If you’ve just stumbled upon my blog for the first time, you can read more about this year-long project HERE.

This week’s theme:

My husband and I were fortunate enough to sneak away from our responsibilities at home and spend a few days in Santa Monica last weekend.  Actually, I tagged along with him on a business trip that we extended a couple of days.  But whatever.  It was a relaxing, and much-needed break from the craziness of life right now.

One evening, while my husband was at a dinner event, I decided to walk to the boardwalk with my camera to see what I could capture.  In hindsight it may not have been the best idea since I was alone, it was getting dark and I had a huge camera slung over my shoulder.  But whatever.  My plan was to somehow take a very cool shot of the boardwalk ferris wheel and all of the fun lights at night.  But when I started shooting,  I couldn’t quite find the ideal spot to shoot and get what I wanted in the frame.  So instead I turned around and looked toward the end of the pier and LOVED what I saw with the daylight disappearing and the lights from the restaurant.  Because I wanted to slow the wave action down and create more of a calm feel to the water I knew I needed to try for a long exposure.  Of course I didn’t have a tripod so I ended up sitting on the ground leaning up against a pole and wedging my camera between the pole and railings using all my might to keep the camera steady.  Ten seconds is a long time to hold your breath when you’re sitting on a dark pier with your camera wedged in a railing hoping the waves don’t cause the pier to sway.  But whatever.  If you’re curious, this was shot with my D700 and 35mm 1.4 lens at f/16, ISO 125 for 10 seconds.  Edited with a slight S curve, slight increase in saturation and a slight vignette.

Don’t miss the circle this week as we begin to wind down our project in the next two months, starting with the talented Kara Jo – Memphis, Tennessee Photographer.

Happy Weekending!