On my second day of owning the Tamron 70-200m F/2.8 G2 I was still itching to go shoot something, ANYTHING, with this lens. A location I hadn't been to in years called Wasaga beach was on my hit list because I learned the sun sets over the beach and it is the longest fresh water beach in the world.
I'm going to repeat that. Wasaga beach is THE longest fresh water beach in the WORLD. It brags of 14kms of sandy shore and breathtaking sunsets. I'm going to throw a link to the tourism site below. I can tell you right now Wasaga delivered!
As luck would have it as soon as I arrived I was greeted by...
A seagull...
So I photographed the &^%$ out of it!
Not satisfied I took a few shots of the burning sun in all it's fiery glory. I should add that I have no idea what I'm doing in order to grab a clean sunset shot. I went on instinct and played around with the settings in camera exposing for sky sometimes and shoreline for other. I played with metering modes a little as well. I never did go back and compare one group of settings to another. Opps!
The Tamron is NOT a small lens. I can't get away with taking most peoples photo and not have them be aware of it like I can with my 35mm prime. When the Tamron is pointing at you it feels like a bazooka is incoming! I bring this up because I really wanted to try a photo of a couple walking the beach as a silhouette. Since I couldn't be subtle with my photography I decided to try a bold approach and I walked up to the young couple and asked if they would mind helping me out for a few shots and I would send them the photos in exchange.
Now that we had a working relationship established and I was less paparazzi and more legitimate we did a quick 3 min walk back and forth followed by a shot looking at the sunset. I grabbed their email and walked on.
Less than 100m later I found a young guy taking photos of a pair of giggling girls trying to get very similar shots to the ones I had just taken. Feeling bold with the previous experience behind me of asking strangers if I could take their photo I tried my luck and everyone was all for it. Another 3 min session with the girls wondering what they should do, I offered them the idea of forming a heart with their arms. Turns out a bit of coordination and maybe practice should go into this composition! Lessons learned on these shots are 1) Sometimes simple poses aren't really that simple, and 2) The sun doesn't always end up in the spot you planned when composing your photo because you try to click the shutter when the heart is formed but you aren't in position for the sun yet.
Big take away is this can be incredible and easy as well. I recommend a tripod, a remote, the ability to walk over and pose and frame and mold your subjects and most importantly the time to get it right.
