Foggy, drizzly, morning at Lake Michigan’s edge ….can you see downtown Chicago? Copyright 2018 Pamela Breitberg
Resilient determination to enjoy time at Lincoln Park’s Lake Michigan’s edge. Copyright 2018 Pamela Breitberg
Keep on keeping on! Copyright 2018 Pamela Breitberg
March’s snow and fog in Forest Preserve copyright 2014 Pamela Breitberg
Thought I’d look at my March images from last winter/spring so that I could share some more colorful, spring-like images. Well, there was snow on the ground then too. But only enough to coat the ground and still allow plant remnants to poke through. And look, the dormant shrubby remains have foggy water drops….no frozen snow.
Water drops from passing fog copyright 2014 Pamela Breitberg
Sunrise in the forest is uneventful at best; there is no dramatic glowing ball rising from the horizon. Pre-dawn can be a tease for the nature photographer in the forest. The coyote, deer and other nocturnal animals are still up and about but the camera produces dull images. Colors become evident as light gradually penetrates between trees, signaling photographers that it is now prime time to capture wildlife images as in my previous post, “The Formative Years”.
The trail I took this morning led me out of the forest and into the prairie. Coming out of the forest preserve, at 6:30 a.m., shortly after sunrise in midsummer, presented an American version of a French impressionism scene. The warm earth and cool morning air produced fresh dew on every blossom and leaf. Fog layers interspersed grasses. The rising sun would soon warm the air to equal the earth’s temperature dissipating visible liquid drops back into unseen vapor. Timing is everything; photographing nature takes both patience and early rising, along with some good fortune.
Fog at dawn copyright 2013 Pamela Breitberg
Yellow coneflower copyright 2013 Pamela Breitberg
Low fog in snow copyright 2013 Pamela Breitberg
One of the synonyms for fog is confusion. Today looks like such a day for nature. Snow has been slowly melting as temperatures have risen to the lower 40’s (F). The warmer temperature has been accompanied by rain. The result is drifts of ground level clouds, fog, beginning early this morning. Fog has thickened to fill the entire view. It never seems to come to reach me though, the more I walk towards the fog, the more it stays at a distance. Droplets collect on dormant branches.
Fog in forest copyright 2013 Pamela Breitberg
The water cycle is actively engaged both at ground level and mid-air; unusual and facinating to watch on this otherwise dreary day. Snow gradually evaporates into the warmer air. Rain condenses at it falls from the warm air toward the less warm, snow covered ground. Both result in fog, a ground level cloud of condensed liquid water.
Condensation on branches copyright 2013 Pamela Breitberg
The weather forecast predicts the rain clouds will soon finish their eastward journey over our neighborhood. Science reasons that the fog should lessen when snow is the single source of potential fog matter. An air of less confusion.