The Upside of Insomnia
A lack of sleep has a myriad of negative effects on a person from increased risk of heart disease to weight gain to just feeling really tired all the time. The only positive aspect of insomnia is more awake time that can be used for productive or creative pursuits. Most people use this extra wakefulness tossing and turning stressing over the fact they are not sleeping and worrying about the heart disease and weight gain that comes along with it. I try to use this time more productively and if I happen to be up at 4:00AM, I am bound to just grab my camera gear and head our early. Such was the case during the long, holiday weekend which I spent on the east end of Long Island in New York State. It is a beautiful area filled with great beaches, farm land, quaint towns, and a wonderful lighthouse. The first morning I was there, I headed to Montauk to catch sunrise at the lighthouse. The shoreline there is very rocky and I was hoping for a great sunrise with waves crashing on the rocks. Given my early start, I had time to stop and shoot some nighttime scenes that caught my eye as I made my way out there.
The sunrise that morning was not particularly inspiring and due to a very low tide, the rocks that were exposed were covered in seaweed and green algae making for a less than attractive subject. No great photos but some pretty cool drone footage which you can see on my YouTube channel.
The next morning I headed up to the North Fork which is a little more low key and agrarian than the Hamptons. Once again, an early start allowed me enough time to stop and get some night time shots along the way.
My first subject was a fantastic lone tree in the middle of a field. Nothing was planted in front of the tree and a carpet of dirt provided a wonderful earthy tone as a contrast against a pastel colored sky.
About five minutes away from this tree is a quiet, rocky beach where i took some shots. The images below highlight the variety of images one can create by changing the shutter speed. The shutter speed on these pictures range from 1/640th of a second to 88 seconds.
I actually slept in the next morning and left the house at the late hour of 5:15AM and simply walked to my chosen location. At this time of year, sunrise aligns pretty nicely with a pier I have shot before. A calm morning and a pretty, albeit somewhat boring, sky combined to offer a backdrop for some simple, serene, images. I would have appreciated some clouds the sky, but that is why landscape photography so challenging. It’s a little like a box of chocolates.
That evening, I abandoned my wife and family and drove down to one of the south-facing beaches in Sagaponack to try my hand at astrophotography. I have only shot the night sky several times and I am far from an expert at this genre. I did bring the perfect lens for shooting stars — my 14-24mm f/2.8 lens — so I figured I would give it a try. After determining where the core of the Milky Way was and a little trial and error, I came up with a couple of shots I was proud of. I had to watch some YouTube videos on processing Milky Way photos in Lightroom, but the end result was pretty cool.
You can see the “Behind the Shot” video of these images on my YouTube channel. There is a link on the upper right corner of this page or you can search for “JC Images: Behind the Shot”.
