A few days ago, I got up a little earlier than normal and hit the road to
Presqu’ile Provincial Park to catch the sunrise. It was a gamble, given that at that time of morning there is no way to know if the conditions are right for a nice sunrise, but sometimes you just gotta take a chance. I hadn’t been to the park for a few weeks, so I wasn’t sure if there would be any major ice buildup, but I was really hoping there’d be some
ice volcanoes to shoot. When I got to the park the only light was from the moon, but it was pretty clear that there were no ice formations happening just yet.
Once I was convinced I wasn’t going to find any ice volcanoes along the shoreline, I got in my car and kept driving to see if there might be something interesting further up the coast. But when I got to the end of the shore, I still hadn’t found anything and the sun was starting to come up. I knew I was running out of time, and since the road is a one-way loop I had to make my way all the way around to get back to the water (if you’re not familiar with the park, see my super awesome map). So at the last second, I turned into the lighthouse parking lot to have a look. I knew right away, that was a good choice!
As I walked (actually, I was running) from the parking lot to the lighthouse the sky started to light up and I realized I had no more time to look around, so I ran back to the car to grab my camera bag and got this shot of the lighthouse before the moon set. It was still quite dark (this is a 13 second exposure) and the moon was still the primary light source which cast the right side of the lighthouse into shadow. You can even still see some stars.
Once the moon had set and the sun started to provide a little more light, I surveyed the area to see what other interesting things I could find. I was immediately drawn to the large chunks of ice flowing around the point (not to mention the sounds they were making as they shifted and cracked in the water!) At this point the light was changing fast, and I knew I was in for an amazing sunrise. I’m sure I looked pretty silly as I ran all around the point trying to find the most interesting composition before I lost the light. Somehow I had gone from not having anything to shoot, to having a hard time choosing what to shoot. Not a bad problem to have, I suppose!
All too often when shooting at sunrise or sunset, it’s easy to forget to stop and look around. With that in mind, I was keeping my eyes on the lighthouse, and to the western sky where I could see hints of pink starting to show in the clouds. As the sun rose, the sky to the west turned completely pink while the lighthouse to the east was also lit up against the wispy clouds. Again, I was running around trying to capture both scenes before the sun rose into the gathering clouds
Once the sun was up and the colours were all gone, I got in my car and headed home. But before leaving the park, I decided to take one more walk along the coast to see what I could find. It’s amazing what you can see when you’re not wandering around in the dark ☺. It’s more of an ice crater than a volcano but was a pretty cool feature nonetheless.
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Once I was convinced I wasn’t going to find any ice volcanoes along the shoreline, I got in my car and kept driving to see if there might be something interesting further up the coast. But when I got to the end of the shore, I still hadn’t found anything and the sun was starting to come up. I knew I was running out of time, and since the road is a one-way loop I had to make my way all the way around to get back to the water (if you’re not familiar with the park, see my super awesome map). So at the last second, I turned into the lighthouse parking lot to have a look. I knew right away, that was a good choice!
