This past week I have dedicated all my time to one specific location in hopes of captures an image I had in mind. Actually this location has been on my radar since last year when I photographed some icebergs. This area is Torbay, NL and during the month of May the sun rises straight down the middle of the open ocean creating a perfect setting for some landscape shots.
May is also the start of our Iceberg season. Not ever year is magical but this year(similar to last year) is starting off great. A about two weeks ago a medium size iceberg made its way into the bay and seemed to have gotten grounded in Gallows Cove.
On Monday of last week I made my first trip down to try a sunrise shot. I had hoped that the Iceberg had moved into the middle of Torbay but no luck on this visit. A slow moving storm was approaching but a little opening right at the horizon created a beautiful setting for some shots. Below are two shots I captured that morning.
The following one I captured just as the storm clouds drowned out the last remaining light
4 am two days later I headed back to Torbay..I had hoped some of the low North winds would have moved the Iceberg but again no luck. The winds had moved the Berg closer but not close enough. As you can see from this vantage point I was able to captured just a hint of the Berg sticking out around the far left point.
Saturday morning I woke again at 4am..this time I knew for sure the Berg had moved as Friday night called for 60km North winds. I woke to wind and fog. My heart sunk as it was calling for sun at sunrise.
As I often do I struggle with my own mind. One part of me said crawl back in bed it will be a waste of time. On a good day Torbay is usually fogged in, in May. I pushed on..with Tims in hand I turned onto the highway heading out to Torbay...more fog...each exit I struggled with the choice of turning around. Finally off the highway I decided to move forward and at least try for some black and whites images. As I descended down into the the bay I could see the beautiful IceBerg sitting proudly in the middle of the ocean for all to see.(ok well not for all see as who else would be out crawling around in the fog at 5am).
I began snapping some shots but each one my will power got less and less. Finally the Iceberg but no sun...looked down at my phone 5:36am(time of sunrise)...no sun...6am..still no sun..Decided to grab my camera gear and take a scenic walk back to the CR-V looking for future compositions. I noticed a small beachy area between some jagged rocks.. I climbed down on to the beach and began shooting. I was liking the various compositions when the fog began to roll out...clouds began to form from the flat grey sky...panic set in...as much as I loved the composition I had it wasn't going to maximize the full affect of the clouds. So I quickly moved position and after a short 10mins of magical light I captured this image....
all the pieces had finally come together....
The fog rolled back in and in what seemed like a blink of an eye it was all over as if nothing had happened.
I have only begun my landscape photography journey but boy have I learned a lot in this short time. One of the key things I have learned is to not give in to that internal struggle. Push through it and get yourself out there because it only takes one short moment of light to create beauty.
To create the above image I manually blended three images. One for the foreground, one for the sky and one for the sea gull. All were taken with the Nikon D610 and tokina 11-16mm at 16mm with a circular polarizer on.
The foreground water was captured at F18, 1/2sec exposure at ISO 100 to create that smooth look. The sky was captured at F18, 1/6sec exposure at ISO 100 and the sea gull was captured at F7.1, 1/640s at ISO 500.
Whatever your passion is put your all into it. Let nothing stop you from doing what you love. Let no one tell you you cant...not even yourself. Be there for those magical moments while the rest of the world sleeps...