Fog Shot & Why I Always Have My Camera With Me

This happened back in October 2009. At the time we were in the unfortunate routine of having to go pick Helen up every Saturday in Gladewater from Kilgore, having to rush there by 9 a.m. I had my Nikon D40x [link] (the "routine" SLR camera of the time, the "good" one being the D5000) and, for whatever reason, the 55-200 VR with me as well.

It had rained a lot recently, it was rather "slushy" somewhat, and in a very routine stretch of road that's typically very dull, I noticed it looked much different. There was early-morning fog present, and it totally transformed the scenery to something beautiful. Naturally I wanted to photograph it.

The wife was not wanting to stop as we needed to have Helen picked up by 9 a.m., and it was already about 8:55 and we were still 10-12 minutes from our destination. However, I was not to be denied & insisted that we stop so I could photograph what I saw, as I guessed (correctly, as it turned out) that in just a few minutes the effect would pass as the sun came out, I would HAVE to grab it now or lose it forever. She relented. She's such a wonderful woman (ha ha).

I quickly switched the camera, normally a "JPEG machine" (since it's the everyday one), to RAW mode, and popped on the telephoto 55-200 VR lens. Here is the shot:

Click to enlarge (20091024_085655_rj_d_d40x)

I converted it to black & white in Adobe Photoshop CS.

Simply beautiful isn't it? I've always wanted a fog shot like this, and the moral of the story: this is why I almost always have a camera on my person, and so when I see something like this, I try & grab it when I see it. You will thank yourself so much later.