In The Fog

January 2013

Golden Isles, Golden Images:

Destinations for Photographers

A temperate winter climate is one of the hallmarks of life in the Golden Isles.  The overbearing heat of summer gradually gives way to sunny winter days with average high temperatures around 65 degrees and lows around 45 degrees.  To the delight of photographers, these cooler temperatures often bring with them fog.  As the colder night air passes over our warm waterways and moist salt marshes, it is common to wake up to wonderfully mysterious and peaceful misty mornings.      

Taking photographs in the fog can give your images a moody and atmospheric feel.  Scenes become less clear and defined as parts of the subject disappear in the mist. Since fog acts as a natural soft box by scattering light sources, contrast and color saturation are dramatically reduced.   

There are a number of locations in the Golden Isles that are especially interesting in the fog. My favorite is downtown Brunswick.  With its combination of marina, shrimp boat docks, industrial pier, parks, historic homes and main street, Brunswick has a photo op for everyone.  The waterfront at Mary Ross Park provides the perfect vantage point for up close studies of the local shrimping fleet.  Up to a dozen shrimp boats can be moored three deep, along the dock here at any time.  With their colorful names, weathered paint, rigging and netting, photographing them in the fog adds a certain mystery to the ways of the commercial fisherman.

 

Just north of Mary Ross Park is a marina with a large collection of sailboats and other recreational craft. Immediately to the south, the industrial pier often has an ocean going freighter at its moorings, and it’s possible to stand within 50 yards of the vessel.  Both provide interesting and creative opportunities.  One block behind the park is Newcastle Street a typical ‘Main Street USA’ circa 1910.  Just south of downtown, the adjacent Old Town district of Brunswick is filled with a picturesque collection of late 19^th century homes featuring everything from Gothic to Victorian styles. Union Street has some the grandest and best preserved.  If you continue south to US Hwy 17, you will come to the Marshes of Glynn.  Turn right onto the access road just before the Sidney Lanier Bridge.  Here you will find Liberty Ship Park which lies in the shadow of the bridge.  From this vantage point, sweeping vistas of the surrounding marsh and Turtle River compete with the majesty of the bridge itself as it rises over the water.

All of these locales offer great photographic opportunities in clear weather, but when photographed in the mist, the subjects take on a timeless quality and other worldliness that can’t be captured on a clear day.