After deciding the clouds moving in were going to ruin the sunset, I started to drive home. What a misjudgment! About 5 miles down the road, I looked back to find great color and very dramatic light. I found a spot to turn around and went back. I missed the most dramatic light because of my impatience, but the sunset was still quite beautiful when I got back to take photos. I learned a key lesson of photography that day: Never leave before the sun is down!
Last Friday evening, I was able to go out to photograph the ice that was potentially forming at the reservoir. The ice was still thin, so the small waves of water moving underneath the ice made interesting sounds. Sounds that would have made a star trail trip later that night very creepy (it was overcast, so star trails were not possible that night). When I saw this area of ice, I decided to try some more abstract compositions and play with small depth of field ideas. The late afternoon sunlight gives definition to the texture of the ice and color to the reflections.
I had the day off work today, so I was able to take a trip to Sandy Hook for sunset. I explored an area I had not visited before and found some nice spots. Everywhere I walked, I ran into garbage, whether it was a soda can someone “forgot” to bring back with them, or crazy things like a car bumper, a tire, and what looked like part of a deck. It makes me wonder where all this comes from. I found this bottle on the walk back to my car. I was drawn to the lines and textures of the sand.
