Sunset Bunting...

This past weekend was looking like a complete right off with Gonzalo on the way. It was scheduled to pass by the island Saturday evening and into Sunday. The Hurricane grazed by Newfoundland and was over by noon. With the sky filled with dramatic clouds and looking like a possible stunning sunset I headed out to Cape Spear.

As many of you know I'm not at all a Landscape photographer. I would love to do more of it but to be honest I just can't seem to find locations that interest me on the Avalon. I don't want to let that stop me from trying and practicing this type of photography.  

Upon my arrival I was kind of surprised to see so many tourist. The place was crawling with people and I just knew it would be difficult to capture any image with out someone walking into the frame.

I walked past the first lighthouse and didn't stop since a gathering of school kids at the base of the lighthouse just wasn't going to work. At the second lighthouse I was able to grab a quick shot before the school kids decided to follow me up the hill but at this angle most of the clouds had dissipated 

Since this location wasn't going to work either I headed further down the path along the cliffs edge to photograph the coastline. Finally no people around. I set everything but the lighting was too harsh at this point(It was still early in the evening). I figured since I had brought my telephoto lens I would search the grounds for some Snow Buntings that had been reported a while back. 

Not 5 steps from my current location I flushed one who was feeding along the rocks. He only flew a short distance and landed. I slowly dropped my back pack, landscape setup and crawled over the rocks to get a closer look at him.

I've photographed Snow Buntings at Cape Spear a few times now but to be honest I never really like the results. I'm not sure if its the surrounded rocks/vegetation that creates an unappealing image matched with the colors of the birds feathers. I'm just not sure but I've never been overly happy with the results. So what do you do? Well with the setting sun in the background I decided to try and play with some different angles and the light.

First I tired some side/back lighting. I was happier with the result. Now we're on to something.

The Bunting decided to move more into the light forcing me to shoot directly into the sun. In most cases I would probably slowly move myself to a better angle but I figured I would try some shots.

Now these I like. I was much happier with the results. I loved the dramatic light and it helped to minimize the unappealing look of the rocks or surrounding area.

This little guy was very cooperative and allowed me close looks as he feed.  I continued to enjoy his company until the sun had completely set.

Here are some more shots as the light started to fade

What was suppose to be a Landscape session quickly turned into my best photo ops with a Snow Bunting to date. The sun had now set so my coastline shot was gone but I couldn't have been happier with what I had just captured.

On my way back to the vehicle I grabbed a quick shot of the first lighthouse to cap off my evening session.