Cool - I've had 2 photo missions so far (on vanilla; I've only just modded up) and both went swimmingly. In both cases I made the approach in heavy fog; first time (Shizouka) it was already foggy, second (Yokohama) I bottomed the boat and waited a few days. It worked well - and after torpedoing the ships I was assigned to photo I managed to sink the Fuso on my way out.
Perhaps the OP could try giving the weather a few days to turn to his advantage? It worked well for me, though I must stress that this was vanilla only; I haven't tried it modded up yet.