My GPS Camera Phone

Generally, fog is thought of as a thing that obscures vision and makes things difficult to see. With regard to photography, it is just the opposite.

Fog actually helps you see better.

Many photos I’ve taken in the past at the Paynes Prairie overlook have been on days with clear skies and no fog in sight. You could see for miles and the sun lit up the green surroundings. Good consditions for shooting the obvious, but not good for highlighting the obscure.

This morning, the fog was incredibly thick – as it is this time of year – with the moisture actually visible to the naked eye. You could see waves of tiny droplets floating by in the breeze, getting caught up in the thousands of spiderwebs, shedding light on one of nature’s invisible masterpieces. The surrounding foliage was covered in spiderwebs, producing a visual as if there was a big net covering the prairie. Had the camera been able to capture this with some reasonable amount of detail, I’d have posted it. Looking at this image, though, should give you a good idea of what it was like.

It’s been awhile since my last stop at the Paynes Prairie overlook, so I made the trip out there last week during a particularly overcast day. The floodplain is just about dried up and most of the vines and grasses are beginning to wither away. There’s some late-blooming things, but most everything is about ready to succumb to the pending winter freeze.

This particular shot was taken with the Nokia 5310. A quick trip through Photoshop made this image pop more than the original, due to the poor quality of the 5310. Desaturation, curves and a gradient map later, and we’re in business.

Though the palm tree was alive, the vines that had climbed all the way to the top had since died back, waiting for next spring’s rain to repeat their ascension. And they will be back, without a doubt.

Well, another round of WordPress image uploading battles and I’m back in action. For some reason, I think the NextGen gallery cannot be used on multiple blogs because once I install and use it on Brain (dis)Trust, both blogs end up having issues. That’s the reason for the re-posting of the original Paynes Prairie photo.

Well, here’s Day 1 of Negative Week. the images will all be taken using the built-in “Negative” filter. No Photoshop here, except for some cropping and resizing. Check back tomorrow for Day 2! I’ve got some really trippy photos in store.

On my way into work this morning, I took a brief side trip to the prairie overlook to see how things were going. The storm called Fay is not really doing much in the way of damage, but it is dumping a lot of rain on us. I’m definitely not complaining, since previous years have been too dry and fire prone. This year is different.

I’d have gotten out of the car, but it was raining and I didn’t want to melt. You’ve seen this picture before, but in much drier conditions. I’ll get some more photos of Fay soon, since it’s on the way out and much safer to venture in the yard.

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