Story behind The Lens: "Electric Glow"
Howdy everyone, I thought I would start a new series on the blog to share some of the stories behind the images I've captured.
The first image I've selected for this series is titled "Electric Glow", it's an image I took in October of 2021. I had discovered what I had imagined would be a great sunrise location, while completing a hike of the Toronto Section of the Bruce Trail, determined to return, I made a plan for an early morning adventure, intent on capturing the golden beauty of an autumn sunrise.
At the time, I was armed with my first camera, a Canon M50, a 55-200mm lens and a tripod. I got up early that morning, packed my bag, and headed out.
Once I arrived at my destination, it was just a short 15 minute hike to my sunrise spot. Once there, I scouted around in the dark for a composition, not really knowing what to expect.
I had done a few sunrise shoots prior, but none were planned, they were mostly last minute decisions in the morning to head out, which usually left me scrambling to find something to shoot as the beautiful light faded.
As I waited, I could not have anticipated the beautiful scene that would unfold infront of me that morning. The sun began to rise, but was initially hidden by a bank of clouds, however, it would soon rise above the bank, and begin casting a golden light across the entire landscape, even illuminating Lake Ontario in a stunning golden hue.
It was a breathtaking sight to behold, and I considered myself privileged to be witnessing it. For a few moments, I even forgot about my camera and photography in general. I was completely immersed in the moment. It is mornings like this that inspire me as a photographer, not because I was able to take an image, but to be able to witness nature in all its splendor, and for a brief moment, escape the troubles of everyday life.
Now truth be told, as I was still quite new to photography at the time, when I took this image, I had wrote it off completely. I thought that I had underexposed my image, rendering it useless. It wouldn't be until 2022, after seeing a competition on GuruShots for a dramatic lighting theme, and after a few tips and tricks from YouTube, I would learn this wasn't the case, and what I had unintentionally done was preserve the highlights.
I began processing the image in lightroom and was quite happy with the results. The image began coming to life, and revealed it's hidden beauty.
I tried to keep it faithful to what I had seen myself that day with my eyes, and entered it into the competition. The prize for placing in the competition was being exhibited at Gallery Gora, Montreal, Canada, as part of a GuruShots exhibition.
A few weeks later, I would be contacted by GuruShots, informing me I had been selected to be physically exhibited, and requested a high resolution version of the image I entered. It was a truly surprising, amazing, and humble experience to be selected. I had never had an image exhibited, much less even imagined that I would have that experience, but it was truly a wonderful experience. I of course sent the image, along with a thank you for selecting me back to GuruShots.
Now one challenge popped up, I'm based in Ontario, Canada, and Gallery Gora is located in Quebec, Canada. For my non Canadian readers, this is the equivalent of another state within my country.
So it looked like a road trip was in order. I told my partner at the time about this development, and we quickly agreed, we would travel to Montreal, Quebec. We booked a hotel, and eagerly waited for departure day.
It would be a 9 hour drive to Montreal, which my partner and I completed all at once. We of course made a few stops along the way, making the drive much more enjoyable. Upon arriving in Montreal, we quickly checked into our hotel, and began exploring the city.
Montreal itself is a historic city, established in 1642, and incorporating as a "city" by 1832. The city has many historic structures that have survived into the modern day. One of particular note, the oldest in Montreal, is the Maison Le Ber – Le Moyne, originally a fur trading post, constructed in 1669 to 1671.
We quite enjoyed our time in Montreal, and I would definitely reccomend visiting if you have the opportunity. We even had a brief boat tour of Montreal via the St Lawrence River.
We would arrive at Gallery Gora for the reception night. We honestly didn't know what to expect from the event, but it was a friendly and welcoming experience. We entered the gallery and quickly found my photo. I would even be approached by someone from GuruShots to give an impromptu interview about my experience and photograph.
At the end of the exhibition, I was delighted to learn that I would be able to keep the print from the exhibition, a welcome momento of a wonderful experience. To this day, the photo remains proudly hung on my wall. Where I often look at it, and reflect back on this amazing adventure.
The entire experience from taking this image to seeing it hung in an exhibition is something that will remain with me for a long time. It was a wonderful experience and I am grateful that I had the opportunity. I can't wait to share more stories behind the image.
Until the next post
Greg