Day 01 – The First Day of the Workshop
Our group arrived today. They braved the high winds coming over the bridges to the Outer Banks, but even though Hurricane Sandy is making things a bit “breezy,” we have seen much heavier rains out here.
People are fascinated by the storm. Many never have a chance to witness a hurricane first hand, and this is an easy one to be in. Most of it is offshore, so we are merely on the periphery. After we went over our first-day introductions and got people set up as we recommend, we asked them if they were willing to brave the winds and wet conditions to do some photography. Everyone was game which pleased Arnie and me to no end.
We all bundled up, encasing our cameras in their various rain jackets, and drove down to a nearby pier where Arnie and I had gone this morning for some photos before our participants arrived. Yesterday, we were told the pier would close at noon. When we arrived this morning, everything was locked down. During the night, the storm path had changed. No surprise there, as Mother Nature always has a mind of her own. The winds had increased over yesterday’s predictions, and with the full moon, we had a flood tide to add to the normal hurricane high waters.
When we arrived, we were greeted by spume. Lots of spume. “Spume?” you ask. It is basically the foam that is created by broken down proteins or organic matter. That’s a simplified explanation, but it will do for now. The way the spume was being whipped around by the wind reminded me of snow. It was amazing. You can see the effect in the photograph above. For a larger view, head over to our Facebook page and go to the Lighthouses of the Outer Banks 2012 album.
Our participants got to witness it, too. It made fascinating patterns as the waves crashed ashore. A wind devil would whip up a batch and it would twirl into oblivion.
Everyone had a great time, but enough was enough. The wind had really picked up, so that the gusts were probably in the 70 mpg range. There are sophisticated instruments at the pier that reported steady winds in the 50s. Shortly before we left, Arnie reported one gust so strong that he was afraid it would take him over the railing. He braced himself and was safe. Earlier, I encountered a gust that tried to grab me. I hung onto the railing and was fine, too. One just has to be respectful and vigilant in weather like this.
We got some final photographs and retreated to our cars for the short ride back to the inn. It was time to get the computers set up, download images, and start making selections before our traditional wine-and-pizza reception.
Since a visible sunrise is highly unlikely, impossible, actually here on the Outer Banks tomorrow morning, we get to sleep in a tad, and we’ll start with imaging, then head out when the winds have abated a bit.
Next: More Weather and Perhaps a Tamer Sandy
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