On Monday, I shared an image from Castle Rock with the sun’s rays shining on ice as a result of the arctic weather.  I promised a backstory for that shot so here goes…

A few weeks ago, I received a request to purchase a matted print of my Walk in the Fog image (you can see it in the Best of 2011 gallery by using the menu above).  At the time, I was also asked about being commissioned for a special photo shoot.  When I delivered the print at the house on Ocean Avenue, I surreptitiously scouted the location knowing that I would try to come back while the couple was away for the secret shoot.  The biggest issue though was the deadline of February 4th.

Life kept getting in the way of any attempts to shoot the location until January 25th when we were experiencing an arctic blast.  I decided to head out at dawn and make this my first stop.  I mostly was hoping for some nice sea smoke around Tinkers Island in the background.  When I pulled up and walked to the backyard, my jaw dropped.

I really couldn’t ask for a more incredible show than the one that lay before me.  There were great pink wispy clouds in the sky with incredible reflections of light in the ocean below.  Tinkers Island was surrounded in an orange glow at the horizon and there were faint wisps of sea smoke in the distance.  I set about shooting a number of compositions as the light faded and then packed up to get that shot of Castle Rock next.

The proofs from this shoot (and there are four ‘keepers’) are being delivered today so I’ll add a happy (slightly-belated-but-didn’t-want-to-ruin-the-surprise) birthday to Steve.