Chasing Light in Buagsong

In photography, to "chase the light" would mean to wait and to watch out for the best lighting conditions and capture the dramatic effect of this light in pictures.

Most of the time, this phrase is always paired with landscape photography. Some would also pair this with night and low-light photography, wherein there is minimal light and so capturing images at night and at low light conditions would literally mean chasing light.

It was in this spirit that my friends and I have decided to do some low light shots in Buagsong. It was not clear though if we chased light in terms of landscape or low-light photography.

Buagsong is a fishing community in the island of Cordova in Cebu. I am a frequent visitor of this place due its beautiful sunset views (here's my previous entry).

And Buagsong has not yet failed me. The following shots may not be the standard and typical "chasing the light" pictures (with foreground, subject, background and all), but I love them just the same. In fact, I have made this set as my animated wallpaper.

A patch of mangrove with the clouds reflecting the orange light...




Here's a 30 second exposure. A protruding rock, enveloped in waves, now flattened due to the long exposure. Blue light has become prominent in the receding sunlight.




The light now slowly receding, with vestiges of warmth lightly spread in the sky and the cooler blue hues enveloping much of everything, even the waves.






Cooler blues eventually won, with the warm colors slowly fading in the sky...




And I have saved my favorite for last...



For a few minutes before the sun dipped into the horizon, the sky turned red, draping most of those in the sea with crimson hues... For a time, red won over blue...

Some Colors of the Night

I like the night. Without the dark, we'd never see the stars.
- Stephenie Meyer, Twilight, 2005

When I ventured back into photography some years ago, night and low-light photography has been my favorite field. I was taken by the majestic colors of dusk and dawn and the unseen colors of night. There was a time when I used to go out very early in the morning before the sun is up and around mid-afternoon to wait for the golden hours.

Night and low-light photography requires patience - you may not always get it in just one shot. A photographer has to contend with the difficulty of achieving focus, the presence of flares, and incorrect exposure settings. Add to that, the reciprocity failure that every film user like me has to put into consideration. This is the challenge that I like about this field of photography...

It has been quite a while since I ventured out into the night to take some photographs. The long artistic drought ended when fellow photographer Al Michael and I decided to visit the Marcelo Fernan Bridge to take some pictures in the night. We also hoped to capture the sunset but we were quite late...

The sun was already dipping when we arrived and add to that, the sun was covered by clouds.



 

When there was little light left in the sky, I set up my tripod underneath the bridge (there is a public park under the Marcelo Fernan Bridge in both Lapulapu and Mandaue sides) and took some shots. This shot turned out to be the most worthy...



 

When we were done in the park, we decided to go up. This is the end of the bridge connected to the main road going to the economic processing zone. The light trails will lead you there...



 

Before we called it a night, the old bridge on the other side of the island became envious, and decided to show off her beauty. She sent sparks towards us, twice!!!

The first one was quite weak...



 

Trying to outdo herself, she exerted all her efforts, and eventually, she succeeded.



I hope you now understand why I love this field of photography...