Capture
Everyday moments in Maine documented by those who live in and love our state
______
I began my hike up to this spot on Little Jackson Mountain in dramatically different conditions. When I arrived at the trailhead, it had been raining heavily for the last hour of my drive. I had planned to spend the night on the mountain to record time-lapse videos of the sunset, the Milky Way, and stars, and then the sunrise the following morning for a project I was working on for L.L. Bean. I didn’t prepare for rain, though, and I considered whether it was worth risking losing all my equipment to water damage. After contemplating my options for a while, I found an old, beat-up umbrella in my car. Even though I wasn’t positive the rain would pass or the hike would be worth it, I set out. Almost the entire time up the mountain, it was still raining. The several people I saw hiking down looked at me as if I was crazy to keep moving. Luckily, I ignored the indications that I should turn around.
By the time I reached the summit, the rain had cleared, allowing me to capture this photo overlooking Tumbledown Mountain, along with the rest of my time-lapse shots. I’ll always remember this trip whenever I doubt whether to push on or not. As cliché as it is, persistence really is the key to success—and in this case maybe a little bit of ignorance, too.