Forgotten Pier

Here is my take on the 59th Street Pier in Ocean City, NJ. I was on vacation there with my family, and once I saw it I woke at 4:30 am for several mornings trying to catch a good sunrise sky to add the drama. There were many nice compositions using the rocks and the shore, but I decided that I wanted this image to just be about the beauty of this broken down pier. I also wanted to enhance the mood and isolation with movement in the clouds and the surf, luck also provided a nice mist in the air to aid in my goal. I waded out into the surf and composed very close to the pier at 16mm with my Vari-N-Dou 5 stop density filter to kick my exposure time up to 25 seconds and bring out more of the colors. I actually had to desaturate some of the yellows and reds. The clouds were still thick on the horizon so it took a moment for the sun to clear them which left only a few moments of the warm first light before the sun was to high. At 25sec exposures, I only got 3 shots before the magic was gone and everything in the sky brightened up. This was the first of the 3, a single exposure processed twice and blended together. All C&C welcome, thanks all.

Nikon D3x ISO 100, 16mm @ 25sec cropped to pano.
Singh Ray Vari-N-Duo density/warming polarizer filter