In April we ramped up seascape photography, participated in a photography show at The Arts Project, retouched the backlog of winter tree photographs, and began planting our vegetable garden. In May we’ll be participating in the South Huron Community Juried Art Show and Sale, gearing up for this year’s Fringe Festival, telling you how we backup all of our images, and reviewing some of our favourite articles on simple living to get us ready for summer.
In the meantime may we present to you your May 2012 desktop calendar, featuring one of my newest photographs Spring Seduction.
What are your plans for May? Getting your gardens in order? Car picnic-ing on the beach? Attending an art show or two? Or just relaxing before the rush of summer sweeps you away?
Spring Seduction, Lake Erie Landscape Photograph, Blenheim, Ontario, Canada, 2012
The evening of Easter Sunday found us standing out on the shore of Lake Erie, at Burn’s Beach making photographs with full bellies. We ate so much we could hardly walk. I still can’t believe we were able to carry our gear and march down the steep lane to the water’s edge and back.
Burn’s Beach is a spot that’s been on my list for a while now. We originally did a preliminary location scout there over a year and a half ago, in August 2010. The beach is a few minutes southwest of Blenheim, Ontario, about 1 hour and 40 minutes from London. We’d decided that since we were taking a four day weekend for Easter (Friday to Monday) that Sunday would be a great opportunity for an evening on the beach. Especially since we hosted Easter dinner at our house on Saturday, filling our fridge with lots of leftovers and making it easy for our escape to the lake.
The weather was looking pretty good and getting even better as the evening progressed. Initially we were expecting drizzle but the sky broke around mid afternoon and by the time we got on location there was barely a cloud in the sky.
Our initial location scout and online research showed that there were a few rows of old wood posts running perpendicular to the beach, these were to be our subject. I figured this was going to be an evening shot because the beach is a little slightly secluded and down a fairly steep road so I’d definitely be needing Darren to come with me. Plus the angle of the sun promised a more flattering light at dusk rather than dawn.
Here’s a peek at our schedule that evening…
4:30 pm – pack gear and car
5:15 pm – dinner
5:50 pm – leave home
7:30 pm – arrive at location, set up and begin photographing
8:02 pm – sunset
8:45 pm – wrap up shooting and head home
10:30 pm – arrive home and unpack the car
10:45 pm – download cards and backup files
It’s pretty tight timing, but I’ve done this kind of photograph many times before and I’d done my research. I knew what to expect in terms of direction of light, and we had a good idea of what the weather was going to be like.
As you can see, we travel pretty light. Typically just one camera bag with the basics, a tripod, and a backpack that I like to call my bag of tricks. It sounds exciting but it’s really just flashlights, bug spray, and snacks.
Twilight Breeze, Lake Erie Landscape Photograph, Blenheim, Ontario, Canada, 2012
Feel free to ask any questions you have about the photographs, and definitely watch the video below for a better taste of how our evening was.
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