Fog. Help or Hinderance?

Annette and I recently returned from a vacation trip to Cape Cod and Maine.  It was a great trip.

Maine, to us, was a very relaxing place, even though Annette was involved in a Photography Workshop, which had her rising way before sunrise!

The first part of the week was beautiful weather, by conventional standards.  The skies were blue.  The sun was shining.  The temperatures were in the upper 60's F.

The latter part of the week was dreary, by conventional standards.  Foggy, overcast skies were the norm.

Yet both conditions were great for our photography.

Let's start with the fog.

For photographers, fog is an eraser.  It erases (hides) a lot of background clutter.

Fog is a soft box creating wonderful soft lighting without the harsh contrast and shadows of bright, mid-day sun.

Fog sets a mood.  Sometimes it is a dreary, melancholy mood.  Sometimes it is a mysterious, threatening mood.

Here are a couple of pictures from the trip where fog played an integral part of the image.

The above image is a view of the coast line, at least as far as you can see with the fog!

These are the waves near Thunder Hole.  The fog hides anything in the background, whether it is a ship on the water or more rocky shore.

This picture and the next show how much the fog obscures anything around the boat.  They were taken in Bar Harbor from the area where the tour boats take on passengers.

Early morning fog.  The boat was only 100 yards from where I stood.

One other lesson:  When we drove past this cove the first time, there was fog in the distance, but the whole cove was visible.  But we didn't stop.  Instead, we drove a mile or so past it, took some pictures and came back.  Then it looked like this.

So...Take the picture when you see it!  Don't assume it will still be there when you come back!

Talk to you later!

Thanksgiving in Daytona Beach

Our son has the perhaps enviable opportunity of living in Florida for a year while attending school.  He is experiencing something different that good old, small-town Pennsylvania.  But that also means that Annette and I had the opportunity to travel to Daytona Beach for Thanksgiving.  We drove down two vehicles and came back in one.  Our son is tickled to have his car.

On Friday morning, before our son eve thought about opening his eyes, Annette and I headed for the beach.  Unfortunately, it was an overcast morning.  But that didn't stop us from taking pictures!

These first three pictures were taken under the Daytona Beach Pier.  The building on the pier, which I believe was once a restaurant, is in very poor repair, which in my opinion makes an interesting photograph!

 Annette is my "fixer".  She can talk to anybody.  She has such a great, happy, personality that people instantly like her.  (I don't know how she got stuck with a stick-in-the-mud like me.)

Anyway, she walked up to the fisherman in the pictures below and struck up a conversation, the outcome of which was that he allowed her (and me) to take pictures of him as he surf fished.  His yellow rain gear made a great contrast to the overcast day.

When took a break from fishing, he brought out the bird feed.  He obviously had a history and a rapport with the birds.  He got them to eat out of his hand and then he got them to sit on his head!!!

 A little later, I noticed a family come out onto the beach.  Two little boys from the family had their sand buckets and went looking for...for...I don't know!  They went looking for whatever little boys go looking for at the beach.  Anyway, I thought they made a great picture as they walked side-by-side along the edge of the water.