A different look at places in Maine> Photographer offers a view from the top

MAINE A VIEW FROM ABOVE, by Charles Feil, Down East Books, Camden, Maine, 1996, 96 pages, $30.

A new coffee table book gives us a distinctly different view of the Maine we think we know first hand and have seen in tourist magazines and brochures. The book is the result of the marriage of a professional photographer’s art and a pilots license.

Charles Feil, who once travelled the world for photo assignments, moved to Maine, learned to fly and now logs countless hours over the state searching for grand vistas and also intimate magical moments above the coast and uplands and marshes and mountains.

His 100 image collection takes the viewer on a quick visual feast of the length and breadth of Maine. From Kittery to Katahdin, from small fishing villages to Maines cities, from the lighthouses to potato houses, from misty marshes to misty mountains, Feilss camera catches the randomness and geometric order of the world under our feet. The cobalt blue of the summer coast and crystal clear lakes contrasts with the cold blue of early winter morning light.

The books best images are those shot in the earliest of morning light or the lingering late-day light. Two favorites are the preface photo of the misty mountain dawn near Bethel, the other a western mountain sunset with subtle gradations of purple and blush.

Feil’s camera catches many geometric patterns in city and country landscapes. Many of these are presented on facing pages, a wise editing decision. One striking combination of similar forms is a trailer park in Bath and ice patches on the Kennebec River. Another nice contrast of facing pages were the combination of colorful fall hardwoods on the left and a bluish winter clearcut scene on the right.

Without a doubt, the Lobster Boat Amongst the Ice Floes at Pemaquid Harbor is one of his best in this book. It is a shot of a small blue lobster boat in the midst of a mosaic of diamond-shaped ice cakes. It is totally unlike any other image I’ve ever seen.

The book’s strength, aerial views, is also it’s weakness. Too many of the shots are similar shots of small towns near the water. Ironically, this is what will probably sell the most books: readers wanting to see their hometowns or where they have worked, visited or vacationed.