December 2021 - Trees in the mist

I mentioned my local golf course last month – well, the weather didn’t get any better and these two photos show what it was like one morning just after 8 a.m. in early December. The same frosted ground, but this time a lot more mist. Now, I love mist – not so much the damp, coldness of it, but the way it creates photo opportunities out of ordinary trees and other objects. You usually have to be up and about early to benefit from the mist as it often melts away in the first few hours of the morning, but as I’m up in any case, and out with Poppy (my energetic cockerpoo) that’s not a great problem for me. Early starts are a problem – but by that I mean really early; early enough to catch the sunrise in summer for example. I can usually do that a few times each year, but it is a habit that I am still working to build into my lifestyle. A warm bed at 5:30 is very attractive!

The thing about mist is that it hides a lot of the details of the trees and grounds that you’re in. And this can add a sense of mystery to the picture, or even make you feel colder just looking at it! I like it because of that mystery – of trees appearing out of nowhere, questioning what may be lurking in the mist, or just generally the lovely haziness that you can see. I think the light is often very beautiful in the mist as the sun tries to pierce the vagueness and shine on to us – especially in early morning mists. The first picture shows a bit of light trying to shine through at the bottom of the trees on the left, but in truth neither of these pictures give a great show of sunlight! They’re still nice pictures.