I am going to start off by saying that this April has been blessing us with simply stunning sunrises here in Richmond. I usually start my drive to work right as the sun is coming up, and almost every day this month has been beautiful! I hadn’t gone out for a sunrise shoot in a couple of weeks, so I knew that I had to get up and go. I was itching for it, and with the sunrises we’ve been getting lately it was an easy decision.
I got up around 4:30 AM, got myself ready to go, then left by 5:30 AM. My original plan was to go to T. Pott bridge and set up for a certain shot I’ve had in mind for a while now. However, as I got closer I noticed that it looked like there was fog potentially coming off the river, so I made the decision to do something different.
I instead went to North Beach on Belle Isle, with the aim to get the skyline through the fog. Unfortunately, there wasn’t any fog on the river, there was just some really low cloud that was moving fast. I also saw that the sun was already casting great light on the clouds to the east so I started rushing to the location. Once I got there I had to quickly get myself set up, but it was a little difficult because there was a lot of mud on the shore. I found a couple of logs partially buried in the mud to stand on and have my tripod supported on so the legs wouldn’t sink in.
I first got a 30 second long exposure shot with the skyline and its reflection centered in the frame, which turned out okay. It wasn’t anything special, so I moved the camera slightly, pushing the skyline slightly to the left, and then opting for a 3 minute exposure. This one was much better. The river got completely smoothed out, and looks almost like glass, and the high altitude cloud is showing some movement. The cloud was moving slow and wasn’t showing up in the shorter exposure, so I’m glad I went with the 3 minutes.
"Richmond Reflection"
Nikon D750, 26mm, 180 seconds, f/11
I then did a panoramic shot. I was originally going to do each shot with a shutter speed around 2-3 minutes, but there was great light on the clouds that would be on the right side of my frame and I didn’t want to risk missing it. I then went with a 20-30 second exposure time. The shorter shutter speed shows more of the movement in the water as well as the low clouds that were rushing by. It also does have the high altitude clouds in the distance with practically no movement and blur to them, which I find adds a little bit of flair to it.
Richmond Panorama
After the panorama, I was messing around with just doing 30 second exposures to get the small low clouds that were moving quickly. At the time, they looked good and very dynamic, showing off lots of movement. However, my focus was just ever so slightly off, and so the buildings are not in focus at all. It’s a shame, but it really is not that big of a deal!
I was going to pack up, but I thought why not walk over to the flood wall and get some shots over there. The low clouds were still moving quickly and catching some good light, and would be for a few more minutes at least. The only thing was, from where I was it was a 20 minute walk to the flood wall. I didn’t even bother putting my camera away in my bag, I wanted to be ready when I got there. I was walking as fast as I could, and with each step my camera felt heavier and heavier. I did stop on T. Pott bridge to try and get a quick long exposure shot from there, but it also ended up being terribly out of focus.
I finally made it to the flood wall 20 minutes later, but now with calves that were on fire and I still had to scramble across rocks and boulders. I found myself by a dam and or wall? I say that because it was made of stone and looked more like a wall, but it didn't fully span the river, so I don’t really know. I did walk along the top of it because it was dry and I wanted to see what shot opportunities there were. I made it to the end, or almost the end because there was a pile of logs blocking the path, but it didn’t go too much further anyways since the wall ended maybe 100 feet or so away. It was cool though, on the left side the water level was pretty much at the same height as the wall, then on the right it dropped roughly 3 feet, so it for sure acted more as a dam.
What I also thought was cool about the dam/wall was that because it was made out of layers of stone, water was able to make its way through, so that created small little channels of water that were flowing out from it. I started by setting up a vertical shot with the wall in the foreground leading out to the skyline, but it just didn’t feel right. I then shifted to a horizontal shot, but that also wasn’t feeling right. I wasn’t too sure on what to do, all I did know is that I wanted to get the little streams and waterfalls in the shot. I turned around and found my answer.
Down on the lower water level side of the wall, there was a large rock sticking out and it was maybe a foot away from the wall. There also was a huge mess of sticks and logs leaning on the wall from the rock. I decided to jump out onto it and see what everything looked like from the lower angle. The only thing was, I wasn’t too sure on how I’d easily get back onto the wall, but I still went for it deciding I would cross that bridge when I got there.
This angle was much better, and with my wide angle lens I was able to get a shot I was happy with. I will say that, since it was much brighter and there were more people out, that I felt that maybe I shouldn’t have been out there. There wasn’t any signage (that I was aware of) that said you couldn’t be, but it still felt odd, so I tried to get the shot quickly. I do think this hurt a little, I should have worked the scene just a little bit more. Even though I love the result, I feel like I could go back and adjust it to make something that is solid. What I do love about the shot I got though is that this is an angle/shot of the city I have never seen anyone else shoot before, which made it all the more enticing.
"City Views From the River"
Nikon D750, 16mm, 30 seconds, f/11
I think the next time I go, I want to do a couple of things. First, I would like to frame everything a little better such as move the camera to the left, get it lower to the water level, and move forward to make the wall come from the entire left side of the frame. Also moving forward will make things just a little tighter and together. Another aspect of the composition that's hard to fix is the absence of anything other than smooth water in the bottom right of the frame. However, a shorter shutter speed may help with this; or I could find a way to get a reflection of the buildings.
Then the second thing is I would like to shoot the scene on Ektachrome. I have a Nikon N6006 film camera that is somewhat compatible with my 16-35mm wide angle. Really the only thing is that both are F mount lenses, after that I cant auto focus (which is fine). However, the biggest hurdle is that I can’t change the aperture, which is okay except it’s stuck at f/4. So if I were to shoot using that camera and lens, I would have to focus stack.
Now I know what you might be thinking, “Why not just use a different camera system with a different wide angle lens?”. Valid. And I do have other film cameras. I just don’t have a wide enough lens for any of them. Also, that 16-35mm is one of the sharpest Nikon lenses, and I would want to use it for the shot.
To finish off, this was a great morning, even if I made my legs sore for the rest of the weekend. I'm always glad I am able to get up early and experience things like this and document it. I'm already planning for the next one! Especially if the sunrises continue like they have been!
