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Some time ago, a fellow photographer told me of Magruder's Ferry Landing, a small boat ramp on the Patuxent River in the county of Prince George's, Maryland.  Located at the very end of Magruder's Ferry Road, this ramp is known by many fishermen in the area, but not by many photographers.  What makes this location a wonderful place to capture landscape images are the wooden dock, the various pilings in the water, the beautiful trees and most importantly, the fact the dock faces east towards the rising sun.  Because of this, photographers willing to make the pre-dawn trek down to the boat ramp can expect potential opportunities to capture a variety of early morning shots utilizing the surrounding foliage, the wooden structures and the warm colors of the early morning light.  This adventure does come with its perils (ok, maybe overstated a bit) as it is very dark down by the boat ramp and the gravel road that leads to it must be traveled carefully.  Going alone can be a bit intimidating as you travel the winding gravel road in near complete darkness, working your way down to the dock area.  When I go, I bring my camera gear of course, but also warm clothes, as I go during the Fall months normally, a drink and some snacks, and most importantly, a flashlight.  This assists immensely as the sounds of the dark woods and eerie stillness of the Patuxent River has a disquieting quality that the flashlight can magically help cure.  Additionally, you need the flashlight to be able to see to avoid any missteps and help decide what type of shot set up you are looking to capture as you wait for the colors of dawn's morning light.  The available shoreline at the boat ramp is short, maybe 50-75 yards or so before the shoreline disappears into the surrounding brush.  This is more than adequate as my intent is usually focusing on the dock and adjacent pilings for my captures.

On this visit, the trip down to the dock was a little more spooky than usual.  Ok, first, it happened to be Halloween and that in itself can make things a little creepier as you are toting around in the dark woods by yourself, but on this particular morning the air was unusually heavy with a deep fog, adding to the Halloween atmosphere.  As I was getting out of my car and preparing to set up, I will admit I was far more attentive to all the sounds of the woods and felt the hair on the back of my neck stand up more than once.  I found myself swinging my flashlight around often as I would hear the occasional sound or worse yet, the rustling of leaves or sounds of movement coming from the dark woods.  After all, I was in fairly deep woods with a lot of wildlife potentially around.  Despite the haunting feelings I was experiencing, I was about to find out in a short time that this same ominous fog was going to pay major dividends in my landscape captures of the morning.

When capturing early morning or sunrise landscapes, you want to arrive very early as some of the best colors displayed by the rising sun happens 30-45 minutes prior to the sun's rise over the horizon.  Another key component in some of the best sunrise captures are clouds.  A completely cloudless sky tends to create landscapes that are just empty or void of color and interest.  But, as clouds are a key component, just as important are the type of clouds and where they are in relation to the horizon.  Clouds that are too heavy and low in the sky block light and prevent good color.  Some of the best clouds are the wispy variety, the ones that look like they were painted across the sky in quick brush strokes.  As the sun's light illuminates them, the colors can just pop with amazing yellows, oranges, reds and purples.  On this day, I did get clouds, in the form of heavy fog across the landscape.  This too has its potential.

After getting out of my car and as I started to unload all my gear and prepare to set up, I quickly realized that getting any captures of beautifully sunlit clouds was not going to happen due to the heavy fog.  Nonetheless, I proceeded forward as I knew with photography, things can change on a dime and a matter of minutes can be the difference between an ok shot to an amazing one.  Due to the heavy fog, I knew I had plenty of time now to prepare to capture some images as I would not have enough light until after the sun had risen above the horizon.  I spent that time walking the shoreline, thinking about what compositions, elements and views I wanted to capture.  I even spent time moving the picnic table down by the shoreline for a better composition as I knew I wanted to include it in my captures.  Now, I just had to wait for the sun.

As the sun started to rise above the horizon, the morning fog started to glow in this beautiful orange color, and over several minutes the colors got stronger and bolder.  I spent the next 60  minutes taking images of some of my planned compositions, focusing on the beautiful Fall colors of the surrounding trees, the dock and pilings, the shoreline's landscape and the Patuxent river beyond the shore.  To this day, it is my most memorable trip to Magruder's Ferry Landing.