Night on the Lac Léman

Went camping along the Lake Leman. By camping, I mean staying in cabins not too far from the water’s edge. On our first night there, Grace and I sat on one of the docks along the shore. Being there  reminded us of another lake in a country far, far away.

We talked about life and whatever else flooded our minds at the time. Both being interested in night photography, we turned on our DSLRs and challenged ourselves with the scenery.

White balancing night shots has become my most recent issue. For this image, I lit up the subject in red and green light during exposure. Ugh! That yellowish tint still showed through!  Still, it looks better than the shots without the green and red light. Those were even yellower, probably caused by a lonely street light up on the road.

Here is a shot of the city across the lake. It could be anything from Yvoire to Thonon-les- Bains. Given our location, it was probably the latter.

I actually find this image very interesting for several reasons. First of all, do you notice that pink tint in the clouds? Given the time that this image was taken, it’s probably light pollution. That’s actually really sad. Had the night been clear and the moon gone, one probably wouldn’t be able to get good pictures of the stars.

The second thing (noticed as the picture was being up loaded) is the mountains in the background. Do you see that pyramid shaped thing? In the center, almost faded into the sky? Could that be the Matterhorn!?  It might be!

If it was, that would make me incredibly happy! Painted this on commission at age 15.  The mountain was chosen at random but before coming to Europe, I realized that it was the one and only Matterhorn. This whole time I’ve lived less than an three hour drive yet haven’t found a way.  It was really my dream to see it but now that the time is up, even knowing that I’d seen it at a distance would be elating.

Oh, and here is a 2009 google image  of the dock with the boats.  The night we took the images, Grace and I were sitting on the next to the last platform on the right (behind the car).