There seemed to be a lid on San Francisco that Wednesday in December. The sky was a dull gray, and a near-constant light drizzle dampened the city. I had all but given up on finding an interesting image for sunset, but I thought that despite the high fog layer, that the fog might top out below 2000 feet. So I headed to the “roof” of the Bay Area: Mt. Tamalpais.
The fog was thick on the way up windy Highway One, and the drive was pretty harrowing with all the hairpin turns and limited visibility. Finally, as I headed up Pantoll Road, I broke through the murk and was treated to an incredible view: a broken sea of fog wafting out over the Pacific, and pouring down the hillsides from the bay, like giant ladles of cream.
I used a moderately long exposure (13 seconds) to show the movement in the fog. I also used Lee graduated neutral density filters to balance out the bright sky and darker foreground. Since I arrived right at sunset, I didn’t have much time to scout out a location, so I headed directly for a location I knew from an earlier visit. I was in luck: that particular ridge wasn’t bathed in fog. I captured this image in the eerie silence, with just the occasional rustle of the grasses that blanket the mountain.
I particularly love this photo because it captures a tiny bit of what makes Mt. Tamalpais–and my home, Marin County–so magical to me.
Mt. Tamalpais Dreamscape by Della Huff - All Rights Reserved
Canon 5D, Canon 24-70L, f/22 @ 13s, ISO 50. 2-stop soft and 3-stop hard Lee GND filters.