4/11/21—Morning Coffee at Elijah

Never thought I would be huddled under a rock at Elijah at 6:30 a.m. on a Sunday, but hey there’s a first time for everything.

Kelsey (@kelseyy_stuart), Jackie (@_jacqueline_photography_), and I set out on a little photo mission that I will definitely not forget about any time soon. Jackie has recently got into photography and asked if Kelsey and I wanted to go out and shoot one day. I would never pass up an opportunity to shoot, so obviously I said yes. Her and I discussed the details of the shoot; which we decided on a morning campfire scene making coffee by the water. We wanted to catch the fog on the water, and our best chance of that happening was to get there before sunrise…which meant leaving by 6 in the morning. Kelsey didn’t really have a say in this decision, but she was still a good sport about it.

On the drive there, conditions were looking just about perfect. Lots of fog. Sprinkling just a little. But of course, once we got to the location the sprinkling turned into a drizzle and then rain and then a downpour. We were drenched just about as soon as we stepped out of the car. Not only that, but I was going to have to try to build a fire. Now I pride myself in my fire making abilities, but the chances of me getting a solid fire going were looking slimmer and slimmer with every drop of rain that fell. We chose to hold off on the fire until the rain let up. We took shelter under a big rock and talked about how funny the situation was. There we were…at Elijah…at 6:30 in the morning…hiding under a rock…about to build a fire…in the pouring down rain.

Finally the rain somewhat eased up. I got out from our hiding place and gave it a go. I pulled out all my tricks and techniques that I have acquired over the years to try to get that puppy going…and yeah none of them worked. I was genuinely about to call it when I figured, “hey might as well just light this last piece of cardboard on fire”. Apparently that was the key. Once I held that cardboard until it was completely engulfed in flames, I threw it on the rest of my materials. And by some stroke of luck, everything lit. We were finally able to shoot!

A successful morning in my opinion. A very memorable shoot and some cool photos.