The Windsor/Detroit Waterfront

    I took these few shots I share here today back on June 28, 2007.  I was at the Windsor waterfront with a friend of mine form church and a friend of his; who was an amateur photographer.  I had only had my new camera for a few months and hadn't started really learning how to use it yet.  He showed me how to set the aperture to stay open longer with the camera on a tri-pod.  He explained to me that with the aperture open longer for a night shot it allowed the lights to be focused longer and the picture to appear crisper.  I have to admit that when I got home and opened this shot I was pretty happy.  The picture and composition was like a post card.  I was hooked and had to try more.

    As the sun sank that night, the sky lit up a rich orange.  I focused my camera with a zoom lens across the river where this lone water tower stuck up between some buildings. All of which appeared to be abandoned and dark. The contrast of the rich, bright orange sky and the blacked out buildings made for this shot. I think it turned out pretty good. 

     While strolling along looking for shots and talking we came to this spot where the pier jutted out into the river with an old fashioned lamp post at the end. I liked the composition of the rail in the for ground with the pier and it's lamp centered and the Ren Cen of the Detroit Sky line in the background and finally the light of the lamp on the water through the rails. So I set up the tri-pod again and set the aperture to stay open for about 14 seconds. My friend had said "one is good, two is better".  Meaning it was always better to take at least 2 shots to insure you got the shot.  So I reset and was about to take the shot when a couple walked out  to the end of the pier. I was going to wait for them to leave but thought they could stay there for quite some time and so figured a shot with people on the pier might be cool. So I took the shot. After about 4 second of the aperture being open they walked off the pier. I figured the shot was spoiled and took a third. When I got home and checked the shot though I was pleasantly surprised. Take a look at what I found .....

    Look closely at the end of the pier and you see a "Ghost Figure" there, under the lamp.  I couldn't have staged such a shot if I had wanted to at that point in my photographic knowledge.  I had come away with a cool shot that I didn't plan or know I had. The lady was wearing an older style trench coat and appears to be an apparition from the past looking at the current state of the waterfront. All in all it was good night of learning and snapping photo's.  I hope you enjoy them as much as I enjoyed taking them and discovering the passion of Photography. I will always "Remember When ...." I took my camera for a stroll by the waterfront.