As 2015 has come to a close, I’m left with the impression that it’s gone by way too quickly. I’ve no doubt taken a lot of photos this past year, with some new favourites created along the way. And, as part of my Toronto Sunrise Series, this past year more than ever I took it upon myself to create even more sunrise photos than in 2014. I hope you’ve enjoyed the photos I’ve posted here on my blog and on my various social media feeds. In this post, I’ll recap some of my favourite photos that I’ve taken in 2015, sunrise or otherwise.
This swan lake photo was very popular amongst my social media feed, and it earned a lot of reposts throughout various Instagram hubs. At the time I took the photo, I really didn’t think it would be so popular. I remember, however, how I was happy to have caught this moment as it had been one of the items I had on my list of things to capture. Being conscious of keeping the CN Tower in the background, I followed this swan with my 70-200mm lens as it moved along the lake. When the swan decided to spread its wings, I was ready for the shot, keeping it in focus with the CN Tower placed just off to its side.
In 2015, I was fortunate enough to travel to the Canadian Rockies, where I was in awe of Mother Nature and her beauty. Yearning to capture a priceless moment, I was out every sunrise and sunset, even if I had no idea where to go. While most of my sunrise and sunset shoots were clouded over, I still captured what I hope represented the priceless moment in front of me with this one, taken in Peyto Lake.
In the latter half of the year—or more precisely, in December—I bought myself the Big Stopper, 10-stop ND filter from Lee Filters. I managed to do a couple test runs with the filter, producing this shot that I thought captured the moment well with the clouds.
While I may be more partial to landscape photography, I did manage to grab a few pictures of the city that I really liked as well. This one comes from the rooftop of the Thompson Hotel in Toronto, where they hosted an Instagram meetup in the early fall. The sunset brought out some great texture in the clouds, bringing an even more dynamic scene to this already great vantage point.
This sunrise moment may have been the most striking sunrise shoots I’ve been on in 2015. The moment passed by so quickly that I didn’t have time to even think it would be anything special. I just knew that the combination of low-lying clouds and the colours really made this a stand-out sunrise for me. And by the looks of things, my social media feed definitely agreed with me as well.
What was one of the windiest sunrises of 2015 yielded some of the best photographs as well. It was a cold October morning with the winds whipping around violently across Lake Ontario. Initially I wasn’t too careful by the shorelines and got my equipment and self wet from the splashes from the rocks. It was that violent. So standing further away from the shoreline, using my 70-200mm, I caught this moment, with some of the most colourful skies in the background.
Bow Lake was a surprise to me as I wasn’t expecting much from it. But even though it was overcast during the sunrise hours, the calm lake and mountains made for a striking image that can’t be forgotten. This bridge acted as a great lead-in for the eye and in turn produced one of my favourite images from my trip to Alberta.
This picture of the Lake Louise boathouse turned out much better than I had expected. Wanting to get a unique vantage point from this often-photographed icon of Lake Louise, I opted for a long exposure during the sunrise hours that I was there. Normally seen against the backdrop of the Canadian Rockies, I also opted to crop this image right at the tree line to minimize any distractions. This put all the focus on to the boathouse, yielding in a photo that I absolutely love.
There are many more photos that I took in 2015 that I loved, but I can only choose a handful for this summary. I hope you like these as much as I do, and that you have enjoyed seeing them on my social media feeds. Truth be told, some of these may be new to you as I may not have even posted them online until this post!
Any one of these photos would look great in print, don’t you think? Stay tuned, as that’s my next project for 2016. Let me know in the comments below if you’d be interested in a print of one of my photography.
Coming up in my next post is my 2015 year in review for iPhone photography!