A few photos from earlier this evening.. I was starting to make dinner for Molly and I and was keeping an eye on the storm clouds that were making their way across the sky… I was thinking about the lights.. would they be on tonight? Better get ready, I decided.
I got the stuff on the stove situated for a break and grabbed a D3 with, an old favorite, a 105mm 2.5 MF lens that used to practically live on an F3.. due to the dinner prep that was underway, I didn’t want to stray far and elected to just sit (ok squat) by our windows and see what would develop..
This is one of the first exposures I made, I intentionally underexposed the frame in order to make the clouds darker and try to make the lights stand out a bit – it was still fairly bright out.
World Trade Center memorial lights on for test run on Wednesday September 10th. Photo by M David Leeds ©2008 All Rights Reserved
I continued shooting for a few minutes, since I was on the move to catch the fleeting light, I didn’t stop to grab a cable release so most of the time was spent waiting for the timer to count down – which is a great trick if you’re shooting with a slow or long shutter release and are concerned with camera shake.. (just set the camera on a tripod or sturdy surface and use the time release function) – anyway, while I liked the composition with the 105mm, I saw some more clouds approaching which I thought might pass through the beams of light and maybe give a little accent to the photograph… So, I made a quick decision to switch to a wider lens as the clouds looked like they were too high in the air to be visible even if I went vertical with the 105.
I decided to grab another old piece of glass – another favorite – a Nikkor S 55mm 1.2 – which I’ve just begun shooting with again.. I hadn’t touched it since.. well.. possibly since the digital era began..
Anyway.. I shot this one while re-composing and trying to guess if I’d need to be wider still.. I think I made the right choice (if the clouds even cross the beam of these lights)..
The "Tribute in Light" World Trade Center memorial lights on for test run on Wednesday September 10th. Photo by M David Leeds ©2008 All Rights Reserved
A few minutes later, my hunch paid off with this one..
The "Tribute in Light" World Trade Center memorial lights on for test run on Wednesday September 10th. Photo by M David Leeds ©2008 All Rights Reserved
One thing that was making me think I’d gone a little crazy, both on Monday night and tonight was that despite checking to be sure that my horizon was straight (another GREAT feature of the D3 – virtual horizon) – it seemed like the lights were not straight.. turns out I wasn’t going crazy.. and, my timing couldn’t have been better tonight..
“Every time they set up the arrays, they have to refocus the lamps, relamp where necessary and do power tests to make sure the generators are working,” said Frank E. Sanchis III, senior vice president of the Municipal Art Society, which coordinates the memorial display. Another power test was to be conducted from 7:30 to 8 p.m. Wednesday, he said. -NYT Blog
Way to stick with your hunch – it really paid off with these photos!