Sunday night we decided to have supper at the health food store in Mystic and then take a little stroll along the Mystic River. We wound up eating outside and enjoyed a little tourist-watching. The summer tourist season is fading away… The old salts at Schooner Wharf must be tired of having their gravel parking lot thrown into the river, rock by rock. (see signs above) We didn’t see the attack seagull, but then again, we didn’t dare to even touch a rock!
The brick building across the river in the next picture used to be an elementary school called Mystic Academy. Now it is a “senior care community” called Academy Point at Mystic. Some of the people living there must have rooms with fantastic views…
The reflections of the clouds in the water were delightful…
A boat color coordinated with nearby homes…
When we started to drive home we finally noticed the huge almost-full moon. So we made another stop at Eastern Point and took a picture of her, looking towards Avery Point. With the moon illusion at work here, she looks much smaller in the picture than she did with the naked eye…
I found this interesting explanation at Grand Illusions, but I don’t really comprehend it!
The first problem is for photographers. A wonderful picture presents itself, with the full moon just rising above a spectacular horizon. Click, the picture is taken. Yet the result is disappointing. The moon seems much smaller in the photograph than it did when viewed with the naked eye. Even professional photographers fall for this one. Yet on a normal lens, 50mm on a 35mm camera, the field of view is around 50 degrees, and the width of the moon, subtending an angle of 0.5 degrees, will be 100th of the width of the photo! Many photographs that you see in magazines, containing both a moon and a landscape, will be composites. The landscape will be taken with a normal lens, the moon taken with a telephoto lens, to get a bigger image.
Lovely pictures. I had no idea photographers created a composite. Very interesting…I’m a photo buff so maybe i’ll have to try it.
Thank you, Monica. I’m looking forward to seeing how your composite turns out!
Those are lovely photos. I particularly like the reflected moon. Interesting about the composite …
Thank you, Sybil. I wish I could have captured how she looked to my naked eye…
Hi,
What a lovely place to spend a bit of time. I love the brick building it certainly does rise up above everything else and I agree the views must be magnificent.
Great photo’s, I had to have a bit of a laugh at the sign.
Yes, that sign showed that management had a sense of humor about what must be an annoying problem. I can’t imagine any normal young boy getting out of his family’s car and not being tempted to pick up a few pieces of gravel to rock-skip them into the river. 🙂
I love the attack seagull sign. Mystic is a place I’ve always wanted to go.
I love the sign, too – my first thought was “great – a perfect picture for my blog!” Mystic is beautiful, especially the Seaport, the amazing living history museum.
Beautiful journey! The reflection shot is great!
Yes capturing the moon is a difficult event!
Thanks, Jeff! Coming from you, the photography wizard, I take your assessment of my reflection shot as a wonderful compliment!
In other words.. in the pictures where the moon looks wonderful…… they cheated!
But for a good purpose – trying to recreate what was actually perceived!
Barbara – The “throwing rocks” photo made me smile. The “reflections” photograph made me melt. Ahhhhhhhhh
And some people don’t think that New Englanders have a sense of humor!
The water was so tranquil and serene I wanted to climb in a little boat and drift away…
Great photos Barbara. I love the fading daylight reflected in the water, and the views of the boats. It’s so different from the west coast – we don’t have little fishing villages like this over here. And the light is somehow different.
I also didn’t know that bit of trivia about photographing the moon. Thanks for explaining it to us.
Thank you, Rosie – I’ve never been out west or seen the Pacific Ocean, but from pictures I’ve seen it looks vast, bigger, bolder and more dramatic than the east coast. Maybe someday I will see it for myself. 🙂 And some day the fjords of Norway. It’s amazing how the shoreline can be so different in various places… But the moon seems pretty much the same from everywhere…
It would be wonderful to be able to say you lived in “Mystic,” what a great name. Glad you didn’t meet the attack seagull! The moon is so challenging to photograph, I knew of some of the other issues involved, but not this one. Lovely tour of this community.
I’ve read that Mystic comes from “missituk” is the Algonquian word for “great tidal river.” But I always think of Van Morrison’s song, “Into the Mystic.”
“Hark, now hear the sailors cry
Smell the sea and feel the sky
Let your soul and spirit fly into the mystic”
Mystic Seaport sits a little inland on the Mystic River – there are so many beautiful historical homes in the area, all with little plaques on them telling who built the house and in what year…
Thank you for your message… I lived in Toulouse (France) I have small knowledge in English I know better Spanish but I am delighted to discover you and tomorrow I shall return to translate I see that you like the paint(painting) too…. Kisses and goodbye
Hi Loula – I used Google Translate to get the meaning of your comment on the painting. I’m not sure how well it translates, but we’ll see! Looking forward to exploring your blog and making a new friend, even if we speak different languages. Your photographs are breathtaking…
Salut Loula – J’ai utilisé Google Translate pour obtenir le sens de votre commentaire sur la peinture. Je ne sais pas comment il se traduit, mais nous allons voir! Au plaisir de découvrir votre blog et faire un nouvel ami, même si nous parlons des langues différentes. Vos photos sont à couper le souffle …
Hello. Love your outing to Mystic post. Now that photos with the Attack Seagull sign and 50 cents per rock thrown would make a great poster! Looks like you had a beautiful time.
Hi Eva, I’m happy you stopped by! I wonder how many tourists have the exact same picture of the signs in their photo albums… 🙂 We did enjoy ourselves – the simple pleasures in life are some of the best!