Sun and Fog

I've been doing grassland bird surveys at Lakehurst Naval Air Station for some years now. The protocol is that the survey can start as early as 5:00 am; thirty minutes before sunrise. Now that I live but 20 miles away I generally arrive at or just before sunrise. In prior years I'd arrive thirty minutes or so after sunrise, missing scenes like these.

As the sun light hits the ground a low fog rises. Ephemeral, it is gone in minutes.

I'd seen this fog only once before, on the survey prior to this, and had but my phone for a camera (I had a better camera in the car, but the fog was gone by the time I got back). This time I was ready.

Shooting into the sun is never easy, perhaps next year I'll bring a tripod and try HDR. The rays and shadows were much more pronounced to the naked eye than captured by the camera.

Although the rays in the above image are an artifact of the camera optics. Still cool though.