I’ve sat through numerous photography presentations where fog was the focal point. I think the person who has influenced my thought the most on the subject is my friend Bill Lea. Bill discusses fog regularly at his workshops and points out how drastically fog can change a scene, and even though I’ve heard this and think about this when I’m shooting… it still catches me off guard when I see it all come together.
My friend Steve and I were out shooting in Cades Cove on this particular morning and we stopped at this spot along Hyatt Lane. I was feeling somewhat uninspired at this moment, and though I liked the elements of what I was seeing, the colors just weren’t doing it for me. When I got home, however, I started working in black and white and this shot jumped out at me. I love how desolate it looks… almost like a wasteland. If I hadn’t been the one to take the picture I don’t know that I would have ever guessed it was from my own backyard… and that’s the power of fog. It takes a scene that would otherwise be familiar, and makes it unfamiliar and unique.
–Dan Thompson