Dad called today to see if I was willing to take a chance on the weather and head down to the river in Portland for some night pictures. Though I was a bit skeptical that it would stay dry, I knew Dad was anxious to get out and shoot, and I was eager to spend some time with him and with the camera. Timothy came along too, and we had a great time, despite the nasty-cold wind that was blowing. It almost made me wish I actually believed in global warming. Almost.

We hit the Esplanade around 7:30p, but the sun wasn’t low enough until probably 8:30 or 9:00. But when the lights came on, and the sky darkened a bit, it was tough to get enough pictures. Every photographer within 200 miles has probably shot the exact same pictures we got tonight, but that’s doesn’t make it any less fun. Dad did a lot of panos, partly because he wanted to get back into editing (lots of stitching!), and partly because I had the 16mm and he had the 24mm (thanks AGAIN, Dad!). I did keep offering, but our hands were cold and useless enough that we didn’t feel like gambling on a lens swap.

Timothy, the poor kid, was cold most of the time, but he had his Heelies to keep him occupied. And once he started seeing how the pics were turning out, he was anxious to see the next shot. I suppose the promise of a warm car and hot fries helped a bit, too. And what boy ever tires of throwing stuff into the water?

Thank you, Dad, for getting us out of the house. We need to go again once it warms up a bit!

Here are two of the shots from tonight. The first is a 20 second exposure with a pan on the video tripod I brought. The second is just a straight-up 30 second exposure. Both were at f9 and ISO 100, and both have been hit with Noiseware and minor lens distortion fixes in Photoshop.