Thursday, January 7, 2010

Southampton Lighthouse

Another example of having to wait for the right conditions to get the image you want. This was taken in Southhampton and my previous attempt to capture this image was not to my liking. The sky was not clear and the clouds were not great either but the first attempt allowed me to work the area and establish a plan for this image.

And although one would think this shot was taken on a hot summer night, it wasn't. In fact I took this image on our return from Port Huron USA. That day it reached a high of 30C in Port Huron but a cold front was moving in from the north. As we drove back to Sauble Beach that evening I had timed our return so that we could be in Southampton at sunset. By then it was cold at about 13C and the wind was blowing from the North.

I got out my truck while my family watched me adventure out on to the rock pier. I set up my tripod and camera and starting shooting. The water was splashing onto my camera and lmy lens but I didn't have any thing to wipe the lens so I had to take my T-shirt off to protect my equipment between shots and to clean the lens. My wife thought I was stupid and convinced I must have been freezing. The fact is that I was so concentrated and consumed by the shoot that temperature was the last thing on my mind.

The end result was worth all the efforts.

From the brighter side of the darkroom,

Pierre