Rare and Beautiful Moon Shell Found on the Sands of Ogunquit, Maine

Robin Lovell has lived on the Maine Coast for most of her adult life. She works full time as a pharmacy technician, and also teaches Zumba. She dabbles in photography more as a hobby than a trade, but does have professional equipment. She is dedicated to her craft and tries to get out shooting at least a couple of times a week.

In her earlier days as a photographer, she had her work published in Down East Magazine and other publications. Now, she posts most of her photos on Instagram and Facebook, and will do an occasional photo exhibit with her son who's also a photographer (it runs in the family!).

She took an absolutely breathtaking photo a few months back of a moon shell, and posted it to The Maine Photography Page on Facebook. I have never seen a single picture get so much engagement on that page. It received over 22,000 likes, 800+ comments, and was shared over a thousand times. It's a gorgeous shot, and it's safe to say people would pay good money for this photo in print form.

This image was captured with a Canon R6, Canon 15-35mm lens. F11, at 1/125, 15mm.

The photo is one of four she saw that day, and one still had its occupant. Robin says moon shells are not as common as mussel and clam shells, but she has seen them many, many times over the years on the coast of Maine. She mentioned they've had quite a few storms lately, and there were a lot more shells of all kinds washed up that day.

Capturing that shot proved to Robin once again that with photography, she has to actually get out there to see what’s out there to photograph. On this particular day, it was cold and overcast. Robin couldn’t think of a thing she wanted to photograph, but she headed out with her camera anyways. Ogunquit beach was pounding with an offshore storm, and there was shells, seaweed, and sea foam everywhere. The gray light did not inspire her, but then she saw the moon shell shining like a jewel in the sea foam bubbles, and captured the image right before a wave swept the shell away.

Robin joined the Maine Photography Page group on Facebook very recently, and the moon shell image was the first photo she shared with the group. The positive response and support has amazed her.