Fog is my photographic crack. When I see fog, I will drop everything and go shooting. The aesthetic that I strive for in my photos is one of heightened realism. I want my photos to look better than reality. I want the places I shoot to be almost like magical versions of the real thing. Nothing makes me feel like I’ve done my job more than hearing from someone that they’ve seen fill-in-the-blank dozens of times, but never like I shot it. Fog aids in achieving this goal more than almost anything else.

The reason for this is simple: fog tends to make light behave differently. It disperses light in unusual ways which makes photos of fog appear wildly different from the norm. Fog also lightens the background immeasurably which often makes dark objects incredibly light.

I took this photo outside of Randolph, Wisconsin on a very cool spring morning. The fog rolled in early and I was ready for it. I’d been shooting for a short while when I noticed the sun was coming up. The fog caused an extremely unusual white-to-blue gradient to form around the sun. I found the nearest tree on a hill I could and got this image. Ah, sweet fog…