….And Sometimes The Photo Finds You
Walking the dogs around 5:45 a.m. this morning, the wind was blowing. I have small dogs; thought I should have weighted them down with some rocks or something. I was afraid they’d blow away.
The late night/early morning sky was stunning. A mix of really dark blacks with some really dark blues with some fast moving clouds separating them and moving past.
Came back in, had a cup of brewed Eight O’Clock coffee while I checked email, read the McNally blog, read the Jarvis blog, and checked ESPN.com for the Duke/NC final (I fell asleep watching on Wednesday night).
When I finally got myself out of the house, it was about 6:45 a.m. As I put the computer bag and the gym bag in the backseat of my car, I noticed it was no longer dark but the sky was starting to lighten and really open up. Even from inside my garage, I saw some really pretty pinks underlaced in the morning clouds and it struck me that I may be chasing the light on the way to work this morning.
(Chasingthelight.com, btw….really nice photoblog from Kevin Dobler.)
Anyway, just in case, I pulled the 20D out of my camera bag and put it on the front seat next to me. Oatmeal finished, as I turned onto Route 130, the sky was really starting to light up in front of me. Someone (me thinks a God-like being) must have struck a really big match was was just swishing it around.
The first place I was hoping to get a shot, a garage with some great old vehicles parked outside, just didn’t give me anything interesting. Wasn’t quite there yet, or maybe I missed it.
I continued north on Route 130 and just a short time later, looked to my right. Bingo! There it was, framed outside my passenger window.
Sky was on fire, and in the foreground, a stark farmhouse and barn with an inviting green light in the middle (you may remember that in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, the green light represented hope. Hey, I’m just saying….)
I turned up Windsor Road, then doubled back abit to the natural cut-out. I grabbed my camera, jumped out of the car and started to shoot. An old oak tree was to my left and I thought about trying to get it, and the farmhouse/barn in the frame, but that didn’t work too well.
Instead, I kept it at ISO 200 and just a click or two under exposure bias. The photo below was -1 EV at f/50 and 44mm.
Still, I thought I captured an interesting scene…and the direct result of having my camera by my side this time. If I had left it at home…I wouldn’t have captured anything, good or bad.
The image above is basically straight out of the camera. I did use the Nik Software program to bump up the tonal contrast a bit, lightening the foreground while etching out the clouds. But otherwise, this is straight from the media card to the computer to you. The color is true. Just an amazing mid-February morning here in the Great State of New Jersey.
© Mark V. Krajnak 2009 | JerseyStyle Photography | All rights Reserved Unless otherwise noted, images captured with a Canon 20D, SanDisk digital film, finished with PS2 and Nik Software.
JerseyStyle Photography 
That is spectacular!
Wonderful. Perhaps your very best posted shot Mark. Nice, nice, nice. It needs to be up on your wall.
This is so beautiful. I really wish I caught that sunset on the same day. I’m going to take your advice and have my camera with me at all times!
Wonderful shot Mark! Tom’s right. It would make a great print.