(click on any image below for a larger view)
Fog comes too infrequently to my neighbourhood. I like the way it wraps around buildings, fills the streets, and softens the edges of the world. When we get fog it usually either burns off quickly or it comes on a work day when I can't go out for a photo shoot. On Saturday luck broke my way. I was up early waiting to see what the morning light looked like. As soon as it was light enough, I could see we had a pea souper going.
I was so excited to get out I barely had time to feed the guineau pig. I had packed a camera kit the night before so I grabbed the kit, my tripod and an umbrella and headed for the Credit River and Harbour. Everything was cloaked in mystery and bits of the world would open to me as I advanced into it. I could hear kayakers on the river but couldn't even see the water. I finally got close enough to see a pair of rowers gliding through the fog like ghosts.
The harbour provided more photo ops than I could handle. Every direction I looked proved interesting as shapes and faint colours emerged from the mist. The boats sat moored at the docks in a pearly luminescence. I couldn't see from one side of the Credit River to the other side. Even the lighthouse was invisible until I crossed halfway across the pedestrian bridge.
Fishing boat in fog
(click on image for a larger, clearer view)
My biggest surprise occurred when I was standing at the end of a dock jutting into the harbour, trying to get a shot of the ghostly outline of the bridge structure. A fishing boat emerged from the fog. I took this quick shot before he arrived right at my dock.
"Bet you weren't expecting a boat to pop out of the fog," he said. I agreed and asked if visibility wasn't a bit dicey. "I lost sight of the shore for two hours," he replied. "When I found it again, I never let it out of my sight." I asked the inevitable question you always ask fishermen, "Catch anything?" "Nope, but I found a mess of carp feeding. I'm going home to get every worm I can find and coming back."
For fisherman and photographer alike, the fog was a happy, serene event.
(On a technical note, I set my camera to ISO 800, P mode, and -2/3 exposure compensation and used these settings throughout, with the Canon EF-S 18-55mm lens on a Canon 300D body. I thought it was darker than it really was. Next time I'll use ISO 200 or 400.
(14-Oct-2003, Revised 16-June-2004)
www.NorthernJourney.com -- gene@wilburn.ca