New Day

Sunrise over Departure Bay in Nanaimo. Canon EOS XSi EF-S 17-85mm f/4.5-5.6 at f/6.3 50mm 1/100 ISO 200We spend so much time on sunsets, that the beauty and hopefulness of a sunrise is often ignored.  A sunset quiets and calms as it sinks slowly into darkness.  A sunrise invigorates and animates as we feel the light return to darkened world.  The tremors of the early morning light warms the edge off the night time cool.  The moist air rising off the water is pushed back against me as I walk over the pebbled rocks and uneven sand and I feel the possibilities of a new day.

I drive past the beautiful Departure Bay every morning and the sunrises are often spectacular.  One Saturday morning I went down with my camera anticipating a beautiful sunrise.  I wasn't disappointed.  I had enough time to get set up and ready as I anticipated the sun coming up over Stephenson Point in the distance.  The atmospheric dust was just enough to give the air a beautiful warm glow and to through the mountains on the mainland into golden silhouette.  I made sure that I had underexposed the image enough for the foreground to be thrown into silhouette and waited for the magical momen when the sun peaked over the the trees.

-Russell Berg

The Open Spaces

My daughter, sitting in the sunset at Neck Point. Canon EOS 7D EFS 17-85 f4-5.6 at f4 1/8000 70mmThe sun hits the water like mercury on broken glass and spills around her.  The breeze lifts her hair and sets it down and it catches that quicksilver light as well.  The great open spaces threaten to loose her in their vastness but there she sits, calm, thoughtful, and alone.  A strong young woman able to see the world around her.  The mountains stretch out and fade into the mists and the distances call to her.  These are the places and times when great journies begin.  Whether they be journies of the mind or of the the road we do not know yet but soon one step follows another.

My daughter and I went out to catch a summer sunset at Neck Point in Nanaimo.  We both love this spot and I almost always get a decent photo when I am out there.  She walked off while I was photographing some rocks and few minutes later I looked up to see where she was.  I was immediately struck by how small she looked but how dominant a presence she seemed.  I wanted to emphasize the large spaces so slid her over to the left of the frame.  I had noticed that on the right side of course we had the sunset on the water but the hill background also provided some visual weight, a counter to the presence of my daughter and the rock she is sitting on, pulling your eye into the image.

-Russell Berg