Technically it’s autumn until December 21st, even though the leaves are mostly long gone and the landscape has taken on a bleak look. But that doesn’t meant that it’s time to stay warm in bed and let the sun rise on its own. Nope – out of bed in the dark, with the temperature outside hovering around 27 and damn thankful that it’s still that warm, because come January mornings will dip down into the teens and single digits.
There as ice on the car windows, and as I let the engine warm, I got the camera out. I’ve wanted to shoot window frost since I saw some incredible captures in a photo book a while back, and this was the ideal time to start. A lit window in the house across the street provided the back lighting, although I still had to crank the ISO. The main problem was leaning back far enough from the window for the focus to work.
I made it to the site a few minutes later than I would have liked, but the sky was alight and sunrise prime, so I started shooting as I stepped out of the car.
No doubt, it was a beautiful morning, with all the qualities of a cold-weather dawn that I love and look forward to each year. But the real highlight of the morning happened in the pond, not the sky. Ripples from a swimming critter made me take out the telephoto, expecting a muskrat. Instead I found a trio of otters frolicking. I have never seen wild river otters – never had any idea that they might even live in the pond – so find them out playing together this morning was amazing. Once again it’s moments like this that remind me why it’s worth getting up in the dark, struggling out in the cold, and hoping for good light.
They’re not the best wildlife photos in the world. I was shooting into the rising sun, so there’s a lot of silhouetting. I thought about running back around the end of the pond, to the fishing jetty on the opposite side, but figured that I’d never get there in time. And without my Speedlight, there was no hope of the built-in flash throwing enough light to make a difference. I made the best of the situation and savored getting to watch the otters and only once they started moving away from shore did I do my dash to the jetty. As I expected, I didn’t make it in time.
That’s one of those lessons you have to learn in this game – sometimes the factors aren’t going to come together, you’re going to see something amazing, something truly awe inspiring, and you won’t be able to photograph it the way you want to. Take the shots anyway, work it with all your skills, and then just sit down and enjoy it for a bit.
After the otters, the rest of the morning was anticlimactic. I shot a few more good landscape frames and then headed home with the gear zipped up and the heater on high. Now that I know the otters are there, I will definitely be reading up on them and returning for another try. It’s funny how some places, you don’t often find anything, yet at others you get all sort of surprises. Thank goodness for the surprises!
