Lake Ontario #6, Toronto Landscape Photograph

This is the final image from my recent photography travels to Toronto, and I’m so happy with the collection! This latest photograph has quite the tale, I waffled about photographing the Humber Bridge, I really felt like it was over photographed by everyone that visits Toronto. But I decided to go ahead and create an image with my own special feel.

I got up bright and early to make this photograph at 4:55 am, before the sun was up so I could catch the glitter of the lights. My vantage point was the sidewalk of the bridge on Lakeshore Road that passes over the Humber River. I got all set up in the dark, in the perfect position to get the angle and crop that I wanted, and while not standing directly under a street light that could possible cause flare in my image. Then I waited for the light to be just right. I watched lights turn on in nearby apartment buildings. When the time was right I began photographing.

Hmmm… When I checked the back of my camera, something wasn’t right. The photographs didn’t seem to be in focus. I rechecked the camera and pressed the shutter again. That didn’t seem to help. Was I fooled because the light level was so low that I couldn’t focus the camera properly? No. Were all my settings correct? Yes. Then it dawned on me, traffic driving on the bridge I was standing on was shaking the tripod causing the image to appear out of focus. I find sometimes it’s hard to tell from the image on the back of the camera if it’s out of focus or if there’s camera shake.

I started to panic a wee bit. This was my last opportunity to make a photograph on this trip and I really wanted it to work out. Plus I hate heading out at 4:15 am and coming home with nothing. All I could do was hope for the best and make some attempt at timing things so that when my shutter was open for over four minutes there weren’t many large trucks driving over the bridge. But lucky I was! And this photograph is the result.

{Lake Ontario #6 is now available as a limited edition print in our landscape photography shop}