Melbourne Beach, Florida

Last night was obviously the full moon. Sitting at my computer that particular fact became apparent as soon as the moon rose above the trees. I could not help but notice the beautiful white light streaming through the back door window. I grabbed the camera and tripod, threw on a coat and ran outside to see what I could capture. It was just too bright! I was totally unprepared to make the necessary setting adjustments to capture what I was seeing in my head. I’ll have to try again tonight after I investigate some lunar photography tips.

How does this little story bring me to today’s image? Good question! I’m not totally sure I have a good answer but it goes something like this…

The need to run outside and capture an image of the moon was powerful. It wasn’t so I could show off the image here or exclaim my prowess with my camera. It was a desire to create an image, one I have in my head, one I probably saw somewhere else and now want to create myself. It is a really cool feeling to have. It can be frustrating too.

After I reviewed what I captured of the moon and realized I didn’t have the proper exposures to create my image, I started looking through my library of images. Now I had to create something. There are a lot of images that I take that sit on my hard drive waiting for me to do something with them. Not everyone is a prize but I captured it for a reason. Sometimes that reason is just the attempt at capturing the scene before me. Sometimes it is for an image I have in my head but haven’t brought it to life yet.

I went back to the images of my December trip to Florida. I remember the morning of this image. I was on a mission this day! I wanted to capture a sunrise at the beach with glorious waves crashing to the shore as the sun broke the horizon. It is an image I have seen numerous times from photographers that I follow online and I wanted one for myself. The wind was there to create the waves, the sun was obviously going to rise that morning. I just had to contend with the clouds and the morning mist.

And then I spotted this person standing at the edge of the shore. Staring out into the ocean as the sun began to paint the clouds. It wasn’t the image I set out to capture but the moment of this solitude connected with me. I swung the camera around and composed this image.

It was then I stopped and took in where I was standing. I listened to the sounds of the ocean, I could smell the salt in the air and watched as the gulls flew over the breaking waves. What a great morning to be at the beach! I was caught up in trying to get my image but now I was caught up in just being at the beach.

I think it is time to go back already… 🙂

Solitude
Olympus OM-D E-M1, M. Zuiko 12-40mm f/2.8, 1/3s, 31mm, f/16, ISO 200

Union Station, Utica, New York

Saturday morning was a mad dash around the county for me. I wanted to get out early and find a nice sunrise image. I then was going to move some furniture I no longer needed and maybe find some time to go out for the sunset. The dashing part came in mostly in the morning.

I headed down to Lock 20 of the Barge Canal since I knew there would be open water in the canal below the lock. I could use that water to ‘catch’ the morning colors. That was successful and I am happy with what I captured. Next, I hopped over to North Utica for some gas.

As I was coming into Utica on my way to pick up the van I was borrowing, the sun just started to break the city skyline. It was a spontaneous decision to swing down to the train station and grab some images along the tracks. That worked out well for me!

I picked up the van, moved the furniture, had a great burger for lunch and went home to relax before the sunset. Just as my daughter headed to work I gathered up the camera and headed to Delta Lake for the sunset. Another good decision as the sun was reflecting off the clear portions of ice that had formed on top of the frozen lake. The recent warm weather created nice conditions for sunsets at the beach.

Selecting the image for today was tough with so many good choices. I went with the train station as it is a little different from my normal landscapes. I also really liked how it turned out with the sunburst at the end of the tracks and all the sight lines leading right to it.  I wasn’t going to complain about that sky either!

Waiting on the Arrival
Olympus OM-D E-M1, M. Zuiko 12-40mm f/2.8, 1s, 12mm, f/16, ISO 200

There was another reason for me to choose this image. I successfully used a technique I learned about from Jimmy McIntyre from Shutter Evolve. This technique can be used when capturing images that have strong light sources in the view. Typically the lens will reflect the light internally and create spots in the image. Previously I had to decide if I wanted to move my camera position to minimize or remove those spots. Sometimes that would change the composition to something less desirable.

The technique I learned, which really could be called a hack, is to capture your image then capture a second image using your thumb to cover up the light source. This will remove the spots from the image and then you can use an image editor to paint out the spots using the second image.

Here are my original two images…