[Views of Cincinnati] (Kirk) Fog(g)
Sometimes insomnia can pay off.
If I'm ever up way early in the morning photographing the sun coming up, it's typically not out of dedication or a strong work ethic. Typically, it's because I've been up all night and if the sun's already coming up, I may as well just stay awake and go out and photograph something. This has worked out pretty good for the 224 Views of Cincinnati project. On the other hand, it's awful because I don't sleep. However, sometimes insomnia has its benefits.
My only class on Tuesdays is at night and since I didn't sleep Monday night, I slept most of the day on Tuesday before class. When I got out of class, it might as well have been noon. I was wide awake. No matter how long I watched tv, tried to read or do anything else - I simply wasn't tired. I checked weather.com and realized that the quickly approaching morning may be my only option for good morning light. I needed some decent light as I had to shoot some photos for another class that were due Friday. So, screw it, I decided to just stay up. After several episodes of Deep Space Nine on Netflix, I went out to my car and let it defrost as the first visible sign of light started appearing in the sky.
I hopped in the car and made the usual treck from my Fort Thomas apartment down Memorial Parkway to I-471. Usually, when you come around the bend you get this really nice view of the city - except that morning the city wasn't there, just white sky. As I got closer to the freeway and downtown, I noticed that not only was there fog, there was an insane amount of it. I was now conflicted: Go to campus and use the morning light for photos that I need for class or blow it off and go photograph this crazy fog?
Given that it was supposed to rain on Thursday and I had to get these campus photos in on Friday morning, I decided to do the responsible thing and went to the NKU Soccer Stadium to do my school work.
Once that was done I booked it back towards Cincinnati hoping all that fog would still be there. Avoiding the traffic clogged highway, I took the back roads and passed above I-275 - which you couldn't see since it was completely shrouded in a white mist. I got excited, I still had time, but where to go?
My first thought was Mt. Adams - easy spot where I could just hop out of the car and hopefully get the skyscrapers poking above the fog like something you'd see in San Francisco or Chicago.
That didn't work though. While Northern Kentucky was covered in fog, Cincinnati was just having a normal sunny morning. I decided to make a run for Devou Park as I chugged down some coffee, had a cigarette and listened to the Lawrence Arms in morning traffic.
The fog was running right up the river and was accumulating to the left of the city - kind of like when the alien ships arrived in Independence Day. Over Covington, the fog laid like a blanket as seen in the first photograph of this post.
Devou Park is an easy spot to get a photograph of the skyline, but it works. The only problem is the countless trees and brush in the way. Another photographer there encouraged me to climb up a half toppled tree, so I did. For future reference: I need to learn to climb trees better.
View 224 Views of Cincinnati Locations in a larger map
Since the fog was sitting nicely over Covington, I figured maybe Newport would look the same and I had a spot in mind. I rushed over there, but it was nowhere near as dramatic. The sun disappeared and all the fog was to the west. Nevertheless, Home St. still has one of the best views in the city:
View 224 Views of Cincinnati Locations in a larger map
Here's a panoramic photo of the fog from Devou. Click the image for a larger size:
I still have not gotten back to a regular sleep schedule.
Also, I'm lazy and couldn't think of a title for this post, so here's who Kirk Fogg is:
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| - Kirk Fogg |