This past weekend I woke up at 4 am and drove to my favorite sunrise location: Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge. I have been enough times now to notice a pattern. About 20 minutes prior to sunrise, the thousands of snow geese fly from one pond, over my head, to the other pond, in a glorious flock of honking mayhem. It is, unfortunately, far, far too dark for me to take pictures. That may explain why I’m the only one out there so early, but those late-comers are missing something very special.
I became a bit discouraged as the sun rose and I had taken nothing of interest. Then I noticed the snow geese in the distance, flying towards the rising sun. I jumped out of the car, prefocused my lens, then quickly swiveled the camera towards the sun and snapped a few pictures, while avoiding staring directly into the viewfinder. I zeroed in on the proper framing rather quickly, and wound up with a couple of shots I really like (particularly the one at left).
The black and white photo below was taken well before sunrise, when the sky was blood red. I converted to B&W, and increased the contrast a bit. I think it works… but I won’t be certain until I come back to it again in a few months. Sometimes I need some distance before ‘knowing’ if something is good or not.
