I had lots of fun family time this weekend instead of roaming with the camera, but I did want to sneak in a quick 2012 shot. Since I began this blog site in January 2006 I have always found a way to nab a quick shot of the capitol with its windows declaring the new year. During that time I’ve just about shot every available angle of the thing, but I was able to grab something a little different this time around.

I did go out after midnight, chuckling at all the other like-minded souls roaming the capitol grounds with their cameras, but I found the experience lacking this time around. The reason for that is the clear sky; it doesn’t reflect any light on the capitol, so in order to properly expose the windows one must underexpose the building even more than I’d like. That almost gives the 2012 an appearance of floating in midair. Here’s where my “technical creativity” kicked in: I figured I’d let the sun help me out.

I packed up my gear this morning before sunrise, got into position, and waited for the sun to give me just enough scattered light in the atmosphere and on the capitol tower without competing with the 2012 in the windows. It was a fine balance, and I actually set an intervalometer to sit and take shots every 30 seconds so I could catch the right window of time, and that was that.

The shot above has the windows lit with the new year, the tower and town are visible, the sky is a nice blue, and it looks like everything worked as planned. Also important is that I think, out of all the people who photographed the building, I have a very unique photo.

Happy New Year!