Late Summer: Mist Rising Over Spring Creek

We're moving into the latter part of summer, and late August is a wonderful time for morning mist. It rises from the blue waters and from the green hills, and the morning dampness strings its sparkling dew-drop jewels upon every spider web.

Of course, I couldn't resist a few stops on this morning to capture the mist. I was thinking about how much I love the mist, and remembering those 5-degree mornings when I chase winter's silver-white mist, driving around with the windows down to prevent getting condensation on the camera lens as I jump in and out of the car.

It is like that now, but in reverse. The August issue is heat and dampness. High temperatures have been in the 90s with 100% humidity for about the past week. Moving from an air-conditioned car to the outdoors can result in many of the same kinds of condensation issues, so when I'm taking pictures, I do without the cool.

This is the wide bend in Spring Creek that I've photographed several times before (mist in October; mist in February). The color theme this time of year is GREEN, not silver. The banks are lined with wildflowers of every kind and color. Pink, purple, yellow, white.

If you look closely, you can see a spider web strewn with dew in the lower left corner, just below the three ducks standing on rocks in the middle of the creek. You must take my word on it (yes, I walked up and looked) that the downed tree in the middle of the creek is also festooned with dozens if not hundreds of webs.

I wanted the song to accompany this image to be something light and ethereal, like the mist, so I have chosen Enya's song Aniron, the theme of Aragorn and Arwen, from The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring.