For going on a decade now, I've had a love-hate relationship with the San Francisco fog. It's our city's defining characteristic; so beautiful from afar, so smothering and depressing up close.
But there's no denying that beauty, captured here in a gorgeous new video from photographer Simon Christen called "Adrift."
He describes his project thusly.
The weather conditions have to be just right for the fog to glide over the hills and under the bridge. I developed a system for trying to guess when to make the drive out to shoot, which involved checking the weather forecast, satellite images and webcams multiple times a day. For about 2 years, if the weather looked promising, I would set my alarm to 5am, recheck the webcams, and then set off on the 45-minute drive to the Marin Headlands.
I spent many mornings hiking in the dark to only find that the fog was too high, too low, or already gone by the time I got there. Luckily, once in a while the conditions would be perfect and I was able to capture something really special. Adrift is a collection of my favorite shots from these excursions into the ridges of the Marin Headlands.
The San Francisco fog may be a drag sometimes. It may have ruined more than its fair share of BBQs and its Twitter feed may be a maddening mix of lovable and annoying. But damned if it isn't also lovely, when it wants to be.
Everyone doing well? Have a good weekend? American readers, are you psyched for July 4? Talk fog, fireworks, or anything else, here or at TAY.
(Via Andrew Kelly)