Many landscape photographers have an ongoing love affair with fog. It often blankets the landscape with a beautiful silvery sheen, helps to simplify by obscuring unwanted details and adds a mysterious quality – especially when the images are rendered in black and white. The appearance of fog is often fleeting and is usually gone by 8am so its important to be up and out the door early.
One of my longtime habits is to check for the appearance of fog when I get out of bed . On the day after Thanksgiving, I looked out my window and saw what I had been waiting for. I quickly dressed and gathered my camera equipment. Just as I was about to exit the house, the sun suddenly appeared out of nowhere and for a brief instant the neighborhood glowed in beautiful silvery tones which was soon to be replaced by the harsh direct sunlight that often coincides with the lifting of the fog.
My post-Thanksgiving food hangover had left me in bed two hours later than usual and I am lamenting what could have been had I arisen at 6am. I knew from past experiences that it was already too late. I have driven miles chasing elusive fog that has left me “seduced and abandoned” miles from home tired, hungry and without pictures.
Of course I could have gone out and explored anyway. But that would have entailed the removal of all preconceived ideas and expectations. I would have had to make myself open and receptive to whatever presented itself to me rather than succumbing to my monomaniacal obsession with fog and atmosphere.
Muir Beach I BW
The image above was taken at Muir Beach, north of San Francisco on a recent trip to California. Click here for more information.