It's All About the Light...Revisit to Willis Wharf, Virginia

 

I just finished teaching a photography class and told the story of one of my favorite photos.  I was on the Eastern Shore of Virginia for a family wedding.  It was October and we headed down a few days early to explore the area and just relax.  To me, relaxing means setting the alarm for 3 am and hauling out a bunch of photography gear to some unexplored location in hopes of finding something to photograph.

Someone had told me about Willis Wharf, an authentic fishing village with lots of rustic piers and crumbling shacks.  My kind of joint!  I arrived at first light and the sunrise was epic.  My camera was already installed on a tripod and so when the winding road took a curve and I hit water I was instantly ready to shoot.  The above photo was one of the first of many shot that morning and this shot proudly hangs in my living room.

Fast forward three years.  I retired and we relocated to the Delmarva Peninsula.  It was late December, New Year's Eve to be exact, and we did an overnight to Virginia Beach.  "Let's stop by Wills Wharf on the way," I said to my husband.  "It's such a cute little village.  You'll like it."

So we followed the signs to Wills Wharf and as we hit that curve that gives you the first glance of water, my jaw dropped.  It wasn't even a creek, it was a drainage gully that was flat out butt-ugly!  I wish I had taken a shot from the exact location so that you could see what a difference the right light makes, but it was so ugly that I never thought to photograph it.  I did, however, have my drone with me and took some interesting shoots around the area.

The moral story?  Not sure.  Except maybe that it is all about the light.  Had I scoped out this location in the middle of the day, I probably wouldn't have gone back.  I'm never really comfortable wondering around in the dark in unknown locations but sometimes stepping out of your comfort zone really pays off.