Fog in Sandpoint (Digital)

Having arrived back in Sandpoint a little over a week ago, I find the weather much changed from when I left just before Christmas. At that time I drove down to Spokane in sub-freezing conditions but have returned in much warmer weather, often 10 degrees or more above freezing. This has been accompanied by light to moderate rain at times. The mounds of snow are shrinking slowly and the roads are almost entirely free of snow and ice. 

Meteorologically, the conditions create a lot of gray skies and swirling masses of fog at all different altitudes. The warm most air (humidity near 100% most days) touches the deep snow fields and there is a ground fog that develops. Higher up great banks of fog eclipse the mountains and then dissipate into thin wisps and skeins of fog. 

Overall the palette of colors remains restricted to grays and blues where sometimes a little sun makes its way through the clouds to add a small touch of warmth. It feels generally like black and white weather. I find it so alien that it seems there are subjects all around but in the end it seems more of an enthusiasm for the novel than many really enduring images. Still I spend some time out trying to find images and I have some to share here. I used my Olympus mount Tamron 70-210mm f4 zoom. Mostly I stayed with my Xpan crop (65:24) on a modified Acros film simulation that I have used before. I also added a square format to the mix which I have tried a little of here. And of course where it suits I revert to a full frame crop.

A hallmark of winter here is (especially as I am recovering from a badly sprained ankle) that travel is very limited to plowed roads. This in turn restricts the different venues I might visit. I spent a day walking a bike path along Sand Creek for exercise and found a few images.

Mountain Ash Berries (Provia simulation)

This next Xpan crop I thought was very effective. The fog obscuring the mountain makes a good screen for the tree silhouettes while the emptiness and tight vertical crop leaves one wondering what all is there. 
 

Black and White Winter Trees (Xpan and Acros film simulation)

Eagles Roost (full frame color)

This next image I really like. The symmetry with the eye being lead to the indistinct center. I kept this in color despite the de-saturated lighting conditions and it seemed less harsh.

This next image works quite well as a square crop. Again I left it in color though it is almost a black and white.

This next one I am not so sure about. The eye is so starved for color that the warmth of these leaves jumped out to me. I am not sure it works as well when one is sitting home home. Again part of my new square crop work.

This is a very delicate image with a warm patch of sky reflected in a melt water puddle.

Xpan/Acros of the far shore.

The sky opened momentarily to allow this little spot of warmth in the fog to develop. This I think is a really nice image. I tried to represent very closely what I saw. There could be another effective version with more contrast but this was not what the scene was like.

Finally the hunger for warmer colors always draw ones eyes to the willow branches with their saturated yellow/ocher color. Here is one I saw along the highway. The fog in the background dissipated by the time I turned around and so the image is not quite what I wished for.  

Willow burning like a flame.