Among my favourite photos from last year.

Have you ever driven past a place dozens of times and thought, “I should stop sometime and make a photo of this”? That was the case with these poplars in Pickering. They are at the corner of side roads that I pass several time a year. But, the light is never quite right, or it’s dull and uninteresting looking.

On this particular day, I had my camera with me, but had no intention of doing any nature photography. It was a dull, rainy day and the landscape was pretty washed out. As I approached the trees, the sun broke through and the poplars lit up a bright yellow. I thought, “I should stop today and make photo of these today”. As I was having this internal conversation, the light began to shift again and a light rain started falling. So, I swung the car around and parked on the shoulder, got my gear ready and proceeded into the adjacent field to see what the light offered. It was not till I got home and looked at the images that I realized just how stunning they turned out.

I am so happy that I made the decision to stop (with some prodding from my wife). My advice, when the opportunity presents itself, take it, it may not present itself again. To this day, I have not seen the conditions even close to that day, driving the back roads of Pickering.

Nikon D300
Nikor 70-300 mm f/5.6 @ 70mm
1/4@ f/11.0, ISO 200