Halo Effect

Earlier in the week, I actually had a break from running tours and workshops and made my way to Folly Beach to get some early morning shooting in with a close friend. We had it scheduled for a few days and the conditions looked promising. After hitting snooze on my phone's alarm a couple of times, I awoke to check my usual sources and the local radar to find a few small storms along the coast. A perfect scenario was brewing.

The Folly Pier is iconic to the Lowcountry and has been photographed a gajillion times. But, I had yet to shoot it and walk away with a unique capture. It looked like this may be my opportunity. From the side of the pier, I wanted to capture the movement of the waves as they swept back into the sea, along with the pounding waves rushing in. They were short of what they were when Irma came to town, but definitely held their own. The glow appearing in the distance had me rushing with anticipation. The cloud coverage was heavy and I knew the show wouldn't last long.

The attempt did not disappoint.  I had packed my Nikon D810 along with my new Tokina AT-X 17-35MM F/4 PRO FX.  I was eager to try this new lens out.  What a perfect way to break her in. I had gone to battle with my Nikon 14-24 mm many times and the necessity of adapters for filter use had just worn me out. When the opportunity presented itself to have a quality wide angle lens, giving me the option to use both circular and drop-in filters, I jumped on it.  It is clearly one of the sharper lenses I've ever used. I'm super stoked to add this lens to the arsenal. I look forward to many new opportunities.