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winter

Look again: moonset & sunrise

January 24, 2019

Good morning, moon.
My camera set up on a tripod, and the moon above the horizon. Watch out for the ice!

On Tuesday morning when I awoke, I looked west to see the full moon setting and the sky beginning to take on a rosy hue. I knew that a full moon near the horizon at sunrise or sunset is a perfect photo opportunity, so I immediately started preparing to head outdoors.

Now as much as I enjoy seeing the full moon high in the sky, I find photos of the moon by itself a little bit, er, boring. There isn’t any way to change perspective (unless you leave earth) so the only other way to add variety is to include the moon as part of a larger scene. But it’s hard to get an interesting composition at night because the moon is so bright (reflecting the sun’s light) and everything else is black in comparison. If, for example, you want to create a scene of city lights at night with the full moon rising overhead, either the city will disappear or you will overexpose the moon. So, unless you want to combine two different exposures in post-processing, the only way to include the full moon in a scene is to time it for when there is some light on the landscape. Like just before sunrise!

The moon and a gull. Notice the different colour tone from the top photo.

So, back to pre-sunrise on Tuesday. Our city had been hit by a bad winter storm a couple of days before – heavy snow followed by heavy rain followed by a heavy freeze – as you can imagine, very unpleasant weather! The freeze was still in effect, but I had been indoors for two days and I needed to get out. However, the temperature was -36 Celsius with windchill (*see note below), so I dressed in several warm layers, starting with long underwear and finishing with a scarf wrapped twice around my face. I took my XT2 with my 55-200mm lens, a tripod and my shutter release cable.

My next challenge was getting to a good location to view the moon. Because of the thick layer of ice that coated everything, walking was treacherous. I decided to head up a small hill at the end of the street as I knew there would be room to set up the tripod in a parking lot. The ice was thick enough so I could walk without breaking the crust, and a light coating of snow that had fallen overnight helped with traction. That is, except when I crossed a neighbour’s icy driveway; fortunately, I managed to slide my way to the other side without falling. At the top of the hill, I turned toward the parking lot and discovered another sheet of ice. That’s far enough, I thought, and perched the tripod precariously on a snowbank instead.

The face of the moon, looking friendly if a bit cold.

As I set up the camera, I noticed something unusual – the traffic was moving exceedingly slowly. Normally cars speed along the busy street, but today they were almost tiptoeing down the hill, a sign that the city hadn’t yet succeeded in melting or scraping the ice off the roads. I shuddered at the thought of driving, and turned back to the camera, taking several photos of the moon and the hillside just below it.

It wasn’t until later, when I looked at the images on my computer at home, that I saw how fast the colours changed – the rosy pinks yellowed then thinned out to nothing as the sun rose higher. You can see the colour difference between the top two photos, taken less than five minutes apart.

The bitter wind was stinging my cheek bones by the time I decided to pack up. I unclamped my camera from the tripod and turned around, and then I remembered the advice I had given in the last blog post: look the other way! The sky was gorgeous and golden in the east, and I had almost missed it! Yes, here comes the sun, peaking between a couple of buildings on the horizon.

I quickly popped the camera back on the tripod and captured the traffic and the light and the sun as it began to rise above the city, reflecting off the passing cars and making the snow shimmer. When I headed home, walking gingerly down the icy hill, the sunrise colours had given way to the bright light of a beautiful day.

Looking the other way: sunrise!
Here comes the sun!

*p.s. Apparently I remembered the temperature wrong. It was -16 plus windchill which equals -26, not -36. Oops. Anyway, it was cold.

Filed Under: photography Tagged With: Fujifilm XT2, full moon, Saint John NB, sunrise, winter

Winter photography: a cold challenge

January 14, 2019

Bayshore beach, tide-washed and snow-swept.
Waves splash onto ice-covered rocks.

It started with one word: “cold”. I was browsing Instagram on Saturday morning and found a photography challenge on the theme “cold”. I pushed aside my cosy throw blanket, stood up from the couch and looked out the window — snow and ice and bright sunlight — it was a beautiful winter day! So I thought, easy, I just have to step out the door and take a photo.

But snow doesn’t always mean cold. It can be above zero in the winter – I was overheating last week on our snowy walk through the park – and if I was going to go outside on a frigid day, I wanted to show how cold it actually felt. So I decided to go to the beach.

The tide is coming in.

The temperature was -12 Celcius and rising slowly, so I decided to wait until afternoon. Of course taking pictures of the cold meant getting cold, so I layered up: wool socks and tall winter boots, lined windpants, three layers of sweaters plus jacket, scarf, two pairs of gloves and wool hat. I grabbed a spare battery and my camera, the XT2 with the 18-55 and 55-200 zoom lenses. (A zoom keeps the camera away from salty sea spray.)

I parked next to the beach, stepped outside, and immediately noticed the wind. The afternoon may have warmed up to -8, but the windchill brought it back down to -12. I wrapped my scarf tighter and took a few wide-angle photos of the beach before walking over to the rocks at one end.

Looking out to sea.

It didn’t take long to reach the rocks, but I was already feeling the chill by the time I arrived. I was glad to see ice on the rocks, just as I had hoped. I switched to my telephoto and started taking photos of the rocks and the waves, pleased how the strong afternoon light emphasized the teeth of the icicles that had formed.

I’m sure it won’t be news to you, but metal cameras are cold magnets. And two pairs of gloves are not enough. After 10 minutes, I had to stuff one hand in my pocket while I tried to brace the camera on my shoulder – shooting sideways – with my other hand. After 15 minutes, my fingertips were numb. I stuffed both my hands in my pockets and walked back to the car. I was glad I chose a location close to a parking lot!

