Rumours of Rain

Hudson river, New York state (somewhere between Albany and New York city)
 
Recently, I had the opportunity to meet with my friends and fellow photographers Ken Pass and Roy Stevens in USA, while attending (among others) the 60th NECCC meeting in Massachusetts. After we spent five fantastic days together (I came back with 999 photos in my luggage), I took the train from Albany to New York, on my way to Newark International airport.. and back home. While on the train, I saw the clouds playing games with the sun over the Hudson river. I chose the 12-24 mm lens which would add some drama to the scene with its extreme wide angle view (while I even considered the 10.5 mm fisheye lens for a moment) and set it wide open to ensure I had the maximum speed. While taking those shots a lot of things passed in front of my lens (trees, electric pylons, people, cars etc.) so I had to wait for empty "scenes" before pressing the shutter release button. When back home I was nicely surprised to see that this set of photos had enough "drama" in it, however I decided to add a bit of contrast to emphasize the difference in light levels. In such cases you have to act quickly - the opportunity will not wait for you. Twenty minutes later, the sun was complete obscured, heavy clouds were everywhere and it started raining.
The best comment I heard about the second photo is "It looks like Heaven is shining through.".
This set of photos is dedicated to Amy Pass, a fellow photographer who loves black and white photography. This is as close as it gets.. in color !

Photos by George J. Reclos

Shooting data:

Camera: Nikon D2X
Lens: Sigma 12-24 mm D, 1:4.5-5.6, DG HSM
Sensitivity: ISO100
Shutter speed: 1/125 sec; 1/250 sec; 1/500 sec and 1/640 sec respectively @ f/5.6, Aperture priority mode
Flash: None
Image: JPEG edited in Photoshop CS2, levels adjusted, increased contrast, Smart sharpening added and resized.