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| Turkey Point Lighthouse, MD |
I always get excited on days when there is a sunny blue sky that is scattered big puffy clouds. These are the ingredients for a potential good sunset. These were the conditions on February 18th, 2011. So I collected my camera equipment and my dog, Sparky, and hopped in the car. The destination was Turkey Point out near North East, Maryland. Why name a town after a direction I don't know, it must lead to a lot of confusion...
I took the back roads from my house to avoid the toll at the Susquehanna River crossing. When I got to the Conowingo Dam I of course stopped into the lot for a touch of eagle watching. This time of year there are not too many eagles hanging around Conowingo because they are all paired up and perfecting their nests before the eggs arrive.
I knew there was a lighthouse out on Turkey Point but in reality I was hoping to get some great long exposure shots of the water as it lapped in on a rocky beach. Turns out Turkey Point is up on a cliff, likely 100 foot cliff. There were one or two spots where you could probably make it down the hill (getting back up is another matter) but the beach was made up of large rocks, a man made beach to stop erosion. Not exactly pretty. So me and Sparky headed back the trail to the lighthouse.
We saw signs for a spot on the trail called "Hawk Fields". I readied my 500mm lens and crept out of the woods as to not scare all the hawks. Of course there were no hawks to be seen. In fact, that field was strangely empty of any birds. So on we hiked. After about a mile we arrived at the lighthouse on the point. I kept out the 500mm lens hoping for some sailboats to pass by, but again there were none to be seen. In the end I plopped down on a bench and waited for sunset while keeping an eye out for passing boats. The only boat to pass was a barge, a big ugly barge.
The clouds started to dissipate as the sun set lower. Luckily there were still a few around when the sun lit up the western sky. In the end the only wildlife I saw was a bunch of seagulls and a black rat snake sunning itself. I got lucky that the clouds were still around at sunset and gave me a real nice show. It is always wise to go into an area with an idea of what to look for for a great shot. It is also wise to not force a shot but take what is given.
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