Foggy Morning

When I woke up this morning and looked out the window I was delighted to see fog across the pond. I’m always on the lookout for

Foggy Mornings

this time of year because I love making photographs in the fog. There is nothing more beautiful to me than mist rising off still water.

Foggy morning view of the pond this morning

I checked the hourly weather forecast and saw that the fog was predicted to last until about 9 AM so I quickly donned my clothes, grabbed my camera, and drove down to nearby East Medicine Lake Park. I hoped to find that the lake was even foggier than it was at home.

It was! When I arrived and gazed out across the lake all I could see was a curtain of white. But I knew that it would not last long so I began photographing the minimalist scenes I saw as quickly as I could.

I loved how the chaise lounges of the park looked out into white nothingness

Oh Joy!

What a perfect morning to be out with my camera. The air felt soft on my face. Though I needed to wear a jacket my hands and head did not get cold. And the soft light of the morning was amazing!

Gannets

I am watching the white gannets
blaze down into the water
with the power of blunt spears
and a stunning accuracy–
even though the sea is riled and boiling
and gray with fog
and the fish
are nowhere to be seen,
they fall, they explode into the water
like white gloves,
then they vanish,
then they climb out again,
from the cliff of the wave,
like white flowers–
and still I think
that nothing in this world moves
but as a positive power–
even the fish, finning down into the current
or collapsing
in the red purse of the beak,
are only interrupted from their own pursuit
of whatever it is
that fills their bellies–
and I say:
life is real,
and pain is real,
but death is an imposter,
and if I could be what once I was,
like the wolf or the bear
standing on the cold shore,
I would still see it–
how the fish simply escape, this time,
or how they slide down into a black fire
for a moment,
then rise from the water inseparable
from the gannets’ wings.

— Mary Oliver

As the fog lifted I could see mist rising from the surface of the lake because the temperature of the lake water was so much warmer than the air temperature.