A Foggy Morning at Eagle Mountain Park in Fort Worth, Texas

A wonderfully peaceful - and unexpected - outing as I finally got back out with the camera for the first time since my mom's passing

My first composition from the morning, before I made a quickly-abandoned attempt to make it down a steep, very muddy portion of the trail to the right... I decided to head elsewhere in the park

Some quick, relevant background on my life with my partner Heather...

We have two dogs and four cats. Most days, I'm up early with them, putting the dogs outside and feeding everyone breakfast. Because of this, I generally don't have an alarm set as they're pretty reliably waking me up around 6am (if not earlier). Usually, I'm quite happy when they let me sleep in a bit.

That was the case on the morning of April 29th; I believe I was "allowed" to sleep in until 6:45am or so. Once I grudgingly got out of bed and made my way to the back door to let the dogs out, I was a bit miffed at the unusual reprieve when I looked out the window and discovered heavy fog had settled across the region.

After taking care of the critters, and after a bit of an internal argument with myself about the merits of heading to the local park versus continuing to enjoy my usual mug of hot tea on the sofa, photography won out.

I'm glad it did.

In the video from this outing, you can learn how I approached this composition, from the framing to a few of the more technical details

Arriving at the park with just over an hour to go before the fog advisory was due to end, I was trying to move quickly to find compositions that would take advantage of the rare foggy conditions. Given the trees were already fully leafed out by this point of the year, I struggled a bit; I often prefer the brief windows of the spring and fall seasons when the foliage is a bit thinner, showing off the inner structure of the trees in the park.

Regardless, I was able to come away with a few foggy frames before moving on to taking advantage of the early morning light as the fog lifted. I spent the next couple hours hiking further into the park to scout possibilities for a return visit.

I first photographed a composition similar to this last fall, but here I appreciated the sense that the bare branches were reaching for the strengthening sunlight as the fog began to clear

Having found some scenes I thought would have potential with the earliest morning light, I committed to returning in a couple days. As luck would have it, most of the candidates were further into the park so, instead of relying on the furry brigade to wake me up early enough, I set an actual alarm to help me get out the door.

As is often the case for me, a certified non-morning person (although, ironically, I'm no longer a night owl, either, as I grow older...), I left the house a bit later than I would have liked but I still got to the park with just enough time to get the light I wanted.

I've had my eye on this fallen tree for a good year and half, never managing to make my way to it when it had the light I felt it needed... until now

Several areas of the park were still quite full of wildflowers but, furthering my "luck," one of the best areas for them is about as far into the park as you can get (roughly a 2.5-mile hike out). Thankfully, it works well with mid- to late-morning light, as well, and I also had the benefit of thing clouds intermittently softening the light throughout the morning.

A rare "pre-visualized" photo I'd had in mind since my mom passed away

Towards the end of my second visit, I was seeking out a particular type of scene, something I don't do often as I prefer to react to what I'm given rather than going in with preconceived ideas that may lead to disappointment if not found.

However, since losing my mom, I kept returning to a visualization of finding a scene such as the one in the photo above. I'm struggling to put it into words, but essentially a theme of death and the renewal of life, presented in the form of this fallen branch surrounded by blooming flowers.

Taking the metaphor another way, my mom loved working in her garden, and had plants all throughout the house, as well. The branch nestled amongst the flowers feels like the earth welcoming mom home.

Join Me Behind the Scenes

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I hope you take the time to watch the video from this outing. It starts out with footage from my arrival at the park while the fog was still thick on the landscape, but I also spent some time talking through the odd, bittersweet emotions I was experiencing being back out with the camera for the first time since mom's passing.

It also includes several more photos from the two days I visited the park, ranging from revisiting my old friend, The Witch, to a couple of wildlife photos that, in honor of mom's love of all things nature (well, except moles...), seem a fitting tribute.

You can also find the fall videos from my local park in my Texas On Location playlist.

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