Homigot Sunrise

With the baby coming, and a bunch of overtime in the books at work, I decided to upgrade my camera.  Living in Korea and not really understanding all of the internet shopping options available, I was basically at the mercy of my local camera shop, where I buy most of my gear.  I headed to Kwan's Camera last Saturday hoping to trade-in my d7000 and a few lenses for a d610.  A decent upgrade that would have been just what I wanted.  But Kwan didn't have a d610.  For a moment, I felt defeated, like I'd never upgrade, but then Kwan reached behind him and pulled out a Nikon d800.  It's the camera I'd buy if I were made of money.  It's the one I wanted but felt I couldn't afford.  

I don't know if it's because I've spent so much money at Kwan's over the last three years, or if the camera is defective, or who knows what or why, but Kwan offered me the d800 for what I wanted to pay for the d610.  It was used, but it took me about thirty seconds to say yes.  And yeah, the 36 megapixels are probably too many for me, and yeah, the camera is probably just too much camera for an amateur like me, but I love all those megapixels, I love all the detail.  I can take a picture of a room full of action, and then later use all those megapixels to crop way down and decide what it was I wanted to take a picture of in the first place.  

With the new camera in hand, I decided it was time to try something new.  I decided to pull an all-nighter, drive up the coast just west of Pohang, and take pictures of the sunrise at Homigot.  It's something I've always wanted to do, and buying the new camera finally pushed me to do it.  Sadly, the rain never let up, and I couldn't have told you where the sun rose, and the sky never changed to the pinks, purples, oranges, and reds I set out to photograph, but it was great.  I learned a lot.  I learned a lot about the new camera and I learned a lot about how I have no idea how to use most of my gear.  When the weather gets better, I'll be back out there for another sunrise.  Until then, here's 10 pictures and some foolish comments.

This is about an hour before the sun was supposed to rise.  The camera really does well in low to no light and I really love all the colors in this shot.

This is a picture where the file sizes really start to get massive.  This is a composite of two photos and when I looked at the finished product, it was nearly 750 mb, or the size of a movie.  I've already had to invest in new memory cards and a new hard drive.

I couldn't keep the rain off of my lens, so I tried to embrace it.  The pictures get fuzzy, but I feel like the water flares give each picture something unique.

This is another composite that relies heavily on the the water droplets messing up my shots.

This being Korea, there were quite a few people here by sunrise.  Korea, where you're never alone.

Homigot is also home to the National Lighthouse Museum, so if you're into that kind of thing, check it out.

You don't go anywhere near the water here without seeing somebody fishing.

Being outside for all these years has given the hand really cool color and texture and I wanted to try to show that here.

I suppose these waters are full of octopus.  If you like octopus, Korea is a great place to eat them.

In my mind the sun was going to rise between the fingers of the hand and I'd get this beautiful orange and blue picture with birds flying majestically through the shot.  Instead, it just stayed gray.

So there we go.  My first trip with the d800.  I've had the camera a little over a week and so far I love it.  The file sizes are indeed insane, but they just make for some incredibly deep, rich, textured photos.  The one thing the camera doesn't do though is make you an amazing photographer.  Sadly, not every time I point my camera do I get a keeper.  But when you get it right, you're rewarded.  I'm feeling re-energized, ready to get back out into the world and take pictures again.