Suruga Bay, Sunrise, Mount Fuji • As with all huge mountains Mount Fuji is often in a blanket of clouds in weather of its own making.  I had seven day in the Mount Fuji area and I know the odds were against me for a good shot of the mountain. To insure productivity, I rented a hotel room with a distant Fuji view that wasn’t close to anything, but provided a central location which afforded the ability to be most anywhere in a couple of hours, including Mt. Fuji, I thought. As usual, my central location idea was faulty because the Izu is so mountainous, to get anywhere requires negotiating roads that are better suited to Toyota Supra’s, Nissan 350Zs, and Mazda RX-7s, and is a speedsters nirvana for a kawasaki-ninja-zx12r or Suzuki GSX-R1000.  I found it was important to allow more time.

After my sixth day of shooting without a decent Fuji image, on my way back to the hotel on my last evening the moment before complete darkness I saw Fujisan to the north, I thought, maybe I have one last chance.

I awoke earlier than usual trying to figure out whether I should go check on Fujisan, then come back to check out of the hotel or to check out now incase the shooting was good and not have anywhere I had to be at a certain time.  I opted for a 3:45AM checkout. Along the way to Heda Port, there is a popular rest area and Fuji view lookout that looks out across the Suruga Bay and the city of Numazu.  This morning Fujisan was standing tall and proud and some wispy clouds insured a great sunrise. This landscape called for a panorama shot, Fuji on the far left, the city of Numazu on the far right and Suruga Bay stretched out between them. A series of six verticals would do it so I shot several sets as the warm rays of morning lit up the wispy clouds above Fuji.  Mission accomplished.