Woke up on Saturday and decided to head over to the shore to camp, relax and do some shooting. My destination was Assateague Island state park and national seashore. I arrived in the late afternoon, made camp then hit the beach for a long, relaxing walk.
After dinner and sunset, it was back out onto the beach for some night photography. The full moon provided amazing illumination for some of the long exposure shots I collected of the ocean, beach and dunes. I’ll probably add some of these to my photography portfolio once I have a chance to sort through them. One is in the photogallery below. Toward the end of the night shoot a major electrical storm was blowing in from the west. I grabbed a few grainy shots of the storm system before the wind began to pick up and I headed back to camp. Saturday night was a torrential downpour: lightening crackeled – you know it’s close when the flash and crack happen simultaneously – and the wind whipped my little two person tent violently. I was pretty sure that if I fell asleep I was going to wake with the tent wrapped around my head. Even with all the wind and noise and worries of tent failure I did fall asleep around 1AM. When I woke in the morning I was warm and dry – Yay!
Despite being a bit short on sleep, Sunday was an amazing day of shooting encompassing horses, birds, insects and lots of plants. I had never seen Indian Pipes before and I, at first, misidentified it as some kind of fungi – a Ranger set me straight. Indian pipes are a fast-growing, chlorophyl-less plant that has a symbiotic relationship with a soil fungi that feeds on decaying plant matter to provides nutrients to the plant. I’m not sure what the fungi gets out of the relationship… I’ll have to research it further. Another name for Indian Pipes is the Corpse Plant… I can see why – photo is in the gallery below.
After a full day of hiking and shooting I headed back to DC to my mosquito free, air-conditioned apartment to shower off the sunscreen and deet. I love the outdoors, but it’s always good to get home 🙂
Location: Assateague Island National Seashore, Site B-24
Altitude: 0.38 m