The Best Photo I've Ever Taken

Back in 2009, my wife was in Halifax for a business conference. I happened to be off that week so she suggested that I fly out and meet her once the conference was over. I’d never been to Halifax so I jumped at the chance. It was November, a relatively mild one for the east coast. I remember getting off the plane and having to take my jacket off because it was so warm! I’d only had my camera for a few months so I was looking forward to taking it out and getting some decent photos (I was looking forward to seeing my wife too, but seeing as we’re talking photography, I can just assume you all know that already). We had 3 days to wander around and act like a couple of tourists.

On the first day (well, actually the day I arrived) we took a wander down to the boardwalk and took a nice leisurely stroll along the waterfront. It was an absolutely gorgeous day! I happily snapped away to my heart’s content while she waited for me to indulge in my newest hobby. I managed to snap a few good pics that day but nothing really to write home about.

On day 2, we set out to see the sites (another absolutely stunning day). Our first stop was the Citadel, the fort that overlooks Halifax. It was closed… OK, no problem. Let’s see what else we can find. We wandered around the city for a while, visiting such sites as The Maritime Museum of the Atlantic (I actually sat in a replica of one of the deck chairs from the Titanic), The Canadian Museum of Immigration at Pier 21 (Where my father actually came into Canada back in the early 1950’s) and Alexander Keith's Nova Scotia Brewery (Free beer!). Another good day for pictures, but still nothing spectacular.

Day 3 was slightly colder but it was our last day so we decided to cram as much into the day as possible. We got up early and headed back to the Citadel which was open this time. We wandered around for a while and took it all in. The view of Halifax from the fort is outstanding. We had rented a car the day before with the thought that we’d make a side trip out to Peggy’s Cove. We really had no idea where we were going but it’s not like that was going to deter us. I’d never seen an ocean before and I wasn’t going to let a little thing like “directions” slow me down. We managed to blunder our way down the Lighthouse Route (funnily enough, we didn’t see a lot of lighthouses…) and finally arrived at Peggy’s Cove. The wind was whipping up and it was cold but we were there! I saw the ocean!!! There weren’t a lot of tourists there for a change (guess the weather scared most of them away) so we pretty much had the place to ourselves.

We grabbed a quick bite to eat (an excuse to warm up…) before we set out to see the sites. By the time we’d finished the sun had broken through the clouds and it was beginning to look like another beautiful day. We wandered around for a while taking it all in. I managed to snap a few good pics around the cove (I even managed to get a shot of the Lighthouse WITHOUT any tourists in the shot) and as we were walking back to the restaurant across the rocks I stopped and took a pic. It was a good pic, I liked it. It was the Lighthouse way off to the west. Then I remembered something. My brand new Nikon camera had a swivel screen. I popped it open and set the camera down on the ground, tuned on live view (that’s the function that lets you use the screen to take the photo instead of the viewfinder) and snapped this pic:

Wow. Now THIS was the kind of pic I was looking for! I know some may not think it’s that great but to me, it’s easily the best photo I’ve ever taken.