Autumn Morning Fog on the West Fork

As autumn arrives in north Texas and begins its slow two month change across north Texas, I begin to visit the West Fork of the Trinity River.  The river runs through town and has some stretches that are scenic, get fall color and are all but unknown.  I think those three qualities make it a great destination for a photographer.

I started going out there on Saturday mornings and would watch the slow change in the colors along the river.  The colors start very subtly with a few yellows here and there.  Then you start to notice more widespread color in the second week of November a week later it is reds that appear.  Fog often appears on these mornings as the warm days and cool nights are good producers of morning fog.  

When it does happen I can get lucky with good atmosphere and then if I really get lucky a great sunrise too.  The sunrise through light fog can make some great light.

So as the fall went on through November and into early December I kept visiting the river and got fog on several visits.  

Our local colors were good in November this last year.  The peak was at Thanksgiving but from peak to bare trees takes another month and only a winter storm cuts short our fall color season which can run up to the week of Christmas.

This last fall saw some good early colors and several foggy mornings.  I made several trips to the river.  I would wade through the water with tripod in hand looking for great compositions among the water, rocks, and colors with the ethereal nature of the fog.

The limestone ledges along the river give it a rocky base to run on.  Plants have been taking root over the last couple of years making some narrow channels that funnel the river here and there.  I would think a big flood event would wash the rocks bare again and the process would start all over.

I try to use these lanes to give me leading lines and as compositional elements of an image.

There is also the Big Falls of the West Fork where the river takes a 9-10 foot tumble off the edge of the limestone.  It is a neat feature and I occasionally can get really lucky with an image here.

Here are a few from the fall season on those foggy mornings on the West Fork.

You can see more of these images from the Trinity River in my Galleries:
Trinity River Galleries