The Grayish Hour

April 8, 2013

Photographers are famous for loving the golden hour which is a collection of magical moments that visits us mere mortals in all its glory an hour after sunrise and an hour before sunset. The light at those times is often warm, soft, luminous and . . . well . . . golden.

Unfortunately though, just because it is technically the golden hour doesn’t always guarantee that the light is going to be golden in actuality. Sometimes the light does not get the memo and it remains a bit sullen and recalcitrant, deciding to withhold its goldenness for another day. (And another photographer.)

Last night was one of those recalcitrant light nights. 

We’d had a gorgeous, balmy spring day with lots of sunshine and I felt sure that it would be a great night to capture some warmly lit, sun setting scenes. I hopped on my bike with camera in tow, arrived at my destination and looked around to find that the light was just sort of . . . meh.

But in photography as in life you must deal with the hand that you’re dealt so I did my best to make the most of the non-golden light that I had.

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I love the fact that this pier looks like it’s traveling into infinity—like if you started walking on it, you might find yourself who knows where at the end of it.

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After looking through my pictures when I got home, I decided that although a few of them looked alright in (non golden) color, the rest of them might have a bit more presence in black and white.   

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Solitude, beauty and a camera.

Who could ask for more?

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8 comments so far.

8 responses to “The Grayish Hour”

  1. sheri says:

    OBX Chamber of Commerce!! You should contact them immediately if not sooner with these amazing shots! I’m just sayin’! 🙂

  2. Judy says:

    Beautiful! What I found interesting is the difference in tone between the colored pics and the B&W. In the colored ones I could see calm and tranquility while in the B&W there was a sense of stormy bleakness.

  3. Jessica K says:

    Beautiful!

  4. Anonymous says:

    Becky, I bet some days you just want to pinch yourself living so close to the beautiful water and sea! Most of us land lubbers need to wait for vacations to capture the “golden hour”. How close are you to the Lighthouses in the OBX?

    • Becky says:

      Anonymous,

      You’re absolutely right. Living near the water is an incredible joy, especially to my photographer’s heart. I love it!

      As far as lighthouses, we’re 5 minutes from the Manteo lighthouse (downtown water front area), about 20 minutes from the Bodie Island lighthouse and about 45 minutes from the Hatteras lighthouse. There are a couple more within an hour or so.

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