Tracks

This week we are back to shooting with the Canon.  I actually made it out of the house early one morning last week and headed for one of my favorite spots, Tempe Town Lake.  Of course there is some bias as it is close to work so I can either stop by on my way in or way home.  It does offer a variety of subjects to shoot…bridges, water, trains, light rails, people, boats, birds, you get the idea.

A few weeks back I posted some shots taken at dusk of the Mill Avenue Bridge.  I was quite pleased with those so I figured why not come back during the morning and see what could be captured.  My goal was to be here before sunrise but that didn’t pan out.  I blame my alarm for not being loud enough.

With the sun up I knew I didn’t have long with the golden light.  I snapped several of the train bridge from a low vantage point hoping the blue sky would provide nice contrast.  Those weren’t bad but nothing to get excited about.  With no one around I decided to climb up on the train track and see what kind of perspective that would yield.  Using the “No Tres..” sign to pull myself up I made my way down the tracks.  I snapped a few brackets at various angles tilting the camera each time. Again those were ok, nothing great.

Finally, I noticed how smooth the track was and how I could see the bridge reflection on it.  Hmm.  I placed the camera right on the track and set the aperture wide open for a shallow depth of field.  Happy with that shot I made my back down to the truck.

I will have to say this is probably #2 on my list of shots where I was a little nervous.  The first one being the fog shot in http://chrisfrailey.blogspot.com/2010/08/you-just-never-know.html.  The light rail track is near this one so every time the light rail approached I kept looking over my shoulder.  I didn’t want to be that photographer you hear about on the news who got hit while standing in the middle of the track.

Until next time…