More than waves
In addition to waves shooting up from rocks along the Atlantic coast in the Schoodic section of Acadia National Park on June 8th, I paid attention to several shallow pools of water that had collected in depressions on top of the nearby rocks. The picture above, intentionally taken at a somewhat skewed angle, gives you an overview of how little pools form in the rocks. Below, seen more closely in other pools, you get a sense of the intriguing colors and textures sometimes found within them.
© 2018 Steven Schwartzman
Portraits of Wildflowers 
There are several spots for tide pools in Acadia. My favorite is Wonderland. Schoodic is a great location as well and one spot in particular, Raven’s Nest, is iconic for sunset.
The third is nicely done looking like a forest from above and the last reminds me of my favorite shot of yours.
Steve Gingold
August 10, 2018 at 4:54 AM
Now you make me wish I were Alice so I could go to Wonderland. Have fun there for me when you go in a few weeks.
Last night, I happened to show the third picture to four other photographers. After I mentioned that I took the photograph looking straight down and that therefore there’s no “correct” orientation, they wanted to see the picture in the three other orientations. I obliged, and they all preferred a horizontal to a vertical orientation.
When I was preparing this post, the last picture reminded me, too, of the older picture, which I remembered as a favorite of yours.
Steve Schwartzman
August 10, 2018 at 7:22 AM
Acadia is always fun, even when it rains…not that I wish for rain.
Steve Gingold
August 11, 2018 at 3:51 AM
No, it seems you’ve had enough rain recently to last you for a while. We could use some of it here. Fortunately for me as a photographer there was no rain during our time at Acadia.
Steve Schwartzman
August 11, 2018 at 6:24 AM
Fabulous abstracts. I have a shallow depression in the flat granite rock in my garden which I keep filled with water as the birds love to come and drink and bathe in it.
Heyjude
August 10, 2018 at 5:28 AM
Thanks, Jude. Have you taken advantage of the shallow depression in your flat granite to do abstract pictures of your own?
Steve Schwartzman
August 10, 2018 at 7:26 AM
Nothing much to see really Steve.
Heyjude
August 10, 2018 at 2:07 PM
Ah, too bad. Perhaps the coastal rocks are waiting for you again.
Steve Schwartzman
August 10, 2018 at 2:12 PM
Not until September!
Heyjude
August 10, 2018 at 6:52 PM
September’s only weeks away. Have fun then.
Steve Schwartzman
August 10, 2018 at 7:25 PM
wow, the textures and color blends here are amazing
ksbeth
August 10, 2018 at 5:47 AM
That’s sure how I felt. I wish I’d been able to spend more time there.
Steve Schwartzman
August 10, 2018 at 7:35 AM
When I looked at the first photo, the word ‘breakwater’ came to mind: pulled apart this time into ‘break’ + ‘water.’ The narrow diagonal strip of rock separating the pebbles and the smoother expanse of rock seems to be serving just that function: breaking the smooth wave of rock into a scattering of pebble droplets. Looked at that way, it makes a fine pairing with yesterday’s photo of the wave of water.
The colors of the tide pools, along with the bubbles, flows of vegetation, and mysterious little creatures are so appealing. I can imagine hours passing unnoticed in a place like that.
shoreacres
August 10, 2018 at 7:17 AM
Abstractions make it hard to tell the scale of things. Sometimes the only way to know is to have been there. I say that because what you saw as pebbles in the first photo actually weighed at least several pounds each.
Like you, I easily imagine spending hours in photo-worthy places like this one. The practicality of a trip, and having so many scenic spots visitable along the route, kept me from staying too long in any one of them.
Steve Schwartzman
August 10, 2018 at 7:46 AM
That’s one substantial landscape, then. It’s a great example of the ability of abstractions to fool the eye in the same way that a macro lens can.
Speaking of fooling the eye, did you happen to stop by the town of Antigonish while you were roaming Nova Scotia? It would have been fun to visit the house that some say inspired the poem. I found this, about the name itself:
“The word Antigonish is of Micmac origin. According to Dr. Silas Rand it is derived from Nalegitkoonechk (Nalegitkoontech or Nalegitkunech), meaning “where branches are torn off.” It is said that there the bears broke down branches to get the beech nuts.”
“The earliest known use of the name which persists as Antigonish is in Nicholas Denys, The Description and Natural History of the Coasts of North America which was published in 1672. In that book it appears as Articougnesche. On Jumeau’s map of 1685 it is seen as Antigonieche and by 1755 it appeared in its present form Antigonish.”
shoreacres
August 10, 2018 at 6:39 PM
From an earlier comment of yours I became aware that Antigonish is a town in Nova Scotia, and I thought maybe we’d pass that way. As things turned out, for lack of time we never got to the eastern half of Nova Scotia at all. So instead of meeting a town that wasn’t there, I didn’t meet a town that was there. We didn’t make it to Prince Edward Island, either, which I thought we would.
As for Micmac, also rendered Mi’kmaq, Iast week I learned that English inherited the word toboggan from that language.
Steve Schwartzman
August 10, 2018 at 10:18 PM
Tiny bubbles?
So here’s to the golden moon
And here’s to the silver sea
And mostly here’s a toast
To tiny bubbles. With apologies to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mlCiDEXuxxA
Gallivanta
August 10, 2018 at 7:21 AM
No apology needed. In the same vein as what you linked to, on television here this morning I noticed that Turner Classic Movies was showing a Liberace movie. Following up on either singer, you might say that those bubbles were music to my photographic ear, if such a thing exists.
Steve Schwartzman
August 10, 2018 at 7:50 AM
I am sure they made delightful music.
Gallivanta
August 10, 2018 at 8:44 AM
“If music be the food of love, play on,
Give me excess of it; that surfeiting,
The appetite may sicken, and so die.”
However, I’m not looking for surfeit, but a sure fit.
Steve Schwartzman
August 10, 2018 at 11:01 AM
Ha!
Gallivanta
August 10, 2018 at 9:59 PM
I love the colours that show in rock pools (and shallow streams). Water is nature’s own varnish – it enhances the intensity of colours that are so often missing in dry conditions.
Val
August 10, 2018 at 8:19 AM
I like the way you imagine water as nature’s own varnish. Water so often un-dulls rocks and makes them come alive, as in the second image.
Steve Schwartzman
August 10, 2018 at 8:34 AM
I love all of these images – beautiful abstracts with striking color and textures.
Littlesundog
August 11, 2018 at 7:52 AM
It’s good to claim another appreciator of abstraction in nature. Imagine living near a coast like this one…
Steve Schwartzman
August 11, 2018 at 8:07 AM
Terrific photos, I can’t imagine every tiring of looking into tidal pools.
Robert Parker
August 11, 2018 at 8:12 AM
I sure didn’t get tired of exploring tidal pools whenever we visited a coastal site in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and then Maine. Lucky you to be within striking distance of the Atlantic coast in New England.
Steve Schwartzman
August 11, 2018 at 8:17 AM
The rock formation at the top is really interesting. I need to get back to Acadia, I’ve only been there once – I love tidal pools.
tomwhelan
August 12, 2018 at 8:33 PM
You’re fortunate to be relatively (compared to Austin) close to the Maine coast. You can understand how glad I was for several chances to document the tidal pools I saw there and in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. I should have another post about Acadia on Tuesday.
Steve Schwartzman
August 12, 2018 at 10:51 PM