Pier Pressure

New Brighton pier - yet again!!
It is like a magnet - I keep being drawn back to it. It presents so many moods.
Twice a year the sun rises directly off the end of the pier - approximately 26 April and again 17 August, as the sun moves south in the spring and north in the autumn.
I may have alluded to this in previous blogs several years ago.
The TPE (The Photographer's Ephemeris) software is a very useful tool (a free download and easy to use).

Arna

This year my lovely granddaughter, Arna - now the proud owner of a DSLR and keen to learn, was with me on the 26 April to capture the moment. No problems getting this young teenager out of bed way before dawn and down to the pier, not too far from her home.
I have set up my Manfrotto tripod so it will fit on the top of my 2 metre high aluminium stepladder. So on to the pier we hike - with tripod, stepladder, camera gear - and wet weather gear.
The weather gods were not being kind this morning - full cloud cover and threatening to rain - not what the forecast said!
Arna was beginning to think that the morning shoot was a non starter, and she was almost right. We chose to go ahead and use the time as a practice session, so set up her DSLR on my tripod and I sent her up the ladder to start composing her image. This very moment heralded a sudden onset of very heavy rain. Her bottom lip was out now, no doubt fearing for her camera - and rightly so.
"Don't abandon the moment Arna. Quickly compose your shot and grab a few shots". This she did, before grabbing the camera and racing back down the ladder. The rain had set in and further photography was out of the question for now.
Back in the vehicle to dry out - especially her camera, we headed back to my home and breakfast with Grandma.
The camera went in to the airing cupboard and the few images she captured didn't look too flash when downloaded onto my iMac. The bottom lip was out again.
And so began lesson #2 in the comfort of my study, whilst the rain bucketed down outside.........
A combination of Lightroom, Photoshop, and Nik software were played with - Arna at the helm with me tutoring at her level.
The result was this..................

Pier Pressure

Not a bad effort considering the situation. If it wasn't for the rain, she would not have got the lovely reflections on the pier. And her conversion to monochrome strengthens the mood of the moment.

The bottom lip was no longer out and she was happy again.

She now has this matted and framed (all done by herself) and up on the wall at home.
Even better, she has also sold a copy of this image which is now also framed and on display at a gallery in north Christchurch.

Well done Arna. Some valuable lessons learned on this shoot.