Foggy-ness
This past weekend, we took a trip down to the central CA coast to Santa Cruz for some fun and games. We have some good friends from our church that have a couple kids about the same age as our two kids. The four of them really get along awesomely together. We decided that we would all go to Santa Cruz for the weekend, where there is a boardwalk along the ocean with a carnival and a lot of rides and games and such. We spent most of the day, Saturday, there. The kids definitely had a lot of fun on the rides and playing together. So did the adults, I think. In particular, Jadon and I had a blast on the log splash ride (we did that one a couple times, but my wife didn’t want to get cold and wet so she skipped it). On Sunday, we did some shopping in Capitola in the morning, and then went to the beach after lunch for a couple hours. Again, the kids had plenty of fun playing together on the beach before we had to drive home (and getting sand in every nook and cranny of their bodies).
For me, though, if I am going anywhere, I want to try to get in some photography as well. I had plans to shoot sunset Friday night, then get up early on Saturday morning and Sunday morning as well. I did all of that. But the weather did not co-operate. Summer is not the best time to go to the California coast (for photography, that is). The most likely weather scenario you will experience is FOG. Friday night sunset was completely fogged out. We went to a beach north of Santa Cruz, but couldn’t see a thing!. Definitely no sun to be seen. Not exactly what I had envisioned for a nice sunset. When I woke up Saturday morning, Santa Cruz was still soaked in fog. But fog can be a good thing as well, and I made the most of it by going to the pier in Capitola. I wanted to get a pre-dawn shot of the pier soaked in fog, with the pier lights on. I think it turned out okay, though I was hoping for a much thicker fog. This shot was taken at f/8, about 20 seconds.
I wasn’t sure what to expect when I arrived in Capitola at 5:30AM, an hour before sunrise. But one thing for sure is that I wasn’t expecting to see anyone! And yet, very surprisingly, there were plenty of people out and about: surfers, fishermen, kayakers. I couldn’t believe it. But I was the only photographer out and about, so I had the pier all to myself to photograph. Those other people may have thought it strange I was taking photos of the pier in the dark, but hey, I thought they were strange to be out surfing in the dark.
After it got light out and as I was just about done shooting, I thought my camera had broken! At first, I thought it was the battery, so I changed it, but it still did not work. Oh ain’t that just great, I thought. But I got back to the car, and tried it again, and it was all of a sudden working again! What the hey? I was relieved, but it made no sense at all. It took me a while to figure out what the problem was, when it stopped working again the next morning. Then I realized it was the new cable release that I had just bought. The camera wouldn’t work with the cable release plugged in, but it worked without it. Well, that sucks, I thought. But then I realized the cable release did work, as long as I turned the camera on first and then plugged the cable release in (instead of plugging the release in first). Well, it is a bit quirky (my old cable release didn’t have this feature, and it was exactly the same brand), but it was a big relief that it works at least.
Here’s another one taken a bit later in the morning. I’m not sure which of the two I like better. This one was taken at f/16, 20 seconds. I like the effect that the smaller aperture had on the lights on the pier.
