I was lounging about one evening while on vacation when my uncle who’d been out running errands called and told me that there was a pretty beautiful sunset happening and that I might want to get off my arse to shoot it. Hard as it was to stop doing nothing, I leaped up, put on my winter coat, fought my way into snow boots, grabbed gloves, donned a touque, wrapped a scarf, grabbed my camera and lumbered out toward a pretty beautiful scene. I wandered the beach trying different compositions and settings as the light slowly disappeared leaving beautiful color in its wake. It was great…great that is until I discovered that my camera had no memory card.
I cursed myself with a pox and then realized I was going to have to haul if I wanted any chance of catching the sunset. I set out at a sprint–well as much of a sprint as you can accomplish with the above mentioned snow garb. It took about 20 seconds for me to nearly die from my horrifying lack of physical conditioning. By the time I hit the road to my uncle’s house I was a wheezing, frothing, heaving mess of a human being. By the time I reached the house my transformation to Jabba the Hut was complete though I’m pretty sure he could move faster than me at that point. I grabbed the card and tried desperately to run back to the beach but, let’s be honest, it wasn’t really running by any accepted definitions. Fortunately for me, the best colors were yet to come and after some 10 minutes of trying to catch my breath I was actually able to stop shaking long enough to snap a few decent shots. Here’s one of them. It may be even harder to find time to take pictures but this hippopotamic land mass is definitely going to figure out a way to crow-bar some exercise into his life.
33 Comments
Wow! How to dramatic and expressive!
A powerful picture – well done
Well, my vote in 2012, of course)
HaHa.
Funny my friend…but worth it.
wow! fire in the sly!
You had me laughing! Well worth all the effort.
If I can do it, you can do it! I’ve exercised every day this year…all 12 of them… even if only 10 mins. I’m trying to get back to where I was before the autoimmune disorder. And… AMAZING SUNSET!
wow amazing color, great processing
I’m laughing out loud at the story behind this. It all turned out for the best – amazing shot Christopher.
gorgeous light !!! my wife forces me to exercise every morning … a big walk before breakfast!
It was worth the effort, a superb shot of this ominous sky and sunset!
Simply beautiful Chris! I love how the red jumps from the horizon to the upper clouds. It looks amazing.
Great story and great image Chris. I love the vivid, intense color and the setting by the water. Exercise and eating healthy have become critical the older Becky and I get. Eating less food, eating better food, 15 minutes of daily light weights, and fish oil, for me the wonder drug. I am not Jack LaLanne, but I am at a good spot these days. Finding the time is the hardest part. Best wishes in your healthy endeavors :^)
powerful and intense colors make a perfect frame for this photo, your result is fascinating and unusual compared to you usual photo, but the inspiration has not limit…. nice and interesting my friend
magical, wonderful shot …
Holy crap, that makes me want to go to Canada. Plus, laugh my ass off. Gorgeous AND awesome.
Glorious, radiant colors in this image.
Ha ha, I enjoyed the story behind the shot. It gave me a good giggle.
You certainly did get the best of the colours, I was pretty awe-struck when I saw the photo. I just had to sit down and stare at it for a minute.
I’ve noticed in a few of your tags you have “St-Andrews.” Wonder if the name has any relation to St-Andrews in Scotland (which is a small town near where my parents live and is famous for being the home of golf)?
Very funny… Photography can save you the cost’s of a fitness studio
this one is well worth the effort Chris.
Christopher, that’s incredible. The sky seems to burn, so well done. BTW thanks for your nominate and kind words. I try it for your blog 3 days ago and it fails. Just in this minute it works … anyway.
Boy do I know the feeling. What a great reward though! Spectacular!
i love the colours
Breathtaking..what an amazing scene. Definitely worth ‘running’ for!!!
Wow! Awesome colours
You are so Canadian… “touque” (or tuque in French). I enjoyed your words and I am impressed by the spectacular image.
Ah! Well your efforts were not wasted, this is one amazing photo!
Love the indigo & fire in this unexpected sunset and super funny story, so visual thanks to your humor i could picture you all the way, thanks for the grins, and the beautiful palette this image offers. And now have a superb end of week-end, dear*
have to admire your perseverance:-) i realized quite a few years ago that not everything was meant to be photographed. some things are better just quietly enjoyed. depends on a photographers mood i suppose. brilliant colors for sure.
That’s stunning!
Fantastic. Love the colors. I’ve captured similar events too. Congrats on making it back with your memory card. At least it wasn’t 20 miles down a trail.
so dramatic and strong feel!
Worth the effort!
The redeeming factor in this episode is that you learn more from your mistakes than your successes.
Une merveille…
really beautiful colours of a sunset. amusing narration too
Fantastic light, great shot, i love it !