I’m always nervous before leading a paid photography adventure.  While I have no control over the weather–and the weather will largely shape the experience of outdoor photography–I still want to deliver the type of day that will inspire my clients to keep approaching me for more!  As much as I explain to those who book with me that landscape photography is a delicate dance that occurs in place between photographer and weather, it’s still disappointing when our dance partner doesn’t show up, or shows up without the energy that we both hope.

On this particular morning, I had a wonderful return client and friend spending the day with me along the Southern Blue Ridge Parkway and the Southern Blue Ridge Escarpment.  The forecast had been in flux every day leading up to our adventure.  As we wound our way up the flanks of the Southern Appalachian Mountains to the Blue Ridge Parkway for sunrise, I was concerned.  I figured we had a less than 10% chance of seeing anything at all:  rain was in the forecast off and on for the entire day and we were seeing nothing but cloud/fog/mist.  I was already floating alternative plans to photograph different locations and smaller subjects should it become necessary.

The cloud and mist was so dense at the overlook we chose for sunrise that it was impossible to judge what might happen.  Just as the sun got near to the horizon, the Southern Appalachians turned magical.  The high mist moved on as if a curtain was lifted to reveal the show.  A cloud inversion clung to the valley before us; a small break in the thick clouds teased with potential just above the horizon, a window for the warm first light of day to penetrate the soupy atmosphere around us.  I, of course, started getting giddy, running back and forth between the two views available to us, unsure of which was speaking loudest to me–and trying to anticipate where it might get even better.

My conerns were for naught.  It was the perfect start to a photography adventure:  unplanned and unexpected.  A gift.  It was the type of mystery and magic unique to the Southern Appalachian Mountains.  We were held in awe for the better part of several hours at that overlook.  One of the frames I came away with was this mountaintop island amongst a sea of clouds tinged pastel by the indirect early light of morning.

A cloud inversion–or temperature inversion–is a special weather anomoly where the normal laws of weather seem flipped.  Instead of warm air at the ground getting cooler and cooler as it rises higher, a temperature (or cloud or ground) inversion occurs when cold air is trapped on the ground by warmer air above.  This situation is fairly common in the spring when the temperature of cooling air being released by the ground overnight falls below the dewpoint (the temperature where water vapor condenses).  Mist forms.  Cloud inversions are more common in humid locations, like the Southern Appalachian Mountains.  It’s still magic to me, however, every time I get to experience it.

Camera:  Nikon D850
Lens:  Nikkor 70-200mm f2.8 @116mm
Tripod:  Really Right Stuff TVC-33

Date taken:  May 18, 2024
Settings:  f13, 1/4 second, iso 125