Category : Rehoboth Beach, DE

The single most useful thing to know about photographing a wedding on the Delaware coast is that the ocean is east. That sounds obvious and it reverses the usual order of a wedding day. An oceanfront building faces east, which means its own elevation is lit at dawn and in its own shadow by mid-afternoon; the beach in front is frontlit at sunrise and backlit by evening; and the sunset happens behind the building, over the town and the inland bay, so the evening frames face away from the water.

A photographer expecting the light to improve towards sunset in the direction of the sea will be disappointed, and one who knows will use the first hour of the day — which is also the only hour a resort beach is empty, and the frames from it cannot be made at any other time.

Three coastal conditions run under all of that. Pale dry sand is a strong reflector and it reflects upward, which fills exactly the shadows under eyes and chins that the sky alone leaves — that is why a beach needs less equipment than a field, and why the chin is worth checking in the first frame, because it can overfill. Salt and sand are what the coast does to equipment: airborne salt settles on a front element and etches coatings over time, so a damp cloth at the end of the day is routine, and a grain of sand in a zoom barrel is a repair rather than a clean.

And sea fog runs on a thermal lag that catches people out — ocean water is coldest in spring, so warm spring air over cold water condenses, which makes late spring foggier than autumn here. The same lag makes September the best month of the year on this coast: warmest water, clearest air, crowds gone, sunset at a civilised hour. Winter is cold and windy and empty, and for a photographer the emptiness is the point, with a low sun raking the sand all day. The guides below take each venue on its own terms.