I recently had to spend a few days in Sarasota, Florida, dealing with a family emergency. Naturally, the circumstances did not lend themselves to photography, which was good because I really wasn’t in the mood for it, anyway. But, the trip to Sarasota reminded me of a visit I made to St. Petersburg back in early 2016 and the incredible sunrise I saw while there.
A couple of coworkers and I had arrived in St. Petersburg on a Sunday evening and then gone to work the next Monday. One of my coworkers liked to get up early in the mornings and go for a walk before the day got started. So, on Tuesday morning, the two of us got up before sunrise and walked down to and along the bay.
As the sky began to brighten, we decided it was time to make our way back to our hotel to get ready for the workday to begin. Walking through Vinoy Park, I happened to turn around and see one of the most brilliantly colored skies I had ever seen. The sky was growing brighter by the second, and the lighting conditions of the surrounding area became absolutely amazing.
There was no way I was going to pass up this incredible opportunity. I knew the moment wouldn’t last long, so I had to act quickly. I wanted a low angle, so I set up the tripod without extending the legs. I attached my 24-105mm lens to the camera, but it didn’t give me the perspective I wanted. Changing to my 70-200mm lens and zooming to 200mm gave me what I was looking for.
The image needed complete depth of field, so I selected an aperture of f/32. That aperture, combined with an ISO of 100 to minimize digital noise, required a shutter speed of 25 seconds, which was fine since there was no wind. Getting everything set up, I pressed the shutter button and captured this image.