 |
| Beckleysville Road Bridge at Dusk #1 Click here to see my recently added photography gallery |
I've found myself spending a lot of time up in the Prettyboy Reservoir area lately. This trip was at least the 6th in the last two weeks. The day before this I went up hoping for the clouds to clear up for a good sunset but it never cleared. For this shoot I went up while again it was still cloudy, this time however everything cleared up at pretty much the right point. I kept shooting the evolving sunset thinking at any moment it was going to cloud back over. This might have been one of the most documented sunsets from start to finish of all time. This was actually one of the last shots taken after the sun had set below the cloud bank and the light quickly disappeared.
After parking in the slush I slogged through to the trail that led down the hill. Luckily I found a cement run off path that was rather broken up and provided relatively good traction as I went down the ~30ft hill to the water. I then crossed under the bridge and walked along the very edge of the reservoir, over what I was hoping was the rocky shore, on a sheet of snow covered ice. I would take a few solid steps and then all the sudden it would collapse and break through. I kept going till I found a good angle that had a) no tree branches in the way and b) a solid ice sheet so I didn't fall through while standing with the camera. With the exception of the occasional passing car, everything was silent save the occasional passing flock of geese.
I like this particular shot because of the solid permanent feeling the bridge gives off contrasting with the movement in the clouds. I especially love how the eye (at least my eye) is immediately drawn to the bridge then all the sudden sees the clouds and its like a whole new piece of canvas is suddenly there where before was nothing. I also like how the motion of the clouds radiates away from the center point of the canvas pulling the eye away from where it wants to naturally rest (again, at least my eye). I wish there was a bit more of the pink / red color on the large cloud but it was not to be. It wasn't 2 minutes later that there was no color in the sky at all. Thats what makes photography different from most other arts, you have to make the best of what you are given. Hopefully that is what I've done here.
Specs: Nikon D90, Nikkor 18-105mm lens working at 30mm, f/16, ISO 200, 30 second exposure. Unknown number of stop reduction from neutral density filter(s). Tripod and cable release were also used.
