Conceptually, this image has been on my bucket list for some time. I live near and spend considerable time on Lake Winnipesaukee in New Hampshire and I have attempted this type of shot on many occasions, but it wasn’t until September of this past year that all the elements came together.
This dock is located in Meredith, NH. In the summer, this part of the lake is almost always bustling with tourists and boats. The relatively short summer season in New Hampshire means that people take advantage of their time on the lake when it comes. This means in from sun up to (past) sun down in the summer, the lake is buzzing with the sounds of boats, jet skis, and tourists from all over New England. To find this dock, in this part of the lake, completely void of people and boats was truly a gift.
And for the elements to cooperate as they did was more than I could have asked for. I wanted a serene, long(ish) exposure off a dock for my portfolio, but the combination of color in the sky (reflecting off the lake below) and the mist rising from the relatively warm water, took this scene from serene to sublime. Combined, the beautiful colors with the soft mist contrast wonderfully with the hardness fo the old wooden dock centering the image. Truthfully, capturing this image was quite simple, no filters, no image blending, just a simple 5 second exposure with very little post process (other than some basic adjustments) and I think that sense of simplicity comes through with this image. When the elements come together and the image exposes so simply and perfectly like on this day, I would be foolish to not include the resulting image in my top 10 most meaningful images of 2018.