The World Around Us… (post 18)

Steven Nagle
Jan 25, 2021
2 min read

Saint John USVI – Probably the best week of 2020

Okay, it has been a while and a lot has happened since my last post, (April 19, 2020) but I am finally finding the time to get back to my blog and photography. We will call 2020 a terribly slow year where we did not go out that much. However, one of our daughters with the help of many things falling in to place at the right time provided us one of the best weeks of 2020, a destination wedding on St John, USVI. I was not the photographer and really did not have any plans of going out shooting but…yes that “but”... I did have one day to walk about by myself.

The Island is a photographers’ dream with awesome sunrises and sunsets. Flowers, wildlife, beaches, boats, and everything in between. So, on that one day I had, I grab my camera, tripod, a few extra accessories and headed out. A short walk around the corner and up a hill from where we were staying (Gallows Pt resort) I came to an overlook with a site I could not have imagined, a sailing ship anchored in the shallows with unbelievable colors of the ocean and Saint Thomas in the background. Puffy clouds were starting to gather giving the sky its own look and adding to the overall feel. I set the camera on the tripod and started shooting. The picture below is probably the 10th one I took of this scene as I was constantly changing my settings looking for that one shot, I would be happy with.

Camera Settings

Canon 5D Mark IV

Lens: EF15-35 f/2.8L III USM

Settings: Exposure 1/25, f/20, iso100, focal length 35mm

Tripod: Yes

Filter: CPL

My walk took me back to the Gallows point beach area where I decided to get wet, this shot was taken in chest deep water (praying a wave did not knock me over). This is also one of those shots that you do not do alone and lucky for me my wife has a lot of patience 😊. Seeing the composition I wanted all I had to do was get in position. I eased into the water, had my wife hand me my camera and I slowly maneuvered into position keeping an eye on the waves and my footing. I got off two shots and quickly returned before I had one of those “oh crap” moments.