"Ominous Sunset" - How I got the shot

Background

For the first few hours of light on the morning of September 19, 2017, I thought my camera was one of the casualties of Hurricane Maria. Whenever I switched it on, the light would blink once but the screen would remain dark.

By mid-morning however, the device showed more significant signs of life, and I was relieved. I guess it was traumatized and just needed some time, just like the rest of us.

I had only one charged battery and no one/nowhere had electricity at that time so I used the camera sparingly.

Fast forward to October 24, 2017…

The nation-wide curfew was still in full effect, but I often took the chance and stayed out after dark in order to photograph or other sites near Roseau. Morne Bruce was one of my favorite locations before Hurricane Maria, but now even more so, because the scale of destruction was more apparent from that perspective.

The visions

It was my intention to capture an epic sunset after a long day of rain and foul weather. I also hoped to capture the city lights in the foreground.

For the most part, after I have visualized the final image, getting the shot is simply an exercise in patience. For this one, I knew I would need multiple images to show a colorful sky and the lights of the city.

To accomplish this I started shooting before the sunset, continued well into the early evening and ended up with 70 images. I only ended up using 15 off these -- 3 for the sky and 12 to create the trail of car lights along the streets of Roseau.

Final thoughts

This image is one off my personal favorites. The sky has an otherworldly look, as if another super storm is on itts way.. Destruction from Hurricane Maria is still very obvious if you look closely to the foreground (Botanic Gardens).

© 2018 Yuri A Jones | Ominous Sunset, captured from Morne Bruce, Dominica (available as a canvas print here.)