The Massive USS Midway

So, this is my 100th blog post. And to mark history, what better way than to do this than to have a shot of the historic aircraft carrier, the USS Midway. Ok! I know I am not famous. But, the USS midway has certainly gotten around, in her almost 50 years of service in the fleet.

The USS Midway decommissioned for the last time in 1992. For about 10 years, she sat up "mothballed" in Bremerton, WA, until finally making her way to San Diego, in early 2004, to become a permanent museum which not only shows off the carrier itself, but also a lot of the vintage aircraft that once flew off her flight deck.

For this shot, I did what is usually not the best idea. Shoot straight towards the bright sunshine. Now this wasn't sunset time, yet. It was about 1 1/2 hours or so away. But, what attracted me to this shot was how the light was reflecting off the water and onto the bow of the ship, by the anchor.

I sat for a while and waited for a perfect foreground object to make the shot even better. I waited probably around 20 minutes. I actually lost a little of the light reflected on the ship, but when these 2 couples appeared and they both simultaneously pointed at the ship, I knew that was going to be the best shot of this today.

This shot was going to be nothing but a black-n-white shot. Even the original color version of the photo is very hard to see any color. What I like is the scale between the ship and the people. Also, the marine layer was coming in, yet the sun was still above it. I did not mind at all that the sky is a bit overexposed. i didn't care. In fact, it made the shot clean.

The components, besides the people in this shot and the carrier itself, that I liked in this shot were the little sailboats off in the distance.  I thought it was a nice touch without cluttering the shot at all.

I have another idea for this shot. It just needs the right foreground subject. Stay tuned if i am lucky to get that shot.