Following the Sun

I don’t get too excited about photographing sunrises and sunsets. It can be a bit cliché. However, sometimes it is so beautiful, you just can’t help yourself.

Lake Superior Sunset

Fiery Sunset

However, I do include the sun quite often in my photos. It can be very dramatic if you can catch it at the right time.

Spring Thaw, Bruce Peninsula, ON

Spring Ice Formations

Canoeing the French at Dawn

Of course silhouettes are fun to shoot as well.

Oil Pumpjack at Dawn

Great Sandhills at Sunset

This summer the sun was one the dominant subjects with the solar eclipse visible in much of North American to some degree. I was tempted to try to photograph it here in Toronto. I have a ten stop neutral density filter but that is not quite strong enough to protect my eyes and camera. Lee Filters sells a Solar filter that is 20 stops and a deep blue colour that removes harmful infrared light. I hope to get one of these for the next eclipse:
https://www.dpreview.com/news/8485854753/lee-filters-introduces-solar-eclipse-filter-and-new-filter-wash-fluid
I was also not in the path of the total eclipse. So, what was I to do? I didn’t want to risk my camera or my eyes. The best thing I could come up with was to create an illustration in Photoshop:

Solar Eclipse (digital illustration)

The next solar eclipse will have a path through Ontario. April 8th 2024 will provide an opportunity for many of us here in southern Ontario to witness one first hand. I will have my filters and be ready. Now if we can just get clear skies that day…

The Waiting Game

You know the old saying, “I have all the patience in the world, I just don’t have time to use it”. Nature photography is often a waiting game. Sometimes it’s worth waiting and sometimes it’s not. Do you have trouble with this? I know I do. If the light is good and nothing is happening in front of my eyes, I often want to cut and run to the next location. But sometimes if you just sit tight and wait, you can get that extra special image. In the first example (above right), I was shooting in Southern Saskatchewan and spotted this Richardson’s ground squirrel at the side of the road. I used a 500 mm lens and shot from the window of the van using a bean bag for support. The light was still good but it was nearing the end of the morning shoot. I had taken what I thought were good images when I noticed another ground squirrel coming out of the same hole. After about 10 minutes I was able to take the next image (left). Now that’s a little more interesting. The voices in my head start to speak a little louder now. “That’s enough, I’m hungry, and the light is getting harsh…..”.



But wait there is a third head poking up, so I keep shooting. Finally the second and third squirrels are up and they form a nice grouping (right). Now I would love to say this always happens when I force myself to sit quietly somewhere and wait but it doesn’t. Nine times out of ten nothing interesting happens at all and I’m left wondering what I missed down the road.

What about that other side of the coin? What if there is something better down the road? It’s enough to drive you crazy if you let it. Sometimes you just have to listen to your gut and go with it. For example, I was in Brockville, Ontario during last year's Thanksgiving weekend and got up early to shoot some scenes in this picturesque town on the St. Lawrence River.

I was in the old section of town and was shooting just as the sky and city lights start to blend together. It was okay, some good stock shots but nothing dramatic. I could see the sun was just about to clear the horizon and the voices in my head started to speak. “Look there’s mist. This could be interesting”. I decide to listen to the voices and head down to the river. As the sun came through the mist it was quite dramatic. I shot a few frames and checked the histogram for exposure. (image below)
I could hear a boat coming and got myself ready to shoot as it passed the highlight in the water. (see image below)
But when I heard the rowers coming I really got excited. (see image below) So sometimes you are rewarded by staying put and sometimes you are rewarded by moving on.
How many times have you run into a photographer and they say “you should have been here 5 minutes ago”? I hear it all the time. I guess you can’t get them all. A lot of your decisions will be based on a number of factors such as how long do you have (an hour, week or month?) and how well do you know the area? This is where research and scouting locations ahead of time becomes very important. If you know where to be when the light hits, you know your options and can make more informed decisions. The more informed you are, the more you can trust those nagging voices in your head.