsters at the Friendship Lobster Co-op in Friendship, Maine.

facebook.com/ecophotography
twitter.com/jerrymonkman
linkedin.com/in/jerrymonkman
instagram.com/jerrymonkman
SUMMER 2016 ECOPHOTOGRAPHY 19

P.O. Box 424
Portsmouth, New Hampshire 03802
p. 888-705-8274
m. 603-498-1140
e. jerry@ecophotography.com
www.ecophotography.com
20 ECOPHOTOGRAPHY SUMMER 2016