UMF student Isaiah Wilson-McFarlane ’20 captures uncommon views of our region’s beauty
By Marc Glass and Grace McIntosh ’22
It’s no secret that the environs surrounding the UMF campus are a showcase of Maine’s away-from-the-coast beauty. Our region boasts mountains, woods, lakes, and rivers that beckon visitors from afar, seeking unparalleled recreational opportunities set in distinctive landscapes. When it comes to four-season gorgeousness, we’ve got the goods.
Since the dawn of the hashtag and the advent of Instagram, our pretty corner of the world has been celebrated in photographs like never before. Some of the most arresting and uncommon images of these parts on Instagram are posted by UMF student Isaiah Wilson-McFarlane, a junior environmental science major from Orono, Maine, whose work can be seen at @isaiahwm.
Smalls Falls in Maine’s Township E, photographed Aug. 7, 2018, by Isaiah Wilson-McFarlane.
“You can drive 15 minutes in any direction from Farmington and find a geological feature that people from other places can only read about in textbooks,” says Wilson-McFarlane. “Farmington’s location was a big part of my decision to come here. I love being near mountains because of the geology and landscape photography opportunities. I hiked up Mount Blue near Weld a few weeks ago and it was -20 at the top with winds that almost blew me off the mountain. But I got some of my favorite pictures I’ve ever taken of the sunset over Carthage and the Saddleback Wind turbine project.”
Saddleback Wind Turbine Array, Carthage, Maine, photographed Nov. 16, 2018, from atop Mount Blue by Isaiah Wilson-McFarlane.
While his images are pleasing to the eye, Wilson-McFarlane says he hopes people pausing to consider his photos and captions will come to more deeply appreciate the physical, geological, and ecological forces that influence landscapes — and our place in the natural world.
“I think landscape photography is a special challenge because it’s a lot harder to evoke human emotion and feelings from a landscape than it is from a picture of someone smiling in a portrait,” he says. “I mainly use people in my photos to show how small we really are, and how we fit in with everything around us.”
Wire Bridge over the Carrabassett River, New Portland, Maine, photographed July 13, 2018, by Isaiah Wilson-McFarlane.
In this installment of the Q&A series “Ask Me Another,” Wilson-McFarlane reveals his favorite venue for making photographs, how studying environmental science informs his thinking about landscape photography, and why he finds moments without a camera in his hands to be “nerve-wracking.”
The Fire Tower atop the Mount Pisgah Conservation Area in Wayne–Winthrop, Maine, photographed Sept. 11, 2018, by Isaiah Wilson-McFarlane.
How did photography become a passion of yours?
“I guess it sort of started with science. I have been studying environmental science for my major, and I thought it would be cool to sort of learn science through taking photos and explaining what’s in the picture.”
What are your goals for photography?
“One of my dream jobs is to work for National Geographic, being able to travel and do landscape photography. I would also love to do research at CERN in Switzerland, studying particle physics.”
Angel Falls in Township D, northeast of Houghton, photographed October 9, 2018, by Isaiah Wilson-McFarlane.
When did you first get into photography?
“Sophomore year of high school. My grandpa got me a camera, but I didn’t really use it until about two years ago. I went to Puerto Rico in the fifth grade with my family, and I just messed around with my dad’s point-and-shoot, but I didn’t know what I was doing.”
When did you get your first nice camera?
“Well, I still don’t have one. The one I have is from 2008, my sophomore year of high school. It’s a Canon Rebel t3. I think the last time I looked it up it was worth around 170 bucks.”
What is your favorite thing to photograph?
“Probably anything to do with water. I like waterfalls, oceans, and lakes.”
What’s your favorite Maine location to photograph?
“I have been to Smalls Falls probably thousands of times. Definitely that place.”
Smalls Falls in Maine’s Township E, photographed Oct. 27, 2018, after a surprise blizzard, by Isaiah Wilson-McFarlane.
How does being an Environmental Science major inform your thinking about landscape photography?
“I am in a few Geology classes right now and thinking about minoring in Geology. It’s interesting to learn how landforms are created. Around Maine, it’s all glaciers. It’s cool to take a picture of a mountain and you can see where glaciers have been. That sort of concept is fun to me. I’m hoping environmental science will open many doors to areas of research and earth phenomenon that I have always dreamed of understanding.”
Tumbledown, Little Jackson, and Big Jackson photographed on Oct. 25, 2018, by Isaiah Wilson-McFarlane.
Your work often depicts ordinary landscapes in an extraordinary way. Why do you do this?
“Hmm, that’s a tricky question. It’s kind of like trying to answer why the color black is black. I think I am a very visual person, so I look around at a lot of things. I guess it’s just the way I see things.”
The skies above UMF’s Prescott Field, photographed Oct. 17, 2017, by Isaiah Wilson-McFarlane.
When you look back at your photos, is it a way for you to slow down and more deeply consider the natural world in that moment?
“Yeah I think that’s what a lot of photography is. Whenever I go somewhere and I don’t have a camera it’s kind of nerve-wracking. I think to myself, ‘What if I see a pretty place?'”
About the author
Grace McIntosh ’22, editorial assistant for Farmington First, is a first-year student from Farmington, Maine. She enjoys documenting the life of the University and sharing her accounts with the UMF alumni community. (Photo by Brandon Cardona ’20.)