It's been a while since I have gone out for the pure fun of shooting at night...I think it's been because I've been in a slight funk with my photography and personal life but tonight was definitely needed. But I saw a quote the other day that said... "The only way out is through." and that really struck home for me.

I recently just sold my 5D3 and upgraded to a Sony A7Rii and I think tonight was a good test run. Lots of shadows, lots of highlights, levitating photos, etc. And to sum it all up, it did the job quite well! It's a big change coming from using Canon for 7 years. The buttons are very different and menus are way different. It's a learning curve but the only way to learn is to keep shooting!

Rachel joined me and was my model for the night. Being as she's behind the camera 99% of the time...I think she did a pretty damn good job.

I guess I should introduce myself first....My name is Connor Surdi and I am a photographer from Seattle, WA. This photo trip was a bit difficult to say the least....I left to hike Pilchuck around 2AM. But - as soon as I was about .6 miles away from the trailhead, the road was blocked with fallen trees and bushes. So I had to find a cool place to go to and some place that was easy to get to by sunrise....And the Big Four Ice Caves was about 40 minutes down the road! So - I ended up driving there and walking in the dark with a terrible spotlight until I reached the caves...Or shall I say, Cave..Since the other 3 have already melted away. I fell asleep and set an alarm for the sunrise but...I was so cozied up in my sleeping bag, I woke up, saw the sunrise, made a mental photo of it and then just went back to sleep. Do I regret it? Yes, it was a beautiful orange hue with fluffy clouds. I'll just go back another day, no problem! As soon as I woke up again a few hours later, Skye and I just walked around the caves and even went in for a few minutes. This cave is melting quick and it's not safe at all to go inside of it but......I got some cool photos out of it and I'm still alive so I can call that a mission success. After shooting inside the cave and outside with the smoke grenades, we walked over to the little waterfall area and just enjoyed the sun beating down on us while we tried to warm up from the icy cave earlier. I thought it would be a good idea to try and climb up onto the big rock and take a photo of me...But man I didn't realize how difficult that would be! Nearly killed myself but hey, I have a cool photo so it was worth it. After we walked around that area..It was time to go home. My second trip to the Ice caves was definitely worth it! Until next time.

Night Adventure in Seattle

The Last Cave

connor surdi