Cold'n Golden

Sue's photo theme for last week was golden hour: the hour after sunrise and the hour before sunset when the light is low and, well, golden — on a good day, that is. It was winterish and dullish last week and days hadn't been all that good for light, but a theme is a theme. I think these weekly themes are contrived by folk in California. #kiddingnotkidding

We did try one day when there was some light. The first two spots we went to didn't offer much hope. I tried a few shots butt ended up trashing them. However, Sue got a few that she thought she could use.

Eventually, we found a location, not new to us but new on that day. The light was pretty good for a few minutes, and I was able to get a result that I like quite a bit.

Partly I like it because I know the conditions that I was working under, such as the weather and the fact that I had to hold my camera up over a snowbank to get the photo. Sometimes, we like a photo an extra bit because we know the circumstances, but I also like this for the photo itself. The light is pretty good, and we also have a leading line, a decent sky, and then a pretty good tree as the focal point.

I should say before I leave off that I prefer that my golden hour photos not contain the sun. In this case, I think it is the light that is cast by the sun that is the key thing. Of course, there are always exceptions, and preconceived ideas can't apply to every situation.