I took a long weekend off work to go on my annual trip to the Conowingo Dam with some of my photography friends!

Yesterday started extremely early as I was up at 3:40 and out of my house by 4:20 to meet up with my friends to carpool. We drove the 4 hour trip down to Maryland and then spent the remainder of the day at the dam. It was a slow day, but we had some nice opportunities. I was a little off my game as a photographer, so I was slightly bummed by that. I haven't gone through my photos yet, so hopefully I have more keepers than I realize.

Today start a tad later than yesterday as I was up and ready to go for a 5:15 departure to the dam. It was dark when we arrived and there weren't as many people as usual piling in (probably because of the expected weather). The morning started off nice with some beautiful light, but that didn't last long before the clouds rolled in and then the rain. We stayed for a little bit and then decided to take a break and head over to the visitors center to see the photos that were entered into the last photo contest. 

Upon arrival to the visitors center we first looked at the photos they had chosen to print and put on display. There were so many awesome photos on the wall. Some names I recognized and others I did not. Either way though, it was a really tough competition with so many amazing shots. After we looked at all the photos on display, we sat and watched the slideshow. Apparently there were over 200 photos entered last year. It was nice to view all the admissions.

After enjoying the slideshow, we headed back to the dam and the rain and had let up, so we set back up and stayed for a bit longer. By the time we left, I felt pretty confident that I got some better photos today than I did yesterday, so that clearly made me feel a little better. 

Although we dealt with some yucky weather, we still had a great time and some really nice opportunities with the eagles. I considered using a shot of a bald eagle as the subject for my blog, but as I was browsing I thought it would be nice to share the view of the dam just before the rain fell. It was really pretty with the light hitting it perfectly and the dramatic clouds heading our way.