Rising
I went out early in the morning looking for a cloud inversion once more. The weather patterns, temperatures, cloud floor all seemed to line up with the idea that one was going to hit the mountains. It didn’t work out this time, so I left the first location at Wayah Bald fire tower to begin searching for something different. Maybe a nice foggy patch of road or something interesting. A photo can leap out at you suddenly, and you need to keep your eyes open. Don’t give up just because your initial idea didn’t work out. Eventually I found my way into a part of the national forest that’s often ignored. That’s where this scene unfolded. Clouds hanging low from above, and a river of mist flowing in from the lake. I spent a bit of time composing with a shorter focal length first only to realize I needed to get much further into the scene.
Somedays you may get your hopes up, headed out into an area looking for a special weather, or mood. Despite all of the work, and research you put in, you can get it wrong, or the weather may decide to dispute the reports. It happens, you may still find opportunities within the given weather though so don’t give up! You learn to adjust! What I ended up capturing here is the very top of a mountain surrounded in cloud, a the white swirling around highlighting the dark peak.
Make use of what you can do, of course I am lucky enough to have a extreme focal length such as a 400mm lens, but you can capture similar results if you’re willing to crop your image a bit. Or find something more to your taste in the foreground with a kit lens. It’s all about learning to work with the tools you have available at a given moment. I spent my first years on the fuji system with a 18-135 kit lens, learning to work within that focal distance. Another great trick to use is getting a prime lens. Learn to walk around your scene and zoom with your feet. Get in close, that of course wouldn’t work here since you can’t just walk across the gap here. In a lot of cases you can make that idea work though.
Until next time!
ISO: 800
Aperture: f11
SS: 1/60th
Focal: 400mm
