stories
foggy boats
pictured capturing the sail boats at Maldon's Hythe Quay appearing through the mist with a golden sunrise, so off to bed early with the alarm set for 5am.
First glance out of the bedroom window at 5am was greeted by pea soup fog with the street lamp bearly visible, so much for "patchy mist" but undaunted into the car went the gear and off I set for Maldon, normally a 20 minute drive away.
The fog seemed to increase as I headed towards Maldon, bearly able to see 10 feet in front of the car the roads always look difference in the dark (especially so when it's so foggy) so needless to say I went down the wrong road in Maldon town centre and had to wriggle through tiny tracks to get to the quay and park up some 40 minutes after leaving home and now only a 1/2 hour to sunrise.
Quickly on with the boots, fleece & coat and off to reccy the situation at the estuary. The horizon was starting to appear lighter but the fog was such that I couldn't see my hands let alone any
boats but at least the tide was out which meant I should be able to get down on the shoreline.
I headed back to the car hoping that the sun would come up in 15 minutes and start burning the fog off, and settled down to wait listening to the radio wishing I had made a flask of coffee and a bacon roll.
The dashboard clock says 6.05am and technically sunrise, so back out, kitted up and strolled back up to the estuary hoping to see the sun burning off the fog, boats appearing, herds of wilderbeast and the hanging gardens of babylon in the - but alas no, just thick pea soup fog albeit a bit brighter now.
What to do ? - will the fog stay around all morning, how long will it take to burn off ? - is it worth waiting ? Back again to the car to consider the options ( mental note: next time bring a BACON SARNY & COFFEE !!) - tried to check the weather again on my nokia phone 3G internet, but by the time the web page would have finished loading it would be nightfall and my mobile bill another £3 heavier. On with the radio again BBC Essex to see if they would give me a clue about how long the fog would take to lift- eventually the weather broadcast came on and "mid morning" was the offering - what is mid morning? sunrise 6am-noon makes it 9am and the time now is 6.30am. do they mean all burnt off by 9am? in which case 7.30ish should provide a chance for me to a least grab a couple of frames to justify the 5am alarm.
Another half hour of mindless babble and noise from the radio drove me out of the car to have another reccy to see how the fog was clearing. Back up to the estuary and YES I could just see wilderbeast and hanging gardens in the murky distance ( think the radio has affected my sanity)
panic stations - jog back to the car, kit on, grab camera bag, tripod - heart thumping in anticipation of the "perfect" capture.
Quick march on the double back up the to estuary and the first boats look a decent composition a group of four with good colour and algae on the foreground dingy with a hazy sun appearing through the fog. Up with the tripod, firmly sink it into the stinking mud, camera out, check settings AV, f/16, iso100, RAW, one shot, on with 6ND grad filter bracket, spirit level, remote cord. - (why does the set up always seem to be done in a panic at
super speed ?) start fiddling with composition, move tripod adjust height and ready to go.
First shot under exposed to the left- adjust ev +2/3rd - shoot again; - got it
then off to the next composition - a single dingy with mooring chains
fog burning off quickly now - onto next composition covererd boat with sail boat in background
on to final shot of the sail boat -
All done - back to car and off to find that bacon sarny
Mike Byford