“Bad weather can make for great photography,” the instructor had said during a session at Photoshop World a few years back.

The quote (from Joe McNally, I think, whom I may be paraphrasing) was going through my mind when my boyfriend and I were wandering along a Washington coast beach in August 2016.

A black and white image of a flock of birds flying over a beach in heavy fog, with silhouettes of people strolling along the shore in the background.
Birds take flight at the coastline near Seabrook, Washington, on a particularly foggy afternoon, August 2016.

The weather that Saturday morning near Seabrook, Washington, was crisp with thick layers of rolling fog.

It wasn’t let’s-hop-in-the-ocean weather, but the isolation the fog provided made for a fun day of photography on the beach. The images I ended up liking the most, after returning home, seemed more interesting for their patterns and shadows than their colors, so a black-and-white treatment felt best for these.

A flock of birds skim the shoreline on the beach near Seabrook, Washington.
A flock of birds skim the shoreline on the beach near Seabrook, Washington.
Coastal trees in the fog.
Coastal trees in the fog.
Fog rolls over the trees, silhouetting a group of people walking their dog along the beach.
Fog rolls over the trees, silhouetting a group of people walking their dog along the beach.

All pictures are with a Canon 5D Mark III and 70-300mm f/4-5.6 L lens.