Photography on Purpose

Was going up to Ocoee this morning but just too durned cold. So instead I packed up the dog and the boy and went downtown to shoot the waterfront. I've been wanting to do this and it seemed like the weather would be right for a nice sunrise. Now I packed up the dog and the boy at the crack of dawn because my son has said he'd like to do more stuff with me. He might have regretted that statement this morning as I dragged him out of bed at 5:30 AM.
See - you need to get where you plan on going about an hour before. There are distinct phases of sunrise and you want to be there way before so you can evaluate the light and be ready for it. Sunrise happens quickly.

My son and my dog, Merlin waiting patiently

So there we are on the metal pier with the glowing red candle thingies while it's o'dark thirty and cold enough to make the proverbial brass monkey stay home. The boy is huddled on the bench and the dog can't figure out why we're just sitting in one spot. *sigh* so much for company. I figure that I can still talk to him and some of it is bound to stick - right?
I was pretty happy with the water - very smooth and reflective. So much so that I decided to wander back and forth from the middle to the end trying to figure where I really wanted to be when the actual sunrise occurred.

Pre-Crack-of-Dawn

I decided to stay in the middle as I felt that was the better composition and the best water reflection. You gotta love those neon lights on the old aquarium top. Wonder why they didn't put them on the new addition? There was a soft almost alpenglow on the horizon. Snap snap.

The reward for 1 1/2 hrs of waiting

Eh.... could have been better but I'm happy for the color. The clouds were on angle reinforcing the composition I had chosen with the angles heading for the opposite third. Speaking of - I always marvel that the sky can appear perfectly clear before the dawn, then the sun comes peeks over the edge of the world and lights clouds you can't even see from the side providing the magnificent light show we call dawn. Amazing. I know I was truly froze from lack of movement. So after I had snapped my fill we took a limber up walk around the back by the steamboat and over to the Market Street bridge. Man I hate looking at that thing now and sincerely hope they finish on time and preserve the "feel" of that fine old bridge. I almost feel hindered taking shots at the waterfront while it is undressed so rudely. For the curious - it is almost impossible to get the bright sky and the foreground exposed decently. I used a technique whereby I "develop" the same RAW image twice, with different exposures and combine with masks in PhotoShop. So one was developed for the foreground - the sky is fried, the other for the sky which plunged the foreground into deep shadow. Combined they look pretty good.

Nice Shots! Makes me want to get up earlier so I can enjoy the beauty of morning a bit more often.