Foggy days---foggy nights!

[Drew Wiley]

My rule was to never travel AM or after 9:00 thru the low sections; but heck, only a forty-car pileup ... I've heard of over 200 at times, with a few semi trucks in there just for added fatality. Nobody slows down in that stuff, even if they can't even seen the front of the hood. Lots of the valley was originally swampland, and now worse
because of all the smog which acts to seed the water droplets. But those orchards etc
around the perimeter of the valley, plus the lower hill country, can be intensely
photogenic in the rain or fog. But I sure miss the ole open range days, when you could
hike and photograph anywhere, before the developers ruined so much. John - there
are some magnificent little caves in parts of the Ione formation outside of Friant (now
off limits) - but back when it was about an 8 mile hike to and fro, and you'd be out
there about 2 miles till the nearest fence or tree, and the fog would finally start lifting, and you'd have a brahma bull about twenty yards away suddenly trying to focus on
you ... well, them was interesting days ...

[Jim Fitzgerald]

Drew, is there any way to tell when a fog event is going to occur? My son and I got caught a couple of years ago and it was frightening. Just do not want the rush this trip. I know that some days the fog does not clear until mid-morning? I believe I found a site that had info. I know that December and january are the worst months. Trouble is there is no way around it!!

[Sirius Glass]

Jim, there is a way to forecast when the fog will be bad. The probability of a dense fog is directly proportional to the square of the time pressure one will be experiencing at said time.

[Jay DeFehr]

We had ranches in Tipton and Tulare when I was a kid. Tule fog is amazing stuff; scary as hell if you're trying to drive in it but the most fun ever if you're playing hide and seek. I would love to try shooting in it, so ditto to Kerik's request! (Nod to the fog master)

Hi Tori,

I grew up mostly in the SJV, and lived for a time on a 1,000 acre coton farm between Tipton and Poplar. That place is etched into my memory. I was 11 years old (1977) when I lived there, and attended Pleasantview school. Houses seemed very far apart, from my kid's perspective, separated by lonely, straight country roads, or irrigation canals, which were like my personal dirt bike highway system. One friend from school would visit our house regularly, by his old pickup truck (he was 10 years old, and a smoker), or on horseback. I remember the giant Hawk Moths, as big as bats. And the fog. A Tule fog is a phenomenon difficult to describe, and an experience one doesn't soon forget. I remember my Dad trying to describe the fog to friends in Florida, who asked how far in front of his car he could see in the fog, and my Dad replied, "If you can see the front of your car, it's not foggy". Everyone had a fog-driving strategy; fog lights, no lights, horn-sounding, driving slow, driving at exactly the speed limit, hugging the center line, hugging the shoulder, windows down, etc., etc. My Mother's strategy was by far the most sensible- she simply refused to be on the road in the fog, to my Dad's frequent frustration. I could fill a book with what I remember about that place, while other places I lived before and since, I hardly remember at all. Thanks for reminding me!

[Vaughn]

I rode my bicycle home after a session in the darkroom -- about 2am and it is a 9 mile ride, most of it along Humboldt Bay. There are a couple lit intersections along the way, but the fog was so thick that I could only see a faint hint of light to tell me I had passed the intersection. My light on the bike made it as if I was riding in a large bubble, perhaps 10 feet in diameter. One of the best rides I have every had!

Fog does a nice job of simplifying an image. This started out as a 2 minute exposure at dusk. But the light kept dropping and I kept extending the exposure and eventually went out to 8 minutes. I got bored and ran up and down the dock, getting it to move some for the photo.

From a scan of a silver gelatin contact print. I made 16x20 silver gelatin prints from this 4x5 negative. (I have lost some shadow detail in the reproduction here.) Dock, Arcata Bay, CA

[cobalt]

fog.

[cobalt]

and more fog.

[vinny]

I've had some great success in the fog, it's my favorite weather to shoot in.
210mm repromaster, 4x5 velvia 100.

[Curt]

In front of Clint Eastwood's home in Carmel. He did not come out and invite me in for coffee.

Did Evelyn?

[jp]

In the summer (Maine coast), if it's not going to be windy, it's apt to be foggy. The wind can bring in the fog from off-shore to the coast, then when it gets here, it calms down. Rare are the days of fog and strongish wind simultaneously.