Assignment: Urban Nature
“Search for juxtaposition of natural forms against man-made structures and try to record them with the very best quality. You can work with general views of the environment or in close-up to focus on details that are usually overlooked.”
— from Digital Photography Masterclass by Tom Ang
Result
I have always enjoyed looking at the moon, and as a fine art landscape photographer, I am always looking for ways to create a dramatic photograph with the moon in it. There are some places where you can shoot the moon setting over a mountain. Here in Chicago, tall buildings are our mountains.
So this morning I had a strategy all laid out for getting a shot of the full moon (nature) in the sky next to Chicago’s John Hancock Building (man-made form). Using a great program called The Photographer’s Ephemeris, I had calculated that the best time and place to get this shot would be from Olive Park on Chicago’s lakefront, at about 5:00 AM this morning.
This was to be a true “alignment of the planets”. The several “planets” involved were — the moon, the earth, the John Hancock Building, Olive Park, my camera, and me — all lined up at 5:00 AM to get this shot!
Houston, we have a problem: there’s a blanket of clouds between the moon and the Hancock, and, oh, Olive Park doesn’t open until 7:00 AM.
But it was fun being part of a “moon landing” even though my name isn’t Neil Armstrong. I still got some nice shots of the Hancock in pre-dawn light, and some other pretty sights along the lakefront.
With nature and landscape photography, make the most of what’s in front of you!
adjust, adapt, aclimatize. Looks like you still got some wonderful photos!
Beautiful!
Love night shots! How long was that exposure?
1/2 second, f/5.3, ISO 200. More importantly, how long was the sky that color? Not long at all! It can pay to wait in one spot for the sky to change, taking a shot every 2 or 3 minutes when you know the sky is changing from dark to dusk.
Beautiful shot! Love the pink and purples!
Thanks, Patsy! This reminds me to put keyword tags on my gallery photos for colors (pink, purple, puce, etc.) so my buyers can search on their favorites. 🙂
I wonder if Ansel Adams got to use THE PHOTOGRAPHER’S EPHEMERIS??? hahaha looks awesome!!!!