Eerie Fog Covers San Francisco (PHOTOS)

By: Camille Mann

Published: August 6,2013

 

 

 

 

 

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A still from photographer Simon Christen's time lapse, 'Adrift,' shows fog rolling into the San Francisco Bay area. (Simon Christen)

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Perhaps no other city on Earth is more associated with fog than San Francisco. In his stunning photo series, Oakland-based photographer Simon Christen creates a love letter to San Francisco’s iconic fog with dramatic images that capture the natural phenomenon as it blankets the city.

Due to the unpredictability of this mysterious weather event, however, capturing the images takes a lot of planning for Christen.

“I spend a long time studying the weather forecasts, fog forecasts and webcams to decide when a good time is to head out,” Christen told Weather.com.  “I am really interested in capturing low lying fog flowing through the Golden Gate. This specific condition doesn't happen often. Fog pours into the Bay very often, but it is usually too high or too low.”
In addition to taking photos, Christen also composed a time lapse of fog coming into the Bay area. It took him over two and a half years to collect all the shots for his video “Adrift.”

“The medium of time lapse is able to unlock the beauty of the fog movement that was hidden in time. Usually the fog is moving too slow to be able to appreciate its behavior,” he explained.

Most of his shots were taken from trails in the Marin Headlands, a hilly park north of San Francisco across from the Golden Gate Bridge. “Luckily, San Francisco is surrounded by hills, which provide incredible vantage points,” says Christen, explaining that he also shoots from the Berkeley Hills or Mt. Tamalpais. Driving up some of San Francisco’s hills can provide for some beautiful views of the fog.

“To me there is something really magical happening when the fog pours over the first ridge of the Marin Headlands and interacts with the land and bridge. The contrast between the soft flowing mass and the hard constant is really interesting,” said Christen.

To see more of Christen’s work visit his website.
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Aerial view of the Caribbean Sea, 2012. (Jakob Wagner)