Interstate Sunset.

One thing I hate to do is ask those I'm driving with to pull over on the side of the road because I want to take a picture. I feel like I am keeping them getting to or from where they want to go a heck of a lot slower than they planned because of the lady with the camera. ;)

Well, this trip, I was driving all by my self. I was wishing I would get the chance to photograph the perfect sunset, with the perfect location, and the perfect sky.

Wish granted!

Here is a time line of what I was able to witness.

I started with what I thought was a good location, but wasn't exactly feeling it. There was...bite my tongue...too many mountains, too close. Plus, usually, this doesn't phase me, but people were gathering, watching me shoot. Awkward. haha!

So, I drove a little more.

 

And then, I found my spot. It was WIIIN-DY! But worth it.

Shucks...it's almost over.

Aaaaand gone.

We all know how much I love sunsets! I took a ton of pictures. It was kinda ridiculous. haha! I definitely edited myself for this post.

Sneak Peek: Interstate Sunset.

Here is a sneak peek of a sunset that was meant to be witnessed...

Canadian Sunsets.

First, is a sunset in the country. Now take a deep breath. Sigh it out and think of nature.

Yes, there are places like this that exist in this world. Peaceful and lovely.

I thought I'd show you what shooting in manual can do...the first picture. I metered the light according to the sun. This is why everything else is so much darker than what it seems it should be.

Then with this one I metered according to everything but the sun, so it's a little washed out, but I still tried to show the color the sun was setting off by letting that flair come into the lens.

My dear friends waited in the car while I stood on the side of the rode in a ditch taking pictures of things like this.

See! They are so amazing. :)

Second is a sunset in the city.

This is the capital of Canada, Ottawa. Their buildings were old and new mixed together. Beautiful architecture. And no tulips. Yep, one of the main reasons we chose the time we went was because of the Tulip Festival. Well, they came early that year so most of them were dead. It was kinda typical of the irony that is involved in my life. But irony makes me laugh, so it was okay, especially when I was able to witness this beautiful sunset. What was the hardest thing for me to believe was that it was almost 9pm before the sun actually was set. I'm not complaining it was awesome.

As we walked to where we were getting to we were walking towards the sunset, so this is the progression of the sun going down. I only had my point and shoot camera on me at the time, so they weren't everything I wanted, but when all was said and done, I was pretty happy with what my lil' ol' p&s captured.

Red Rock...White Rock?!

Near the end of January, there was a pretty good storm brewing around the outskirts of the Vegas valley. Red Rock Canyon was one of those places that got a huge pile of snow thrown on it. The funny thing is, further down into the valley, though cold, the temperature was night and day in comparison to how cold it was up at Red Rock. I was dressed somewhat warm, but not nearly as warm as I would have been had I known how cold it was going to be. Same went for a lot of people that were also around taking in the gorgeous snow capped mountains.

For instance, I was standing next to another photographer. We were clicking away and behind us was a few guys around my age standing there watching. They were doing that "I'm cold" jittering wobble as they stood there. They were dressed like I was, hooded sweatshirt, jeans. They had beanies on and I was jealous of that. Finally they said, "Duuuuude! We want to get back into the car!!" And their friend, the other photographer I was standing next to handed them the keys to the car. I laughed and said, "You guys can't take it, c'mon?!" And they said back, "Oh you know you are cold too!" Yes. Yes I was. And when I got back into my car I saw how red my face was!

I saw one guy getting out of his car with a short sleeve polo shirt on and I had a look of shock on my face as a cold gust of wind swept my hair across my face. He must have seen my face because he started laughing. So I owned up to my obvious shock and said, "Are you crazy! It's freeeeezing!!" and he replied back with a chattering jaw, "Yeeeaaaaaah, I'm regretting not bringing a jacket with me." Uh, yeah.

I know a lot of people who are in places that get snow all the time think, "what's the big deal?!" I'm a girl from the desert. This is a big deal for me. I loved it. Though I'm grateful to not have snow all the time, this was the perfect amount of snow for me to enjoy this year's winter.

Sorry, enough talking...here are just a few (but a lot) of the pictures I captured.



Second favorite shot of the day...but a really close second. I love that you can see just enough down into the valley to see there is only snow at Red Rock.










My favorite shot of the day. I was in my car driving slowly and saw this awesome bare tree. I looked behind and saw no cars were coming, stopped and took the picture.