Do You Have A Favorite Photographic Place?

Summer Morning Solitude, Messick Point, Poquoson, VA (click to enlarge)
Olympus E-M1, 12-40mm f/2.8 lens @ 18mm; 1/1500th sec. @ f/5.6; ISO 200

Is there a place where you like to photograph to which you return over and over again?  Is there a place you enjoying going, for whatever reason, where you always seem to make satisfying images?  Is there a place where, every time you return, you seem to find new photographic treasures?  I have a couple of places like that.

This place, to which I am referring, could be as diverse as a favorite street in a large urban area, a certain creek among the forest and fields, a small town that is full of charm or even a quiet place next to the breaking waves of the ocean.  A place that just seems to "click" with you.  A place where, each time you visit, you see things differently than before.

I have a place nearby to which I seem to return over and over.  No matter how many times I have visited, I always seem to walk away with at least one photograph that is pleasing to me. 

I live on what is called the Virginia Peninsula, just north of Norfolk and Virginia Beach. There are several good sized cities and counties ranging in population of 185,000 down to about 12,000.  The smallest of the cities, Poquoson, sits on the confluence of the Back River and Chesapeake Bay.  It is in a small part of Poquoson called Messick Point, that keeps drawing me back over and over.  Each time I return, I find something different, but interesting to photograph.  

Parking Lot! (click to enlarge)
E-M1, 40-150mm f/2.8 PRO lens @ 150mm; 1/500th sec. @ f/8; IS) 200

Messick Point is the home to a small yacht club, a small inlet in which several deadrise fishing/crabbing/oystering boats are harbored, a boat launch, small park, and a lot of surrounding wetlands.  On some days, I am the only one there.  On others, many people are launching their sport fishing boats and going out into the Chesapeake Bay to fish and enjoy the day. No matter how many people are there, I seem to find interesting things to photograph.

Unfortunately, the city of Poquoson has decided to "improve" this quaint little spot.  A new dock was built, new restrooms, another parking lot, etc.  You know the drill.  By improving it, they are aesthetically ruining it, in my opinion. 

In the past, there were quite a few derelict small boats that were washed into the wetlands by big storms.  They slowly rotted away and made wonderful photographic subjects.  Now, they have all been removed.  It is a shame for us photographers.

Still, I find myself visiting every month or so, just to see what I can find and, if perchance no one else is present, I can sit and enjoy the quiet of the morning, look out over the water, listen to the gulls and get lost in my own mind.  That is a very rare pleasure in the middle of a large urban area.

Miss Kaylie (click to enlarge)
E-M1, 40-150mm f/2.8 PRO lens @ 73mm;
1/750th sec. @ f/5.6; ISO 200

I visited Messick Point this past Saturday and am posting a few of the images I made in this post.  I will post more on Wednesday and Friday for your visual pleasure.

Its kind of cool to have a little place that is special to which each of us can go and find something special to photograph and just smile to ourselves!

Thanks for looking. Enjoy! 

 Dennis Mook 

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