Norfolk, VA

I ditched work at noon yesterday and headed for Norfolk, Virginia.  Well, actually I headed for Portsmouth, VA to shoot Norfolk from across the Elizabeth River.  Norfolk and Portsmouth are pretty cool places to visit due to all of the ships and the rich Naval history.  Norfolk isn't huge but it does have a pretty cool skyline as well.  I had never been to Portsmouth and didn't do a ton of research (I know, that's not like me - but this was a last minute decision) so I really didn't have much of an idea where I was going.  I figured that since I was arriving around 2 PM, that should give me plenty of time to explore and scope out my spot for my night shot.

The first challenge I ran into was parking.  There was a ton of street parking with parking meters but I didn't find a public lot.  I only had one quarter which was worth a whopping 15 minutes of park time.  I dropped in my quarter and went in search of a longer term solution.  That's when I had a God moment.  I was about 100 yards from my truck when a man says, "hey, don't I know you?"  Come to find out, he is someone I had just struck up a conversation with the week before while visiting my dad.  We chatted for a few minutes when I informed him that I needed to head back to my truck to try to find somewhere else to park.  The man responded that he lives in a high rise apartment right there on the waterfront and I could just bring my truck there and he would let me in the parking garage as a guest.  The garage was just 50 yards from the spot I picked as the best spot for my night cityscape.  Coincidence?  I think not.

I set out to explore and wandered all along the waterfront to see the different views of Norfolk.  Along the journey I saw some cool ducks hanging out on a retaining wall along the river.  Every time I tried to get closer to them, they would walk further down the wall.  I finally ended up lying on my belly facing the ducks.  Every minute or so I would use my arms to inch forward.  I felt like I was on some military black op sneaking up on the enemy.  Two of the three ducks were not impressed and took off but one let me eventually get close enough for a cool shot with the city in the background.  Only downside was that my arms itched the whole rest of the day (make sure you click on the below picture - he was a cool duck!).

After exploring the entire waterfront and bantering with a lady shooting with a Canon (I hope I didn't insult her too bad), I found my way back to the high rise apartment.  I couldn't find a spot that I liked better for my dusk cityscape.  I hung out on a park bench and enjoyed the water as the sun moved lower and lower in the sky behind me.

Sunset was scheduled for 7:28 so I moved into place around 7:00 to set up my shot.  One thing I didn't anticipate was the drop in temperature once the sun dropped in the sky.  I had set out at noon in just jeans and a t-shirt and was actually a bit hot throughout the day but that same jeans and t-shirt left me shivering along the water once dusk hit.  I was literally dancing around rubbing my arms trying to warm up.  Quite a sight for the passing boaters, I'm sure.  Luckily I didn't keel over the freezing air (it was probably only 60 degrees out - but it sure felt cold) before getting my dusk shot. 

I did have one moment of panic.  About 10 minutes before the ideal light, a tugboat pulling a huge barge moved right in front of my shot.  The tugboat pulled away from the barge leaving it right in front of me.  It would have completely botched my shot.  Luckily, the tugboat was just repositioning and pulled the barge on down the river 3 hours later (ok, it was probably only 5 minutes later - but it felt like 3 hours!).

As the river cleared and sky darkened, I snapped Norfolk at dusk:

The great thing about Norfolk is that it is close enough to head back almost any weekend.  I want to try a slightly different angle that will move the buildings closer to each other and decrease the width of the river which will hopefully help some with the reflections.  Overall, though, a good experience!