Neabsco Creek

Opening Neabsco Creek Boardwalk New Years Day 2024 /  by Todd Henson

My father and I welcomed in 2024 with a walk along the Neabsco Creek Boardwalk. He volunteers to open the boardwalk several days a week and this happened to be one of those days. We arrived when it was still pitch black outside. For the holidays they decorate and light up parts of the park and some sections of the boardwalk on select days and during certain hours, so it was interesting seeing all the decorations and lights when they were off and dark. Some were a little creepy, hanging from trees over the path leading to the boardwalk. I didn’t get any photos of these as it was completely dark.

You can see at 6:28 how dark it was from the parking lot. You can also see some of the decorations. They had a sleigh and reindeer under the pavilion for the kids. There’s also a small playground just beyond. The lights through the trees on the left are from a sewage treatment plant.

Pitch black beyond the parking lot

When we arrived at the first gate it was 6:38 and still very dark. I set up the tripod and captured a 30 second exposure of the gate, which I then lightened a bit in post. You can see the sky lighting up where the sun will rise, as well as the lights of the marina and a housing community through the gaps in the gate on the far shore of the wetlands.

Gates of Neabsco Creek Boardwalk

This time of year the wetlands is somewhat scraggly with all the vegetation now brown. Some cattails still stand tall but many of the grasses and other plants have died down or been plastered to the ground by the tides and flooding. These photos were created between 6:53 to 7:09.

Early morning wetlands

A field of old cattails before sunrise

Just before the sun comes up, if there’s enough of a gap, it can light up the clouds with reds and oranges. I happened to find a cooperative great blue heron fishing just off the boardwalk during this time, and though this was a 1.6 second exposure it stayed fairly still during that time. This occurred at 7:17.

Fiery sunrise with a great blue heron

The sewage treatment plant on one shore sometimes releases warmer water into the wetlands which increases the amount of mist floating over that area. This morning the receding tide took it out towards the Potomac River, which at this location is close enough to the ocean that its tidal, meaning these are tidal wetlands. If you come at different times you see the channels of water flowing in either direction. The large houses are further along the shore, down from the sewage treatment plant and slightly closer to the river. These photos are from 7:33 and 7:45.

Mists on the far shore

Boardwalk, mists and houses

Sometimes it doesn’t take long for people to begin showing up to either jog or walk the boardwalk. There was one very early, before all the gates had yet been opened. But after all the gates were open more slowly showed up for their first of the year walks. In this case I found a section of boardwalk where you could see it winding back and forth into the distance and thought adding that human presence added something nice. By this time it was 8:16. 

Walking Neabsco Creek Boardwalk

Heading back I thought I’d capture a view of some of the decorations they’d installed around one of the gates to the boardwalk. I think they’ve done a nice job. They limit the decorations and lights to the loop of the boardwalk closest to the shore, as well as the paths on land, and only do them for a limited amount of time so as to limit disturbance to wildlife. And speaking of wildlife, I did see a fox, beaver, muskrat, heron, hawk (which landed on one of the fake trees on the boardwalk!), ducks, gulls and many smaller birds like sparrows. Granted, many were seen when it was still so dark I wasn’t able to capture any clear photos of them.

A hawk on the holiday trees

Decorations at the boardwalk entrance

And this final photo was created at 8:39 just outside the boardwalk gates looking back out towards the marina and the train bridge over the wetlands. Beyond the bridge is the Potomac River, and where the sun rose.

A parting view from Neabsco Creek Boardwalk

It doesn’t take two hours to open the boardwalk, but when you have someone with a camera tagging along it can cause the overall walk to take that long. :-)

This was a great way to begin the year, and I hope you enjoyed reading about it.

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Overcast Twilight on Neabsco Creek Boardwalk /  by Todd Henson

Neabsco Creek Twilight

On the final morning of 2021 I joined my father as he opened the Neabsco Creek boardwalk. We arrived at the parking lot while it was still dark and by the time we’d walked to the boardwalk entrance there was just a slight hint of color beginning to show in the sky. I don’t often get out this early, not being much of a morning person, so I tried to take advantage of the opportunity and set up my tripod to capture some images as we walked to open the other gates.

It was a completely overcast morning, so I had no expectation of any pre-sunrise fireworks lighting up the sky with brilliant colors. And yet, even completely overcast you can still see some of those lovely blues of the twilight hours.

For the first image, seen at the top of the post, I set up the tripod and pointed the camera towards the marina and the trestle bridge in the distance. I liked how the lights of the marina were making the fog glow. As I was setting up we could hear the sounds of an approaching train, so I was fortunate to capture that in the exposure. Granted, this was a long exposure (5 seconds) so the train was nothing but a light blur, both because of it moving during the exposure and because of the light mist that slightly obscured anything at a distance.

As I mentioned, I rarely get out before sunrise, which is unfortunate as it’s a great time for photography. The light changes very quickly and provides a range of colors not typically seen. Before sunrise there are virtually no shadows so you can create some soft and delicate images. Just after sunrise you get some incredible lighting on subjects because of the extreme angle of the light, often straight on at the subject.

In this case the longer exposure allowed me to capture some of the blue so common at this time, which is why twilight is often called the blue hour, though it typically lasts far less than an hour. I really should make an effort to get out more at this time, but with work it can be a challenge. Thankfully I had December 31st off, so took advantage of the opportunity.

Eleven minutes later we’d walked a bit further down the boardwalk when I decided to turn around and photograph the way we’d come, still facing the marina and trestle bridge. I zoomed out a bit to take in more of the scene. I liked the look of the boardwalk with the wet planks reflecting the blues from the sky, and curving over to the left, with the marina over to the right.

Boardwalk Blues

The light changes quickly this time of morning, and it wasn’t much longer before it took on a more typical overcast grey. But I was happy to have created at least a few interesting images under the light of early morning twilight.

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