Brisk Morning Photos Along The River
The alarm goes off, its still mostly dark outside, and the first rays of first light are just beginning. Now that it is winter, and being in Oregon, often quite wet and chilly. What a great and perfect time for photography. In line with he adage of early bird gets the worm, so goes for the photographer. Beyond starting my day earlier and making the shortened winter days seem longer, this is one of my favorite experiences.
This Thanksgiving Holiday week, I’ve been venturing out to the Willamette River shore in Lake Oswego, Oregon, a place locals call Oswego Landing. This is a place I’ve been going to since I was a kid and still go to this day. It has a lot of meaning to both me and the City of Lake Oswego. Oswego Landing is part of the Oswego Iron Heritage Trail where Oswego was hoped to become the Pittsburgh of the West. While this never materialized, it put Oswego on the map and gave the city its founding roots.
Today, Oswego Landing is a great place for everyone to enjoy. It is a guarantee to see a series of ducks, geese, the occasional blue heron, and more recently, a bald eagle family. The area welcomes visitors to a long shore for multiple activities. Kids exploring mud puddles, kayakers going onto the calm river, fishermen trying to catch their dinner, and of course, photographers. I’ve also been fortunate these last few weeks to meet some really great people along the river. The guy with the telephoto, tripod, and Wellington boots standing in the water; seems to be an attraction of some wonderful people.
This November adventure I was intending to be a bird photography outing. I was hoping to capture a few of the Canadian Geese that frequent the shore rocks amongst the backdrop of the dense fog. However, the geese were more interested in staying in far warmer conditions. Despite this initial disappointment, I was met with the incredible potential of low laying fog among the rocks and river. Lucky for me, I also happened to be carrying my Nikon NIKKOR 24-70mm f/2.8 and my VND Filters from Moment (link). Using the max ND I had with me, a ND 64 --> 512 / 6-9 stops (link), I moved to a max 512 / 9 stop allowing for the max amount of exposure time. I also reduce the ISO down to 80, went down to f/8 for max sharpness and balance of depth of field of foreground and distant outline of trees contrasted among the fog, and finally allowed for a maximum wide angle of 24mm. This allowed for a really nice balance of the fog above the water along with a stillness of the water. In post, using Lightroom, I decided that the most pop of the rocks came with a monochrome image.
I am very proud of the images I was able to capture on this outing. I hope to have another chance at it again this winter, possibly next time, with snow!
My favorite photo from this venture can be found here: link
Here’s to more brisk morning photography along the river.
Cheers,
Jeff