Thursday, August 25, 2011

fogust...

morning fog, long beach

heading out

south florencia bay

on sunday, i was sitting on a towel on the sand, watching A surf his paddleboard through mist that was turning to rain, my camera snapping away. the day before had been hot and humid, barely a breeze. and yet i hadn't been able to un-notice the high cirrus clouds above, signalling a weather change. sunday woke up in heavy fog, and even though it lightened here and there, there had been a definite shift. august, and the wind was picking up; i was getting cold even with my thick cowichan sweater.

suddenly there was a young man beside me (suddenly because peering through a camera lens at the sea makes me lose my peripheral vision). actually truth be told, before i even noticed him, i noticed that he'd placed his SLR down in the soft, salty sand *shudder*. but maybe that's just me? anyway, it turned out he was a visitor from switzerland, asking if i would capture his arrival on the far west coast of canada. i did, and then we got to chatting a bit, about cameras, and photography. he asked a question i hadn't really thought about before: do you like to shoot happy pictures or sad pictures?

foggy walk

misty forest

fog and swell

i don't know if i could define it in such simple terms, and i definitely do like a bright blue sky day and a bright smiling face, but yes, i love a gloomy, moody photo. kind of like i love a gloomy, moody day, like the ones these photos were taken on. on the west coast people often call this month "fogust", for obvious reasons. a misty day spent walking in the rainforest, following rickety stairs and ramps down to the shore where waves appear out of the grey to crash on the sand, sound perfect to me. as you can see we encountered a fair bit of fog and wet after that first sunny day, and my camera kept clicking quite happily.

exploring Halfmoon Bay

coast rainforest

hope you are all heading into a happy weekend, be it hot and sunny (i think that's what we're in for) or grey and gloomy, this last august weekend. i know i will be spending time stitching as the submission deadline for my plush you! pieces quickly approaches. while those are my main priority for the next little bit, i do hope to fit in some shop stitching too, but no promises at the moment.

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other things i'm liking today:
• the photo gallery from the ucluelet aquarium. we had fun there last weekend - can't wait until they finish building their new home!
• Annie's TILT mosaics are always filled with the beauty of nature and the people who explore it.
• and if you couldn't tell by my love of mossy, damp forests, i am right on board with Lisa in my eagerness for mushroom season to begin.

7 comments:

Geninne said...

Gimme gray, gloomy, moody, foggy, misty any day! Love it as much as I love your photos.Oh how I long to be by the seaside!

Unknown said...

Sorry geninne.. nope gimme the sun ...BUT I do love seeing your amazing foggy pics.. they do look very moody and mysterious! And i will take the ocean any old how!! Looking forward to see what you come up with for plush you!

Margie Oomen said...

there is a time for both i think
and soon i think it will be the dramatic skies, fog and rain as I head out soon on an east coast road trip. Oh I might meet up with Irene along the way too.

Iferia said...

Although I'm always happier on a sunny day, I think the pictures you take in fog or mist make the world so much more mysterious. I just love these ones you took in fogust!

PeregrineBlue said...

what beautiful photographs you take.

Anonymous said...

I so love these photos. And I so love fog. I don't see it since a long time. Thank you for them!

Tara said...

I love a good foggy day. Admittedly, we don't have nearly as many as you do. These photos are beautiful. Moody perhaps but I wouldn't describe them as sad.