A Nebulous Morning

Early morning is my favorite time to shoot. My second favorite time to shoot is late at night. Not much is stirring during those times. In the morning, things are just starting to wake up and late at night, things are dying down. There is something about the solitude during these times that I love. It’s therapeutic. The new day is also symbolic to a fresh start, a new day with new possibilities. It’s during these morning hours that I love to take drives on familiar and unfamiliar roads. Every morning is different. Depending on the season, the weather and the time of day, familiar landscapes take on many different looks. It’s as if these landscapes have the ability to transform to an infinite host of characters. One of my favorite characters is the one that wears a cloak of mystery.

This cloak of mystery is a cloak of fog, dense fog. You know what should be there, but you can’t see it. Roads vanish before your eyes. Landmarks become silhouettes. Your sense of hearing becomes heightened as your eyes deceive you. It’s as if you woke up on another planet. There has been many mornings where I’ve had plans to sleep-in, but when a thick blanket of fog is revealed after a peep out my bedroom window, I’m out the door! This time I grabbed my Mamiya 645 1000s loaded with Ilford HP5 Plus 400. I’ve had the camera loaded for a while waiting on the right images to capture. I did not have to drive far to find interesting landscapes. There seem to be a shot at every turn. If I was shooting my DSLR, I may have taken more shots, but with my Mamiya, I was a little more discriminating. All shots were taken on the country roads of Maury County, Tennessee.

I captured the first shot not too far from my house. I headed in this direction on purpose because of the elevation and vantage point. I’ve taken numerous photos of and from this location. The view of the valley below is nice, but the valley could not be seen that morning.

Rural Maury County, Tennessee – Mamiya 645 1000s / Mamiya Sekor C 55mm f2.8 / Ilford HP5 Plus 400 / The FINDlab

The roads were familiar and foreign at the same time. As I drove slowly through the fog, I came upon one of my favorite barns. I’ve never seen it like this before. In fact, I could barely see it at all. Fog has a tendency to change and ultimately vanish quickly, so I had to work fast to find a composition.

Rural Maury County, Tennessee – Mamiya 645 1000s / Mamiya Sekor C 80mm f2.8 / Ilford HP5 Plus 400 / The FINDlab

I love the simplicity of this next shot. I was driving the opposite direction when I pulled over to take a look at what was behind me. I was immediately drawn to the wooden fence posts. I did not want to set up my tripod in the middle of the road and have to take it down when a car approached, so I chose to handhold this shot.

Rural Maury County, Tennessee – Mamiya 645 1000s / Mamiya Sekor C 80mm f2.8 / Ilford HP5 Plus 400 / The FINDlab

After getting back on the road, the fog began to lift. The sky gradually became brighter and brighter. I figured I had one more shot before the blanket of fog was gone for good. When I saw the shiny creek along the roadside, I knew this would be my last shot of the morning.

Rural Maury County, Tennessee – Mamiya 645 1000s / Mamiya Sekor C 80mm f2.8 / Ilford HP5 Plus 400 / The FINDlab

Under tricky lighting conditions, you have to make compromises when it comes to metering the light. I often worry if I made the right compromise. I must say that I really like how these turned out. Thank you for taking the time to read my post. I hope you have enjoyed the images. I have more captures coming from this same roll of film, so stay tuned!

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