Sunrises, and sunsets (I have only one such image here), during the golden hour, the period of daytime shortly after sunrise or before sunset, during which daylight is redder and softer than when the sun is higher in the sky, can be spectacular, even when the image was captured on a budget vintage digital camera, a camera phone at that, and done right off your front door.
I have been doing this for quite some time now, and all I had with me was a circa 2011 Nokia Asha 300, a cell phone with a 2.4-inch touch screen, a 5 MP rear camera, Radio FM, MP3 support, and a microSD memory card slot, and it was one of the leading phones on the market of its time for battery life. Weighing in at 85 grams, and having a body dimension of only 113mm x 50mm x 13mm thick, the Asha 300 was one of the smallest, slimmest, and lightest camera phones on the market.
I started using the Nokia Asha 300 in 2011, placed it in storage in 2013, and started using the camera function again in 2018 as a replacement for the camera function of a new smartphone I had just acquired. Images from the vintage Nokia were actually superior, sharper, and crispier than those taken with the new smartphone I have just acquired. The change got me hooked, and the Nokia Asha 300 became my go-to for each of my early morning dashes out of the door.
So, there you go, no pre-planned travel budget, no over-cost camera equipment, no overnight stays, just the chance for an instantaneous reward. When the sun is low above the horizon, where the rays of the sunlight must penetrate the atmosphere for a greater distance, reducing the intensity of the direct light, and with more illumination of indirect light from the sky, the lighting diffusion dispersed more of the blue light, and if the sun is present, its light appears more reddish.
This is the scenario where the images are captured, and if you happen to be there as well, it does not matter what camera you have and use, it is the spontaneity of the moment that counts. For a point-and-shoot camera with a good lens an excellent sensor, and a little bit of tweak on the images on the post-processor, this might just be your day, just you, and your vintage digital cell phone camera.
Images for each day are unique, there is hardly a repeat, the sun does not rise from the same spot every day, it moves from the extremes of the solstice, reversing the direction of travel as it reaches one apex, as the year passes. Just be there, skip the thought about having to do pre-planned travels, heavy overweighted camera equipment, and for the film photographer, the high cost of film and its associated development cost and time.
Be on the lookout for cloud-covered days as well. With covers that change from season to season, or even daily, you are always up for an equally spectacular sight here as well.
Triptychs - A Presentation Technique
A reinterpretation of the triptych, a work of art (usually a panel painting) that is divided into three sections, or three carved panels that are hinged together and can be folded shut or displayed open, is often used in the modern art world and in photography. where three images, usual variants of a theme, are arranged within a framed plain border. I used this often to accentuate the images that were taken just a few moments apart.
Well, for novice photographers and amateurs like you and me, when getting into the hobby amid the massive resurgence of film photography and its associated cost for film and services, accepting the pressure of acquiring a high-end smartphone, or the ever-spiraling cost of digital SLR devices, with models that are becoming too complex and uneasy to handle, look too prohibitive, the recourse could just be a nod to the vintage digital genre, with products that were on the front of the technology just a decade ago, still fully functional today, at throwaway prices.
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