Fog — Redemption Photography

Looking out my window this morning, a grey fog covers the neighborhood. Listening to the radio, I hear that it’s causing havoc for commuters going to work and for parents trying to get their kids to school.

Most people don’t like fog, I guess because it is such an inconvenience, but I think it’s intriguing and dramatic, and even peaceful.

Peaceful because it takes the edges off landscapes, city scenes, business, and even nature. Sometimes life just seems to scream at you, and a little fog can tame it, making it smooth, calm and quiet. Something like snow, but not as contrasty.

Dramatic because it can restrict visibility, hiding what’s out there. Is a critter going to suddenly appear? Am I going to fall off a cliff? We don’t know what’s obscured by the fog, and it can be scary. Driving in dense fog can be quite dangerous, too. I remember driving up the Blue Ridge Parkway with a bunch of other photographers very early in the morning a few years ago. The fog was so dense we literally couldn’t see more than a few feet in front of the car. I was so glad to be in the back seat, and I purposely didn’t watch the road. I was praying hard that we wouldn’t fall off the cliff!

Intriguing because fog doesn’t always refer to weather. It also describes a state of mind of being unable to think clearly or understand something, being bewildered. The term “cloudy thinking” is apropos. Causes of fog can be “something that obscures or confuses a situation or someone’s thought processes”, like lack of sleep, food allergies, hormones, stress, etc. Foggy can also refer to an idea or purpose that isn’t clear. I think it’s comical that when looking up foggy thinking in the dictionary, several examples referred to the government in some way!

In any case, foggy grey isn’t so bad. It has little or no color, and at times that’s a relief. A little break from life’s excesses and stress is needed every once in a while.