Dayscape

In October, when I was in Toronto with my family, I promised myself that I would visit a spot near the old port district to take a night-time photograph. I was rewarded with a great nightscape.

After taking shots of Canada's supercity from this venue, I decided that I wanted to return to this location again, at different times. So when I was in Toronto on Saturday, after driving my kid and her cat back to campus, I thought that before I returned home, I would swing by this spot and capture whatever the view had to offer.

It was a cold day in Toronto, colder than it had been in Ottawa when we had left, shortly after 7 that morning. A strong wind blew through the city streets, making it feel even colder, and when I stood along the pier in Lower Don Lands, the eastward-blustering wind brought waves crashing into the concrete pier walls and occasionally splashing near me. The chill kept me from standing by the water for long.

When I first reached the boardwalk at Jennifer Kateryna Koval's'kyj Park, the sky became overcast and it looked as though it might even start to rain. I took a few snaps with my D-SLR and one with my smartphone before returning to my car, which was parked close by, on Polson Street. Sitting in my warm vehicle, I could see that the sky was changing quickly, so I sat and warmed myself for a few minutes, and waited to see if the sky would clear again (when my daughter and I had had lunch, a short while earlier, the clouds had cleared way to blue skies).

After about 10 minutes, some blue appeared through the clouds, and again I returned to the pier's edge to capture more images. A few more clicks. But the wind seemed to have intensified, as my ears were turning cold, so again I returned to my car.

I waited, as clouds covered the sun but still showed clear patches over the Toronto skyline. If I waited long enough, I could hopefully get some dramatic light. It was still a couple of hours before golden hour, and even longer before sunset, and as much as I would have loved to capture that light, I wasn't prepared to wait that long.

I had to get home, after all.

I waited about another half an hour and then returned to the boardwalk for one final set of shots. The light wasn't great but there were some shadows being created on some skyscrapers. I didn't like how the CN Tower was being illuminated, but I would just capture what was available and see how I could work with the images in post processing.

If I didn't like the sky, I told myself, I could always change it.

After nearly an hour at Jennifer Kateryna Koval's'kyj Park, I decided to turn my car around and head back to Ottawa. I wasn't going to get any dramatic light today.

But I have a kid who lives in Toronto; another kid lives not too far away, further down Lake Ontario. I was going to be back.