Happy Monday! We have had some wonderful foggy mornings the past few weekends and I’ve really enjoyed getting out early with my camera. I love shooting in foggy conditions, you are never quite sure what you are going to come across when it is foggy and everything can change literally in a second as the fog shifts around.
Last Sunday my wife and I were up early to take in the sunrise (and to get donuts, sunrise is always better with donuts). Fog was visible over Tuttle Creek Lake (which is located just outside of Manhattan, Kansas) so we decided to head down to the River Ponds area below the dam at Tuttle.
(ISO 200, 40 mm, f/8, 1/200)
We actually were up early enough to be at the River Ponds before sunrise so we had a little time to search for a location to photograph the sun rising over the horizon. The photo above was made just before the sun was visible and you can see the fog rising off the water. I decided to frame this photo with some of the bushes around the edge of the River Ponds.
(ISO 200, 22 mm, f/8, 1/500)
In this next photo you can just make out the sun peeking over the horizon. I had moved down to the water’s edge for this photograph to capture more of the reflections in the water and the beautiful colors that were forming in the sky. It might be cliché to photograph sunrises and sunsets, but I don’t care, the ends of the day are such a beautiful time to be outside enjoying the beauty of nature.
(ISO 200, 10 mm, f/8, 1/640)
After photographing at our first location we drove around to the boat ramp at the River Ponds and walked along the shore for a bit. I wasn’t sure what I thought of this photo when I made it and honestly didn’t think it would be much of a photograph, but once I got home and had a chance to look it over I decided I really liked the photo. I like the way the sun is lighting up the fog and the pier.
(ISO 200, 10 mm, f/8, HDR – various shutter speeds)
A little farther down the shore I stopped to make another image of the sun up above the horizon lighting up the fog.
(ISO 100, 50 mm, f/8, 1/250)
After finishing photographing in the River Ponds, we went up to the hill overlooking the dam and the Big Blue River. This was a great place to view the fog coming off the River Ponds and the Big Blue.
(ISO 100, 50 mm, f/8, 1/250)
After leaving the River Ponds area we were headed out of town to visit some family in Waterville and as we were nearing Randolph, we could still see thick fog coming off the Tuttle Creek Lake. We made a quick turn to drive across the Randolph Bridge, which crosses the north end of Tuttle Creek Lake. I was hoping part of the bridge (which is the longest bridge in Kansas in case you needed know that) would be obscured by fog. Turns out it was and then some! The photo above is one I made from the Randolph State Park southeast of the bridge. This was a great vantage point to photograph the bridge surrounded by the fog.
(stitched panorama each frame: ISO 100, 50 mm, f/8, 1/250)
This last photo is a 9 frame stitched panorama of the Randolph Bridge which gives a slightly different feel to the area than the single frame photograph I included above.
All in all another great morning for some landscape (fogscape?) photography in northeast Kansas. I got to photograph a beautiful sunrise, create some interesting images of the Randolph Bridge covered in fog, and spend some time with family. Oh and I got donuts! Life is good.
If you would like to see some of my other photographs that feature the sun and the stillness of water you can do so at:
Stillness of Water: http://scott-bean.artistwebsites.com/art/all/the+stillness+of+water/all
The Sun: http://scott-bean.artistwebsites.com/art/all/the+sun/all
