A Morro Bay Morning

Rowing to Shore for the Morning Walk

As usual, I was up before dawn, one of my favorite times to take pictures, and with my time in California quickly dwindling, I came to one of my favorite locations in Morro Bay to catch the sunrise hitting Morro Rock. Sometimes, the sun seems to set the rock on fire with a golden glow. That was not to be on this day, but I captured a scene that became my favorite image of the trip.

I was standing on the dock at Anchor Park, my camera was set up on my tripod and I was sipping coffee, trying to keep warm in the pre-dawn chill. I spotted a man rowing his sailing dinghy, bow to shore, from his ketch anchored in the bay. He pivoted the boat as he got closer and I realized there was a dog in the stern. The dog was motionless, intently focused on the approaching shore and the relief that would come with it. In the still air I could hear only the creak and splash of the oars. As the man tied his boat to the dock, his dog sat patiently, his thick fur glistening with dew in the cool morning light. We greeted each other, the man saying that his "woolly mammoth" loved coming ashore for his morning walk. The man was barefoot in the 50 degree temperature, his feet red from the frigid water in the bottom of the boat. After making the dinghy shipshape, they walked off for their morning respite. I looked for them the next day, but they were nowhere to be seen.

Sailors and their dogs. Few relationships are as devoted.

Review: The Photographer's Ephemeris

Link to Photo Ephemeris

For virtually every outdoor photoshoot we want to know where the sun will be at any given moment. Whether it's the blue hour, golden hour, sunrise or sunset, we are bound by the sun and if it's a night shoot, we want to know the phase of the moon and where it will be. And we don't just want to know it for today, we want to know it days, weeks or months in advance anywhere in the world. And as if that isn't demanding enough, we want this info to be simple to understand and visual. Photographers want to see a depiction of these astronomical facts, not stare at a list of numbers followed by headache-inducing mental contortions. Fortunately, there exists a free computer program that does all of this and more.

The Photographer's Ephemeris (TPE) comes in Windows, Mac, Linux versions. All use the Adobe Air engine and there are paid versions for Android ($4.99) and iOS ($8.99). I have the Windows and Android versions on my laptop and smartphone and Android tablet, and I have to say that once you see it at work, it is nothing short of miraculous.

The program allows you to choose any location in the world and save it for later reference. You then designate the dates you want to see plotted.

Screen Shot from Tutorial

The desktop program displays azimuths on Google maps, using its satellite, terrain, road map, and hybrid options. This is especially invaluable if you want to know where the sun and shadow will be in hilly or mountainous terrain. Want to know when the sun will come up behind that mountain and illuminate the fall foliage in front of you next Thursday? TPE will tell you. Trying to figure out when the back side of that mountain will be out of shadow? TPE will show you that as well, and to the minute. You can move your marker anywhere you want so that within an area you can easily plot and replot the paths of the rising and setting sun and moon.

The Android version is extraordinarily useful, since I don't ordinarily carry a laptop or tablet in the field. One feature I would like to see in the desktop version is the ability to print the terrain map and accompanying ephemeris (the panel on the right), but if you have the mobile version that isn't really necessary. Another feature I'd like to see and would pay for is the ability to sync the desktop and mobile versions.
If you are a photographer and ever take photos outdoors, this program is well worth the few minutes it takes to download, install, and learn. The web site also has links to very useful tutorials on YouTube, which really demonstrate the program's power.

The Android version is in the Android Market and resembles the desktop version except there is no terrain view. The iOS version also lacks a terrain view. This view would be nice to have but apparently there are some legal/licensing issues that are currently an obstacle. We can all hope for this feature and the site indicates they are exploring alternative map providers. In the meantime, this is a must-have photographer's app for your PC and smartphone.

The road to hell?

I looked and all I could see were good intentions.