sunrise – Kevin Davis Photography

Sunrise … Can Be Surprising

August 16, 2023August 15, 2023Kevin

At the time for sunrise (about 5:39 am), the skies were entirely a grey haze and the sun did not show. After waiting four or five minutes with a drone in the air, I abandoned hope and packed up my gear. Walking back toward the road, only then did I see the red disc had risen through the haze. For a brief moment, I pondered whether to simply enjoy the spectacle or quickly re-deploy my gear; I chose the latter.

In retrospect, the haze was more than just morning fog; it was smoke in the atmosphere from Nova Scotia wildfires that month. ‘Cause that will filter light unlike normal morning fog.

Mostly (not completely), I’ve learned not to be disappointed when sunrise doesn’t manifest brilliant colors. That’s challenging because arriving at a location before sunrise implies effort to get up early enough to travel to my intended location. In this particular case, I had to travel by bicycle … before dawn. Because getting a car onto the island is a bit difficult, I left my car on the mainland. And although motorized scooters are common on the island, they are prohibited by law at this time of day.

Tree Silhouette At Sunrise

April 6, 2016Kevin

At 4:30am, I hiked out to the coastal headlands and arrived at White Head shortly before sunrise. Although the weather was hazy, the pre-dawn light in the sky was interesting and beautiful. As the sun rose to the horizon, the colors begain to fade and I believed the show was over, so abandoned my perch atop the cliff, 160 feet above the sea, and hiked north along the coast.

Fifteen minutes later, I spied this oddly shaped tree atop an exposed cliff and made the image shown here, a silhouette against a grey sky.

The hike to the north had brought me down to sea level and the cliffs now loomed above me. Unexpectedly, just to the left of the tree, the sun was beginning to rise behind the cliff. The show wasn’t over yet. The time was almost 6 a.m.

Scrambling along the coastal rocks, I positioned myself such that the tree was in front of the rising sun. The second shot here is 15 minutes after the grey-sky shot. Then, the final image is an additional 5 minutes later, about 6:20 a.m.

Photography Portfolio – part 2

February 24, 2013February 24, 2013Kevin

(This is the next installment following Photography Portfolio – part 1.)

Having sent out two sets of images, each to a different lab for printing, I have received both sets of prints. They all look great. Both sets were printed on archival inkjet paper, but two different brands … Epson Premium Luster for the sports images and Museo Silver Rag for nature/landscape. Premium luster is a lightly coated paper with a very slight pearl texture. Although I have seen Museo Silver Rag referred to as luster, I am inclined to say that it is semi-matte (one notch below luster), with a subtle sheen and subtle paper texture. The density of black color is not as good on Silver Rag (compared to the Epson Premium Luster), but is quite good considering this is an uncoated paper. In retrospect, I am very happy with both choices.

For sports images, I mounted each to a pure black presentation board. The presentation boards were pre-cut to size and are solid black through the core. From the print lab, each print had a broad white border; I trimmed down the borders to maybe 1/16 inch before mounting to boards.

For nature images, I did not want black or white, so I selected an off-white color mat board. General-purpose mat board can be inexpensive, but depends upon the particular board. Sheets 32×40” may cost less than $9. But this is only practical if you have the tools to easily and accurately cut the boards.

All said and done, including shipping, 32 prints cost me more than $400. Mounting boards cost an additional $1.20 – $2.00 per print. A spray-can of adhesive can cost as little as $10 for non-archival and as much as $20 for acid-free archival. Because a portfolio is not meant to last forever, there is no point in spending extra dollars for acid free adhesive or acid-free mounting boards.

Smoky Mountain Sunset

April 12, 2012October 25, 2012Kevin

In Tennesee, anybody can enjoy Great Smoky Mountain National Park at no cost. There are no entrance fees and no parking fees. Apparrently this was part of the deal when the land was acquired (from native American Indians). And you can simply drive to the top of Clingman’s Dome.

Any evening on Clingman’s Dome, there can be a bevy of photographers lined up to photograph sunset. (Probably sunrise too, but I have not witnessed that.)
But as most photographers point their cameras toward the sun, they may miss out on some of the best scenes … which do not directly include the sun.

This image was shot with a micro-four-thirds camera (Panasonic Lumix G3) and captured as RAW. While JPEG images have already been processed (by the camera), RAW images receive no processing. In my experience, RAW images tend to look flat and require some post-processing (by me). While this scene appeared well to my human eyes, the camera capture was very low contrast. So the significant post-processing was to increase the contrast.

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