I said final days of winter, that is right, I found the courage! It's the end of March and winter is holding on strong. That's all supposed to change very soon though, probably even by the time you read this post. And that was the thought behind this photo - to take advantage of the still frozen Outer Harbor of Buffalo, NY, and capture this favorite location of mine with a different look, with winter still on the throne.

Winter Blues at the South End Marina Cargill Pool ElevatorA View over a Frozen Outer Harbor

It actually was not the primary destination on this day. I headed downtown to scout another piece of architecture for a possible photo op. I wrapped up there shortly after sunset, used the opportunity to check out a nearby location and take a few blue hour photos there, and then hopped in the car thinking I was heading home. Along the way, I changed my mind and got off the expressway and hopped on Route 5 heading out of Buffalo. The last chance to photograph winter along the waterfront was strongly on my mind by then. I crossed the Skyway and took the first exit to Fuhrman Boulevard to drive along the lake's edge, passing the Bell Slip and other photogenic locations. For a moment, I considered a new take on the Gallagher Pier that I had had in mind for a while but proceeded a little further south to park at the grain elevator. The good news was that the parking lot was clear including the entrance unlike a month or so earlier when parking there was out of question.

I headed down to the beach knowing my composition this time would be different then in the past. I wanted the Cargill Pool Grain Elevator more in the background with the frozen lake taking over a large portion of the frame. At this location, I made a whole bunch of rookie mistakes and hope they will provide a good lesson to remember for a while. I only grabbed the camera and tripod leaving my bag in the car, thinking I would not need it. I think you know the rest.

First, I realized I could not stick with ISO 100 since my exposure time would have to be well over 30 seconds if I wanted to keep the required depth of field. I took a few shots at ISO 800, knowing I can get some really good results with that. I also wanted to try noise averaging and took multiple identical shots. More on that at some future point though. Then I finally headed back to the car to grab my remote release so that I could go over the 30 second limit of the built in timer. Sticking the connector to the mini USB on my camera proved to be the next challenge. It was very cold by that time, probably around 15°F, and of course, my headlamp was back in the bag. One more trip, grab the lamp, attach the cable, all set, right? Wrong again. My cell phone, that I use as a timer for long exposures, was also hanging on my camera bag. I never leave my camera bag behind like this, and this one exception definitely reminded me why.

Have fun and enjoy Spring!

Equipment Used:

Nikon D600, Nikon 24-85mm Nikkor Lens, Manfrotto tripod (055MF3; replaced by 055CXPRO3 with the convenient Q90 column) and Manfrotto Ball Head (496RC2), Think Tank Speed Demon Waist Pack, Petzl Zipka Plus 2 Headlamp (always in the bag just in case), Jackery Bar 5600mAh (usually o hand to keep the smart phone going), SanDisk Extreme 32GB SD Cards, Nikon Capture NX2.

Using my links to buy your equipment keeps me going and costs you nothing. You can also use the Amazon search box in bottom left for anything not mentioned here. Thank you very much, I really appreciate it!