Evening's Kiss

Posted by Don Smith (California, United States) on 19 June 2009 in Landscape & Rural.

One of the most important lessons I've learned in my many years of shooting landscapes is never try to second-guess Mother Nature - she'll throw you a curve more times than not. Such was the case for this image captured on the last night of my Redwoods/Mendocino workshop on a somewhat secluded beach below the small enclave of Elk, California. In fact, I learned that these "curve balls" usually present some unique photographic opportunities.

Our group had encountered two straight evenings of fog (which made for beautiful wildflower light) and the weather pattern was seemingly on-track for a repeat performance. Posted sunset on this evening was 8:42 pm. By 4 pm, the soup was moving back in off the Pacific, so the plan was for an early dinner at a cool little restaurant in Mendocino, then a location shoot atop the bluffs of Cuffy Cove which I felt would work well in the soft light.

By 6:30 pm, we were on location and the light was holding, but within 30 minutes, the fog began to dissipate and broken clouds and blue sky served as our palette. It appeared as if another wall of fog would descend upon us from the north so we decided to wait it out and see what would develop. Finally, I made the call to descend off the bluffs and down to the beach as I spotted many potential foreground elements (including this beautiful S-line) from this small river which flowed from the nearby mountains.

I love playing with edges in nature and spent some time discussing the possibilities for an image once the descending sun kissed the fog bank. Former legendary landscape photographer Galen Rowell wrote quite extensively in his book Mountain Light about nature's edges; he felt that was where the action was and I wholeheartedly agree.

We also talked about creating star bursts by placing a point light source (such as the sun) along an edge (such as the fog bank). I began to experiment as the sun neared the bank and by using f/22, was actually creating a star burst of the sun through the mist just above the bank. This image was my favorite of the sequence and was exactly what I had envisioned.

The next time Mother Nature throws you her proverbial "curve ball," be prepared to hit it out of the park. In other words, don't give up on the scene, be flexible with your ability to adapt and look for unexpected opportunities.

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