Patience

I’ve been away from civilization for a few days—no cellphone service and no Internet—which explains the prolonged vacuum here on the blog. I spent a couple of days last week touring Door County, Wisconsin. It’s not a place you happen through, but rather a destination that requires some determination. It’s also a quiet, outdoor recreation vacation destination for Midwesterners. There are no large hotels or amusement parks here. But a scattering of quaint towns, small hotels, and beautiful parks ring a peninsula otherwise filled with agriculture and nature.

I spent the night in Sturgeon Bay, which is one of the prettiest, cleanest, and friendliest towns you will ever encounter. With less than 10,000 residents, Sturgeon Bay is a shipping town on a canal than connects Green Bay with the open water of Lake Michigan. And since I’m a sucker for a lighthouse, the breakwater light at the end of the canal was a must-see for me.

Within five minutes of getting out of the rental car at the Sturgeon Bay breakwater, clouds covered the sun. I found a couple of ideal compositions, but the flat lighting from the dark clouds made for very uninteresting lighting. Off to the west, there was a tiny gap in the clouds, slowly moving my way. So I did what my photography experience taught—I struck up a conversation with a fisherman at the end of the breakwater and waited. Thirty minutes later, the gap came close enough and warm, diffuse late afternoon sunlight streamed down on the lighthouse. Two minutes later, it was gone. But I had my shot. Six days have gone by and I have not seen blue sky or a sunset or taken a photo that didn’t involve clouds or rain. But in my mind, I got my shot. And like a growing collection of photo destinations, I will be back.