Capturing the Image: Cold Mist at Wakulla Springs

As mentioned in the blog entry Happy 2014, I want to return this blog to its original purpose, which is nature photography, nature study, where we go, and how we do it. "Capturing the Image" will appear at least twice a month with suggestions on getting the shot you want.

On a recent trip to Wakulla Springs State Park, we stayed at the lodge and woke to a very cold November morning. The staff at the desk told us the temperature hit 29 degrees that morning. We rose before sunrise to get some photography done, and the cold rewarded us with mist rising from the constant 70 degree F spring.

With this shot I intended to show the cold mist as it swirled and hovered over the warm water. I studied it from several angles, taking shots from each, and even framed a gray squirrel a couple of times. This one came closest to the image I wanted.

The mist rises behind the tree on the left, and glides over the water in the center of the image, rising again behind the tree on the right.

I use an exercise that appears in most photography courses at some point, but expand it to meet my needs. Most photography courses ask students to go out with a notebook rather than a camera, chose a scene they would photograph, and then describe the photograph they would take in detail. This improves your focus on detail. I like to do this, but then take some photographs and see if I can capture in an image the same details and emotions I captured in writing. Sometimes I do the writing exercise before photographing, sometimes after I take the shot but before I really look at what I captured on camera.