Water Like Cotton Candy

While on holidays at Cape Range National Park, was reading my book 'Understanding Exposure', which was great, it had a few tips I hadn't yet come across, although much of the information I had already read elsewhere. I found it funny that he described the 'misty water' effect as making it look like cotton candy. I guess I can live with that.

What I can't live with is the fact that I nearly lost my camera this morning. I had my tripod, was looking for leading lines and had to keep the shutter open for about 30 seconds as the sun wasn't yet up. Of course, the predictable happened - wave came along and I am very lucky that it only splashed a little bit of salt water onto my lens!

What that meant of course, is that the photo shoot was over, or other wise useless. I had nothing on me to clean my lens with me on the beach (I was in my pyjamas with a tracksuit on top - I got ready in a hurry) so the rest of my photos all had salt spots on them darn it!

It has just occurred to me that many of the misadventures I share with you on this blog involve me being quite clumsy...

That rare moment known as sunrise...

I never get up in time to see the sun. It's rather silly. But when camping in a swag on a hard rocky ground, you are kind of eager to get up as soon as possible.

In this case, I was roused out of the swag from my husband, urging me to take a photo of the sunrise. You couldn't see much from our campsite, but the colours were pretty fantastic. So I went with silhouettes.

Thanks to my husband once again for waking the morning zombie for the sunrise.

Early Morning Light

There is nothing that beats the early morning light. If you happen to be awake for it that is. That is one of the reasons I love camping. You wake up when it starts getting light, before the sun is up, and you know that you could get up and take sunrise photos and it wouldn't be much of a chore because the chances are the bed you are in is not that comfortable anyway!

This particular morning was beautiful. We were in the swag, with the midge net up and nothing else. I woke up to some stunning puffy clouds. I lay there looking, and realised some of them were tinged with pink. Sunrise! So I got up, grabbed betsy and as there were trees blocking my view, climbed on top of the ute to capture the moment.

Canon EOS 50D, f/14, 1/25, ISO 250, 10mm (10-22mm wide angle lens)

Canon EOS 50D, f/16, 1/4 sec, ISO 250, 10mm (10-22mm wide angle lens)

Sunrise and the Dawn

For a photographer, I'm pretty lazy. I hate getting up before the sun. But to get gorgeous sunrises, you have to. So two years ago - my husband and I were still traveling around Australia - we were camped out bush at Shark Bay, WA. It was Easter Sunday and my husband roused me out of bed telling me there was a gorgeous sunset right at the door stop of our caravan. Groaning, I got out of bed and stumbled out to the most tranquil sunrise I have ever seen.

Immediately the zombie was gone and I got out Betsy and took my first panorama with my tripod. I took my time, and the result is still one of my favourite photos since I bought my camera.

To me, it is more than just a sunrise. It symbolises the resurrection, the dawn of a new era where we are reconciled with God through Christ and his sacrifice. Through him we have new life. The sacrifices we make to allow Jesus to be Lord of our lives are tiny compared with the sacrifice he made on that cross. Little sacrifices like getting up an hour earlier.

Happy Easter