Sunrise Archives - Page 2 of 4 - Sean Phillips Photography

Sunrise Starburst

The winter landscape on the prairies can be so beautful that sometimes I find it hard to decide what image to make next. This was one of those examples where I was torn between wanting to make images of the grain bins that I knew would be glowing a beautiful red as the sun rose, or to try to create the starburst effect you see here just as the sun peeked over the horizon. In the end I managed to do both, but I really only got to try one composition for the starburst shot, and then I ran back over to the bins to make a few more images there. Fortunately this old fence was close enough to the bins that I was able to use it to give the starburst shot some foreground interest.

Bales in Black and White

I posted several pictures of some hay bales the other day. The main reason I was attracted to that particular field, and to those particular images, was because of the vivid colors of the field and the sky. But after processing them something made me think that they might look really good in black and white. So I converted them all and I’m really excited about the new images that I was able to create!

I don’t do a lot of black and white photography, but every once in awhile certain images lend themselves to it. I don’t necessarily think that all of these images look better in Black and White than they do in color, but I really like them. This is a simple reminder or me that there are almost always several ways to make every image look great, and that experimentation can be lots of fun!

Round Bales in Morning Light

I’ve seen this field of hay bales many times recently and I was really looking for a good opportunity to make some nice images. It always seemed that I was in a rush as I passed by and never had time to stop. I finally made an opportunity to stop one morning just before sunrise. The soft morning light was amazing and I could have spent hours there if the lighting conditions had held up longer.

Round Bales in Morning Light

Harvest Moon

I was out on a mission to capture the setting Full Moon at Sunrise when I saw these three Combine Harvesters lined up in a farm field. They really made the scene alongside the Moon.

I was actually on my to the decrepit old prairie farm in the next couple of images. This vintage farm is extremely picturesque and I’ve tried very hard to make it look good over the last few years. That’s a lot easier to do when the Full Moon drops down on top of it in the middle of an amazing sunrise!

I’m always surprised by how quickly the full moon drops. It will almost always completely disappear as soon as the sun breaks over the opposite horizon. Other times it will drop into a cloud bank on the its own side of the horizon and only partially disappear. In this case it did both. You can see the bottom edge of it flattening out in the final image, and I’m a witness to the fact that it was totally gone within a few seconds of that image being made!

Panoramic image of Mount Lorette at Sunrise

I waited for a long time after the sun rose so that I could make this image of Mount Lorette reflected in the Lorette Ponds in Kananaskis Provincial Park. And I almost didn’t get the shot!

I really wanted to catch the Alpenglow on the peak of Mount Lorette, and in the reflection in the water, but it didn’t happen with the initial sunrise. The morning glow on the face of the mountain came as sun rose over the horizon on the prairies, but then faded as the sun climbed. It wasn’t until the sun actually rose up above the mountain peaks immediately to the east of me that the Alpenglow began! I love how the mountains light up in a magnificent red glow at times like these!

Fortunately I made a series of images very quickly because it was only a minute or so after this that a large flock of ducks flew in and landed on the pond in front of me, destroying the glassy smooth finish on the surface. The Alpenglow was over before the pond was calm again. But I got the image I wanted!!