Bay Head
Twilight Lake
I had the day off yesterday and spent the day with my wife - we had an errand to run in the morning but the rest of the day we were free to do whatever we pleased. We had a nice lunch at the
New Monmouth Diner in Middletown before heading to one of our favorite places -
DeMarco's Catering & Gourmet Deli in Aberdeen Township.
Do not try their assorted cheese bread! It is hard enough for me to get a loaf or two when I go, I don't want everyone buying it. 😀
It was a chilly, windy, but nice, day so we took the long way home along Ocean Avenue. We stopped at Mt Mitchill Park on the way to pay our respects at the Monmouth County 9/11 Memorial and take in a stunning view of Sandy Hook and New York City. We drove down along Ocean Avenue all the way thru Spring Lake before heading for home via Maclearie Park. During the leisurely drive, my wife noted more than once how nice the day was and the cloud cover might make for a lovely sunset. I haven't been out with my camera much lately, despite her encouragement, and so I gave it some consideration. Now, while I believe her intentions were truly selfless, I can't help but think she was also thinking about having the house to herself for a while. 😉 🤣
The more I thought about it, the more I wanted to get out and make a go at sunset. The question was, where do I go? I do not know about you but after a while I get tired of going to the same places and coming away with images like everyone else. I know that every sunset is different but…. I also like to challenge myself with new locations and trying to come up with great compositions.
When we got home, I opened Google Maps, zoomed out and started looking for bodies of water I was unfamiliar with. I got down to Bay Head before I found some promise; it was then time to change to “street view” and have a look around. It was not long before I decided that was my location; I was standing at the edge of the water within 45 minutes.
Leaving the house with a specific location and composition in mind takes a bit of pressure off; I could take my time, fine-tune the composition, then sit back and enjoy the show. When I got to the lake reality smacked me in the face, not hard but enough to get my attention. The 3D reality of the location did not match up with the 2D image presented to me earlier, making me struggle to try to make it work. Ultimately, I was not happy with the situation, deciding it was never going to work. That turned out to be the good news.
The one complaint I have (if you can call it a complaint) is that our beaches are somewhat boring – we have an occasional pier or jetty but that is about it. We do not have the cliffs, sea stacks and large rocks that the Oregon coast has, for instance. That is one of the reasons I was drawn to this final composition – the rocks were catching the golden light from the setting sun, I had some nice leading lines and, the topper for me, the footprints in the foreground. After setting up I took a few test shots and then sat waiting for the real show to begin.
As the sun dropped in the sky, I got more excited about the color falling on the rocks; I was just waiting for the few clouds in the sky to catch some light and the sky to explode in color. This is one of the images I captured during my wait – thirty (30) seconds later, the entirely of the rocky landscape was in shadow. A few little clouds moved in and the sky was beginning to pick up some color, but the magic was gone. That is how fleeting life’s moments can be.
It was time to pack up and head home – my sunset shoot ended before the sun set. I was going to try to find a new place on the way home, but the sun was dropping quickly, and I was quite ready to go home, warm up and have some of the cheese bread for dinner.
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Technical information:
- Camera: Canon EOS Rebel T3i (crop sensor - 1.6 factor)
- Lenses: Canon EF-S 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS
- Tripod: MeFOTO Roadtrip Classic
- ISO 100
- All focal lengths are as-recorded - the full-frame equivalent in parenthesis.
- Focus was manual, exposure was set at aperture-priority with exposure compensation at -1/3 stop.
- Shutter tripped with wired shutter release.
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