I love “magic hour”. That’s the time around sunrise and sunset that photographers prefer, except the getting up before-the-crack-of-stupid part.
It’s not so much the early rising that bothered me on the morning that I set out well before sunrise into the Bruce Peninsula National Park. My plan was to drive to the parking lot in the Park, then walk the 15-20 minutes in near darkness through the woods to the Grotto to set up for the dawn’s early light. The problem was that the night before, the proprietor of the motel unnerved me by telling me that they had trouble with roaming bears tearing through the garbage bins.
Imagine my state of mind – hurrying along in the mirk, carrying lots of equipment and constantly looking over my shoulder to see if Yogi was eyeing me for breakfast. At that time of day, even in a National Park, you are very much alone in those woods.
Arriving at the water’s edge, however, I was not only relieved but enchanted. The air was perfectly still, the sky cloudless and the water crystalline. Barely a ripple on the surface, so the rocks under the surface were as clear as those on the shore.
To be at such a magical spot at magic hour is something photographers long for. And, to have such beautiful warm (and might I say cooperative) weather at the end of October in Ontario, Canada added to the serendipity.
Needless to say, I scrambled all over the Grotto with my two cameras to capture as much as possible before the sun “spoiled” the scene. Above is one of the results – an image that I think best captures the atmosphere at that special place and time.
bruce peninsula national park photos