Bad mood and the cure
They say that time in nature or the outdoors can elevate positive feelings and actually change brain chemistry by releasing more dopamine and non-stress hormones. Not being a scientist, but being a human who occasionally wakes up on the wrong side of the bed, I think it’s true.
For no reason I just fell into a bad mood one morning. I have no idea why, but it just descended on me like the fog in these photos. My coffee wasn’t good enough. The cats barfed. Again. I couldn’t find my reading glasses. Tripped over the edge of the rug. Dumb stuff, but there it was. The gloom. Was I going to spend the day bent around the axle about stuff?
Then I noticed that a mighty fog was forming and decided it might be the perfect time to go get some photos I’ve had in my imagination for a couple of years. Foggy boggy goodness.
The perfect amalgamation of favorite conditions and geography. So I put my kit together and headed out. Not far, just down the main county road I live off and the state road just to the north. A short drive, but I was out for more than an hour.
Can you blame me? The fog was so thick and uniform that it was wonderful to walk the roadsides aiming my lens and different compositions and small slices. I especially love this one for the red grasses. None appeared anywhere else so I did my best with the little section I had to work with.
So far as I could tell by a couple of posted signs, this is private property and so I didn’t go down through the ditch into the bog itself. Even if it wasn’t posted, I doubt I’d go in except along a well-worn path. Bogs are fragile, the peat mat that builds the foundation of the layer most of the plants are anchored in, is very easy to damage and takes a long time to repair. But my mood didn’t. As I shot and kept an ear out for cars and logging trucks, I felt the needless bad mood lifting. Yes, I got some odd looks as people passed by, but I’m used to that. Just because you have a camera in your hand doesn’t mean people understand what you’re taking a picture of. All those scraggly, crazy trees in the fog, are you kidding?
Crazy, yeah sure. But damn. This is heaven. Well except for the state highway. I suppose that stopping wasn’t the safest thing, but the road is very straight, very flat and I had plenty of time to cross to my car and stand by it when folks needed to get by. I’m crazy, but not stupid.
Not only did I get fog, but I got frost, too, since it was cold enough (about 30º F) and I love how it helps define the edges of the nearest grasses, trees and other plants. Just look at those cute little spruces. At least I think they’re spruces. Black spruce does well in bogs as do tamarack pines.
Speaking of, just look at this little cutie. There weren’t many in this immediate area, but I found a couple to work with. This was a tough one due to tall cattails in front of it that weren’t working for the composition. Plus I wanted to isolate it against the grasses and small bushes that surround it. I tried the medium telephoto for some, but things ended up being too narrow and boxed in. These images need space to work and that’s why they’re almost all basically the same aspect ratio, something I don’t often do.
This is one of the later photos I took during this little outing. The sun had gained strength as it burned away the mist and I rather like the more yellow glow that occurred. All during the time I was out the colors and hues shifted as the fog thickened and thinned, as the sun was revealed and obscured. By and by, my dank mood vanished as well.
Nature really does heal the soul.
Leave a comment