Archives

Dawn Breaks Over Lewiston

dawn breaks over Lewiston, Maine, with City Hall, Saints Peter and Paul Basilica and Franco Center

Dawn breaks over Lewiston, Maine, with City Hall, Saints Peter and Paul Basilica and Franco Center

On Sunday morning I headed out early in hopes of catching a good sunrise. I beat the alarm, getting out of bed just before 4:00am. Dawn was to arrive at 4:30, with sunrise following at 5:00. Dawn can sometime be even better than actual sunrise. That was certainly the case this morning.

I headed off without knowing where I was actually going to go. My plan was to go somewhere in New Gloucester, simply because I wanted to hit the flower garden at Pineland Center after the sun came up. But as I headed south on the turnpike, I could already see a bit of color on the horizon in my rear-view mirror. So, since I didn’t really know where I wanted to be for sunrise in New Gloucester, I got off the pike in Auburn and headed back towards Lewiston along Washington Street. Still, I didn’t know where I would end up, but at least I could see the progression of the dawn.

dawn breaks over Lewiston, Maine, with City Hall, Saints Peter and Paul Basilica and Franco Center

I turned off Washington onto Hackett Road, and then onto Broad Street, heading towards New Auburn. This would take me along the Little Androscoggin River. I was hoping I could find a spot at the river’s edge where I could capture the sky and it’s reflection in the water. Unfortunately this was not to be. So now I knew where I had to go; the top of the hill on Broad Street, overlooking New Auburn. I had taken photos here before, so I knew the view was a good one, and as I got to my destination I could see that the view I wanted lined up perfectly with the dawn sky that was beginning to take on some good color. Now the stage was set.

I parked the truck and got my equipment out and set up. Then I left the camera on the tripod and walked around a bit to find the best angle. Fortunately, there wasn’t any traffic here at 4:45, because for the most part I was standing in the middle of the street. But not a single car came by the entire time I was there. As the minutes passed the sky just kept getting better. As usual, I worked many different compositions of the same scene, because you never know which one will work best, or which one serves a different purpose.

As it got closer to the scheduled 5:00 sunrise I couldn’t help but think the scene before me would be even more spectacular once the sun hit the horizon… I could hardly wait. So I kept trying different angles; even moving to get an image of St. Patrick’s church against the paisely sky. But as 5:00 arrived, the color in the sky simply faded away. It got so cloudy that the sun never even made an appearance. Once the dawn color disappeared the show was over. But what a show! So I packed up my gear and drove around looking for another interesting subject, in the hope that the sun would make a dramatic break through the clouds. But alas it was not to be. The sun never made an appearance until around 7:30. But that’s alright; I got what I was after.

By the way, I never did get down to the Pineland flower gardens.

These images are available for the following special prices:
8 x 12  for  $35.00
12 x 18 for $40.00
16 x 20 for $75.00

 

spacer

Morning on the Androscoggin River

Winter morning sunrise on the Androscoggin River

Winter morning sunrise on the Androscoggin River

I hadn’t been out on a photo expedition in a while, so last weekend I decided it would be good to go out for some morning shooting.  We had had some warm temps with freezing rain, and the weatherman said the following morning would be dry but foggy. Fog in the morning can lead to some interesting photos, so I decided to head out for a sunrise photo shoot on Sunday morning.

Well, I woke up about 15 minutes before my 6:30am alarm. I got up and looked out the window to see what the conditions were. To my surprise the eastern sky was not only showing a clear dark blue, but not a hint of fog was to be seen. So even though a foggy sunrise was not going to happen,  there was certainly the possibility of a colorful sunrise… So I got dressed and headed out.

My first challenge was to find a location that would make the best of a sunrise image. I was looking for a location that looked east to view the rising sun, but would also include some water or ice to reflect the colors of the eastern sky. The two locations that I had scoped out the night before on Google Earth didn’t quite pan out, so I kept driving and looking for the perfect location, all the while fighting the clock.

Leaves embedded in the ice on the Androscoggin River

Leaves embedded in the ice lead the eye into the photo

I ended up at a location in Lisbon along a bend in the Androscoggin River that looked directly at the rising sun, with only a few minutes to spare before the the crucial moment. I set up my tripod and camera and waited a short while before the sun started to rise above the trees on the horizon. The recent rain had turned the snow that was on the river’s surface into a nice reflective surface, so I was ready for whatever was to occur.

As it turned out, the sunrise was less than spectacular, and without the ice to reflect the sky’s color the photo wouldn’t have been worth taking. But by being at the right place at the right time I was able to come away with some better-than-average images.

After shooting the actual sunrise I turned my attention to some scenes in the opposite direction. Embedded in the ice along the river’s edge were a myriad of dead leaves. These lent themselves to some close-up photos. So I changed my wide angle lens for my 100mm macro lens and focused on the leaves. The low angle of the rising sun created some nice highlights and shadows that a mid-day sun would not have allowed for. Then, after the close-ups, I noticed how the leaves in the ice created a line  leading into the distance that was custom-made for a wide angle long depth of field image. I changed back to my wide angle lens and looked for the the best composition that would focus on an up-close leaf leading to a long-distance landscape image. The foreground leaves created a main focus point, while the string of leaves would lead the viewer into the photo… the perfect use for a wide-angle lens in the landscape.

So even thought I wasn’t able to capture what I originally set out to, I was able to get several different type of images from one location by using the the unique light of a sunrise. These images, and others, were all taken within an area of about 20′ x 30′, and all in a span of about 30 minutes. It’s all about working the scene.

Leaves and twigs embedded in the ice

Leaf, pine needles and twig are pleasing arranged in the ice

Daniel J. Marquis Photography Home Page

spacer