I’ve seen this field of hay bales many times recently and I was really looking for a good opportunity to make some nice images. It always seemed that I was in a rush as I passed by and never had time to stop. I finally made an opportunity to stop one morning just before sunrise. The soft morning light was amazing and I could have spent hours there if the lighting conditions had held up longer.
Round Bales in Morning Light
I was out on a mission to capture the setting Full Moon at Sunrise when I saw these three Combine Harvesters lined up in a farm field. They really made the scene alongside the Moon.
I was actually on my to the decrepit old prairie farm in the next couple of images. This vintage farm is extremely picturesque and I’ve tried very hard to make it look good over the last few years. That’s a lot easier to do when the Full Moon drops down on top of it in the middle of an amazing sunrise!
I’m always surprised by how quickly the full moon drops. It will almost always completely disappear as soon as the sun breaks over the opposite horizon. Other times it will drop into a cloud bank on the its own side of the horizon and only partially disappear. In this case it did both. You can see the bottom edge of it flattening out in the final image, and I’m a witness to the fact that it was totally gone within a few seconds of that image being made!
I was desperately looking for a scene that would do justice to the beautiful pink glow on these clouds just after the sunset. I almost missed my chance until I saw these power lines in the distance and I was very happy to be able to make the image. I love the contrast between the striking yellow stubble in the prairie field below, and the vivid blue of the sky above.
The sunrise on the prairies east of Calgary is often spectacular and I’ve seen my fair share of extremely beautiful mornings. I was very happy recently when I had a chance to make a few images of one of the most amazing sunrises that I’ve ever seen.
The sky absolutely lit up with a furious red glow as the sun slowly climbed toward the cloudy horizon. There were just enough clouds on the horizon to hold back the full force of the sun, while still allowing enough of the magical morning light through to paint the thicker clouds above in a series of reds, oranges, and yellows. The result was an amazing, fiery red sky as far as the eye could see. Beautiful!
I often plan photoshoots to coincide with the moonset at sunrise, around the time of the full moon. This event only happens on one day (or very rarely two days) each month, and as often as not it is obscured by clouds or fog, or I simply can’t make it out at that time on that day of the month. It is a very beautiful thing to see the moon painted with the colors of the sunrise and it really is worth making an extra effort to get out to see it.
I have only rarely considered that the moonrise at sunset is equally beautiful and powerful to see, and I haven’t paid nearly as much attention to the timing of that event each month. It was a happy accident today when I just happened to look over my shoulder and noticed that the moon was rising behind me, and it appeared to be huge against the horizon! I quickly found a nice agricultural scene that would highlight the beauty of the dusky colored moon and made a few nice images.