Don't be bashful! If you want comments, give comments. You don't need to be an expert photographer to express your opinion about the work of others. You don't need to go into great depth. A simple remark about cropping, composition, color, subject matter, etc. can be of just as much help to a budding photographer as an in-depth critique.
For me, shooting sunrises and sunsets has always been as much relaxation therapy as photographic challenge—and I hope it will be the same thing for you. Your assignment for this chapter is to photograph a sunrise or a sunset with an interesting foreground. Use your imagination and your knowledge of your own area to find a shot that is both pretty and representative of where you live—such as photographing a local railroad bridge at sunrise or sunset over the city skyline. Find an interesting foreground subject and then silhouette it against the sky.
I took this photograph while on a weekend shooting trip to Galilee, Rhode Island. I had been wandering around the huge fishing boats all afternoon, and I knew that if I could position the sun behind the rigging of one of the boats, I’d have the shot I was after. The sun only barely broke out of the clouds, but because I had pre-scouted the exact view I wanted, I was able to fire off a dozen shots of the rigging, silhouetted against a pretty sunset sky. Taken with a 70-300mm Nikkor zoom lens at 1/80 sec., f/9, at ISO 200.
Remember to visit www.pwassignments.com after you complete this assignment and share your favorite photo! It’s a community of enthusiastic photographers and a great place to view what other readers have created. You can also post comments, and read encouraging suggestions and feedback.