Sunrise after the Geminids

Highway lights and morning sky – 20 seconds at f/11 on ISO 400

Having stayed out late to photograph the Geminid meteor shower, it was dawn much sooner than I expected.  I frequently (always) lose track of time when I have a camera in hand – this was no exception.  The last place I watched for the meteor streaks was near the Jumping Pound Road’s overpass of the Trans-Canada about 15km west of Calgary.

Mailbox sunrise – 30 seconds at f/11 on ISO 800

When I caught the first hint of dawn along the eastern horizon, which was preceded by an unplanned, but much-needed, cat nap, I made my way to the bridge.  The wind was howling as I set up.  I was glad it was blowing out of the mountains and across the Prairies.  If it had been in my face, I would have had a lovely collection of blurry images!  I had a few when a strong gust would come up but I was able to shield against most of them.

A view from the Jumping Pound overpass – 20 seconds at f/11 on ISO 200

As the sky lightened the clouds started to separate from the night sky.  I got excited as I saw the first hints of color catch in the edges and folds.  They were drifting into and out of beautiful shapes as Helios and his chariot approached the horizon. The image below, with Venus glowing through the pink tinged clouds, is probably my favorite from the shoot.

Venus above – 30 seconds at f/8 on ISO 400

In the longer exposures, the traffic below was rendered indistinct by the longer exposures but the trails carved out by their lights gave me strong, dynamic elements to work with.

Eastern fire – 1.8 seconds at f/22 on ISO 50

While the clouds were ablaze to the east just before sunrise, the west was a different scene altogether.  My last photograph of the morning was of the farm north of the bridge under a sky sketched in pastels.

Alpen glow and morning calm – 4.6 seconds at f/22 on ISO 400