Hello all!
I finally have some photos to show you. Well, not finally really. Half of what I’ve been doing since I got my new job in Ottawa has been taking photos, and at some pretty awesome events I might add. I am working on getting to show you all those on my newspaper’s website very soon. Some amazing dancers and musicians featured in those, so stay tuned for that.
But right now, I have a bit of a cautionary story to tell. While you all might think, ‘Hey now, landscape photography has got to be like the most calm type of photography ever,’ right? Well, generally, you would be correct, but not this time.
This is what I got for running about through wet, icy streets and mushy snow, while frantically getting my camera gear ready.
This is a willow tree at Mooney’s Bay just as the sun has set in a fantastic fashion.
I guess it’s not totally fair to say this is what I got for all that rushing. You see, I had just noticed the sun was going down from my apartment, and the clouds were just right. However, I estimated I couldn’t make it in time to get a shot I had thought about a week before hand.
This is not the shot. What I wanted was to get a shot of the arched bridge that rests not twenty feet from where this photo is taken, with the setting sun beside it. Hoping against hope, I ran out, trying to beat the setting sun. Alas, all the rushing did nothing good for my photo. It was so bad, I’m not even going to show it to you.
Instead, I will show you these.
Since I was here, and this amazing sunset was around, I thought I might get some simple silhouette shots, thinking I had already nailed the more complicated shot I had rushed for.
But there is a lesson to be learned here. Rushing your shots does you no good. There are so many things that can ruin a shot, so you have to be calm enough in the moment to take your time and set it up right. That means getting your tripod out, getting an angle you like, making sure your settings are correct, and making sure what you want is in focus.
After rushing to get my first shot, I actually took my time with these ones and marvelled at the sunset. Lo and behold, better shots.
And many different angles. I feel these shots work because the tree frames the bit of beautiful sky so well, and because the colours in the sky are so lovely. Like neon bits of water colour cotton candy.
Not to get existential or anything, but this is a lesson I try and take into life. No matter how quick things are moving or how stressed you get, freaking out doesn’t help. As the main character in “Shooter” once said, “slow is smooth, smooth is fast.”
Take that philosophy into your photography, and it might just save you some shots.
Thanks for checking these out, and look back soon for some of my photos from Ottawa news!
