My mom turns 60 today (March 27th). Since its kinda a big deal my dad decided that all the boys should come home and surprise her with a big celebration. I flew back to NY on Friday morning, my dad picked me up, I dropped him off at the train station and arrived home pretty early. When I got to the house I walked to the front door and rang the doorbell. Oh right, it hasnt worked in 20 years. Our dog, Dash, knew someone at the door and started barking frantically but my mom still didnt come to the door. It took a phone call, in which she answered What are you doing up this early (she assumed it was 3 hours earlier on the west coast) to which I replied theres a package at the door (me). She was pretty stunned when she opened the door to find her first born waiting. We continued surprising her throughout the day. My middle brother pretended he didnt know I was coming and therefore he hadnt planned on taking the train home from his job in NYC. Lastly, my youngest brother flew home from his freshman year at the University of Michigan (somehow I brainwashed him into going to the same college where I graduated with 2 degrees). When the youngest walked in she got all teary and it was just perfect. We threw her a nice party the next night and it was great to have the entire family all together for a couple days.
The first thing I did when I got home was take a nap. The second thing I did was take a walk along the beach. I left my camera at home and immediately wished I had it on me. It had started to cloud up and I saw this as a perfect chance to practice using my Lee Big Stopper. I drove back home, grabbed my camera, got distracted a bit, and went back to the beach. By this time Mama Nature continued her hatred of me and decided to blow all the clouds away. I got a couple long exposures snapped before all the big clouds had dispersed. The only clouds left were the perfect sunset clouds. Realizing my chance to FINALLY get some sunset photos I told my mom I wanted to come back (a third time) for sunset.
My mom and I arrived at the beach hoping for a beautiful sunset. Mama Nature must be REALLY mad at me because by the time we got back to the beach the clouds had pretty much rolled in and blanketed the sky. Luckily there was a small opening in the west and I held my breath that wed get some color. Luckily I was in for a treat and the sky managed to turn a nice color before disappearing. There was no awesome surf like in California so I had to try something a little bit different. Knowing there was no good water motion I put the Lee Big Stopper on and tried to turn the water into glass, catching the reflection of the sunset in the water. While the photo exposed I sat back and ate some fried chicken with my mom, on a picnic blanket on the beach. What a nice way to start the weekend.
Happy birthday mom
Nikon D700 w/Nikkor 17-35mm f/2.8 ED-IF AF-S:
17mm, f/10, 5 min, ISO 250
Lee Big Stopper HiTech 0.9 GND
