Wiebe's Wanderings: Birds Hill Park Sunset

On Friday evening the drama in the sky looked promising for a good sunset so we headed over to Cooks Creek, just a 10 minute drive away. I wanted to get a picture of the old church and the skies looked like they would provide a beautiful backdrop. Unbeknownst to us the grounds to the church are locked up during the week and only open during the weekends. On to plan B.

Birds Hill Park is on the way home so we decided to take a drive over and see what opportunities might present themselves. On the way over we drove through a sun shower and just as we were entering the park gates a double rainbow appeared. I hustled across the highway, camera in hand, and got a shot before driving on into the park.

We decided to park at the East Beach to take advantage of a well treed causeway that divides the beach area from a large pond surrounded by bull rushes, wild grasses and brush. I still want to get to this area for sun rise as the bull rushes are often populated by redwing blackbirds and would be a good opportunity to get some bird closeups with the 600mm. I'll wait for September when sunrise isn't so ungodly early.

We were greeted by a beautiful sunset and the opportunities below were there for the taking.

Note to self. After getting caught in a rain shower, no matter how good a job you think you do in protecting the lens from rain, always clean the glass. I didn't notice it at the time but when I got home and checked the pictures on the computer I had to remove up to 30 spots per picture. That in addition to a dirty sensor make for heavy use of the erasure tool.

The glow from golden hour was just too fabulous to pass up.

Another couple of golden hour shots.

The golden hour gets its name for a good reason.

It was a magical evening. Felt I was at a remote lake in Northern Manitoba when in actual fact I was only a 5 minute drive from home. Just needed the Loons to start calling.

Its interesting how once the sun is below the horizon the light is reflected back up into the clouds and then back down into the water.

The best light is usually just after sunset. The end of golden hour and the beginning of blue hour. Gotta be ready cause the best light only lasts a few minutes if your lucky.