What would I do differently next time? Hand warmers, one in each pocket, would have been really smart. And I had forgotten to bring my flip-top mitts, to keep my hands warm when I wasn’t taking photos. And yes, there will be a next time because the forecast is for more arctic weather. It is winter, after all.

Have I mentioned that I don’t like being cold? It’s a good thing I do like photography!

Icicles on the rocks.
Looking west toward Partridge Island at the entrance to Saint John harbour.

To view larger images, Click here.

Filed Under: photography Tagged With: Bay of Fundy, beach, ice, winter

Joy in the park

January 10, 2019

Cai’s joy is boundless. Fujifilm X100F f5.6 1/210

After days of bitter cold, the temperature has risen to above freezing, and we are glad to get out of the house. The ice that coated roads and sidewalks is melting, the snow in the park is perfect for walking, and the dogs are full of energy. We follow a trail down into a valley. I see a frozen brook in the woods, and stop to take photos…

This could be a post about the reasons to always carry a camera with you (Reason #1: to record memories). Or I could write about Rockwood Park, one of the largest (if not the largest) municipal parks per capita in Canada. Or this could be about how to use cameras in the winter (that post is coming soon). But not today. Today it is all about joy.

Joy is my first thought when I look at this image. The joy of Cai, bounding happily toward me on the snowy trail. The joy of our other corgi Savvy, waiting with her ears cocked, ready to join in the fun. The joy of Janet, laughing at the big smile on my face as I crouch down to greet our playful dog, camera in one hand with my index finger poised on the shutter button. The joy of this beautiful park, the mild winter weather, the scent of spruce and snow and clean fresh air.

I love this photo because it captures a joy-filled moment. I love photography because it gives me a tool to capture this memory. I love learning about shutter speed, exposure, perspective, aperture, focus (and other details about my camera’s operation) because without those aspects of photography I would be able to take this particular photo. Sure, I could have used a camera or a phone on auto mode, but what are the chances I would get this picture when my camera or phone is making the choices for me?

I have found that the best way to capture these fleeting moments is to know my camera so well that I can adjust my settings without looking. I have discovered that I depend on tactile memory a lot, adjusting settings more by instinct than by deliberate thought. That’s not to say that every image on my memory card is perfect — far from it! There are many times when my reflexes are not fast enough, resulting in blurred or underexposed images, or I haven’t anticipated a shot and the composition is, well, meh. But that’s one of the reasons why photography is a lifelong pursuit for me; I’m always trying to learn and improve. And along the way, I find a few images that give me joy.

Filed Under: photography Tagged With: corgis, dogs, Rockwood Park, Saint John NB, winter

the answer lies ahead

January 3, 2019

Fujifilm XT2 50mm f2 1/125

Simplification is a useful approach in life and photography. Simply put, less is more. It’s easy to be complicated, much more challenging to winnow down the distractions to focus on just one thing.

Snow helps. Compositionally speaking, snow covers over all the non-essential elements even better than using a wide aperture. Soft focus has its uses, but snow is more minimalist, plus falling snow creates a lovely fog-effect in the background.

For this diptych, I found two elements that go well together and are a similar shape and weight: a leaf, and our dog Savvy (short for Savannah). Snow serves to isolate these two forms, and choosing black-and-white emphasizes the simplicity of the composition.

I don’t often use a square crop, but I feel it suits the meditative quality of these photos, as the static frame complements the diagonal direction of the leaf and dog. The way Savvy is looking off into the distance makes me think of my hopes for the new year, and reminds me of a famous quote:

Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards.

Søren Kirkegaard

So I have resolved not to regret what is behind me, but only to look ahead. I am not making any promises, but I have an intention for 2019: to say “yes” more. Saying yes to what is life-giving and life-affirming means saying no to negativity and self-sabotage. And saying yes for me means improving my skills and practicing my passion for photography, and maybe even being more adventurous (I have 2 trips planned already)!

Filed Under: photography Tagged With: b+w, winter

New Year’s sunrise

January 2, 2019

Sunrise on New Year’s Day, 2014. Fujifilm X100 f8 1/90

A few years ago, I decided to get a sunrise photo on New Year’s Day. At this time of year in the northern hemisphere, the sun rises at a leisurely hour, at about 8 am, so getting up in time was not a hardship. But dealing with snowy roads and frigid temperatures is hard. Wearing two pairs of gloves plus mittens when using a camera is hard, and windchill requires a full scarf that covers most of my face and threatens to steam up my glasses.

Fortunately it was not too windy this particular Jan 1st and the sunrise was glorious. I chose just one location, under the harbour bridge, where I could park close at hand. I was using the fixed lens Fujifilm X100 and set up my camera before I left the house. I arrived before the sun rose and stayed 20 minutes, then hopped back into the car to warm up.

But when the car wouldn’t start I began to panic. I called CAA and their estimated waiting time was 40 minutes. The temperature was -25 Celsius and I was already chilled from being outdoors. I tried to decide whether to walk or wait. And then I decided to try starting the car again. Big sigh of relief – the car started!

Since then I haven’t gotten out for every New Year’s sunrise, but I have collected a few favourites. There is something about heading out in adverse weather that makes the images more precious to me.

When I woke up in time for sunrise this year, it was snowing. The roads looked sketchy. So I decided not to drive; I bundled up and walked to the nearest intersection, and then trudged home again. I didn’t get very far this year, but I still got my New Year’s sunrise photo!

At sunrise on New Year’s Day, 2019. Fujifilm XT2 50mm f2 1/125

Filed Under: photography Tagged With: Fujifilm X100, Fujifilm XT2, winter

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