This recent cold snap reminded me of these photographs I had yet to share taken in Ireland this past Christmas. The sun was setting and the fog was rolling in from the ether, causing my camera to struggle to focus on anything in particular, softening the gaze as if the clouds fell that day.
Although a dumping of snow or ice is yet to grace the landscapes of Ireland, I was treated to another phenomenon – freezing fog. I’ve never experienced fog like it – completely enveloping all the eye could see in a matter of minutes, swirling around the fields and transforming objects and buildings into milky soft nothingness, as my camera struggled to capture anything in detail it felt as though I was living in an oil painting.
A fourth collection of undulating fog filled landscapes. I love when a person is somewhere in the shot, I feel like it adds a different tone to the image and makes me wonder about the story of the individual and where they are travelling beyond the mist.
A third offering of gloomy mist filled vistas when the sky had fallen and bloomed outwards, dulling the light and defusing the horizon.
A second set of photos taken in the early hours of the morning when the milky fog was so thick it transformed the streets into an uncanny world not to be disturbed.
A few weeks ago in the early hours of the morning London was treated to a blanket of fog, I had to jump at the chance of documenting this weather as I find fog so atmospheric and cinematic, it leaves the usual streets with an air of otherworldly mystery as the people appear out of thin air and buildings blend into nothing. It makes you wonder what is beyond the veil.
A few final eerie photographs from back in December when the fog was so dense it made this usually busy park feel completely barren. As I was walking through the quietened park in the early hours of the morning, I happened across a broken tree branch that still had its leaves left, I liked the way the full leaves looked against the looming wispy trees in the distance – as if they’ve been submerged to some sort of chemical within the mist that strips them bare.
Another set of offerings when the sky met with the ground and diluted the treetops and roofs of apartment blocks. It is rather peculiar seeing London this way especially where this photo was captured as it usually offers a view of the London skyline, instead gobbled up by the palled brume.
At the moment it is unusually mild and dull, I am yearning for the blankets of snow and chiefly for the frost and ice that crisps up the landscapes and allows me to sink into those verglas vistas that I love so much. Until then one morning I woke up early and was left mesmerised by the dense fog that closed in the surroundings like a milky force field. I went out on an adventure to capture some soft landscapes where the hazy sky spilled over onto the vegetation in a blurry soft gradient.
There is nothing I love more than when the weather turns to haze. The way that it turns simple landscapes into such rich ominous scenes, the way that it always affects light and how it hints at narrative – I can’t help but wonder about the inhabitants sheltering inside the gloom. It reminds me of my time spent in Beijing, the light was peculiarly different there, assuming it had to do with smog, it made it so that the light pooled out from its source towards you and subverting some sort of wall that atmospheric perspective would usually allow you to know the distance between you and elements further away. Whenever there is fog I love nothing more than to go for a long curious walk which always feels like your reality turns into a sort of dream state. The weather is promised to be foggy tonight, fingers crossed it is so that I can go for one of those walks and see what my camera can can capture.
Gentle Giant 