Cretaceous Park Doesn't Have The Same Ring!

So, the weather was less than cooperative on Thursday. We awoke to a thicker than Pea Soup fog that didn’t seem to left all day. I watched for a bright spot, hoping for a bit of sun but to no avail. All week we’ve been driving by this closed miniature golf course at the end of the street. The appeal for me was the place was crawling with dinosaurs. Okay, not really crawling but there were a bunch. I thought this might make for an interesting photo or two. And throughout the week, we always had things to do and places to go. But not today. So, during a time when the light coming through our windows seemed to brighten, I grabbed my camera and headed for the corner. Upon arriving at the closed golf course, I noticed a bunch of activity. There were people ripping up the old carpet, cleaning the “fairways” while others were laying new carpet and putting fresh paint on some of the other props. I walked up to a couple of guys manning a rake and a hose to ask if they knew who was the owner or in charge. They indicated I could speak with them. Now, I don’t consider myself a bold individual but I am getting a bit more backbone when it comes to asking for access to what I want to shoot, especially when it involves private property. This is a key piece of information for all of you shutterbugs. Any shot you can achieve from a public place, park, sidewalk, road, etc. is fair game but the moment you step onto private property, even if it’s in the driveway, you must have permission from the landowner. After procuring the necessary permission with a warning to keep off the carpet, I began trying to capture these dinosaurs. Easy, right? Wrong! This is a busy street corner in a major city. There are wires over head. It’s a place set up for the public with lots of lighting because theoretically one could play the course during the evening hours. All of these things add to the difficulty in trying to capture a “believable” image. Now, I know there are no more dinosaurs but hey, I really wanted to get something I could turn into a note card to sell. I have dozens of photos young ladies find interesting but very few photos equally interesting for young men. And who doesn’t love dinosaurs. Four of the creatures were relatively uncomplicated; the velociraptor,  brachiosaurus, T-Rex and the frilled and hooded Dilophosaurus. Proving much more difficult were the two armored dinosaurs and most difficult was the stegosaurus, the image I wanted most to bring home. By evening, the sky finally turned mostly blue with a few wispy clouds. We grabbed a quick supper and headed off to grab a sunset before heading home in the morning. We found a lovely spot just over the Maryland-Delaware border and waited. The timing had been perfect. I had enough time to set up the tripod, police the area for stray branches in the way and take a few test shots. About 3 other vehicles pulled in with the same idea, to enjoy a beautiful end of day. As I am fond of saying, “I enjoy taking sunrise and sunset shots. There is one of each every day but each is very different.” And I wasn’t disappointed this evening. The orange ball slowly slunk away from the daylight tossing a bit of color to the immediate vicinity but no further. I waited for a full half hour after the sun was below the horizon knowing the show, the best color, hangs on until the last. But it wasn’t meant to be on this evening.