Into The Fog

After taking pictures of the downtown Christmas tree, I got back in the car and started driving around. Away from the bright and cheerful colors on the tree, the fog made everything look moody and somber.







They say that fog comes on little cat feet. And the fog did quietly and steadily increase, so that the tops of the downtown skyscrapers seemed to dissolve away.







I headed back by the Capitol building again. It was quiet there except for the security guards who seemed to be on constant patrol (they drove by several times and were probably really bored). They only other people out were the cleaning crew, who were leaving the building in a large group.  



The thick fog amplified two bright spotlight beams, which were pointed at the Capitol dome. The lights are mounted on a street light across the street, and if you stand under the light it makes an interesting effect where it just looks like two beams are shining down from Space onto the dome. The joke is that it looks like the aliens are maybe trying to beam up some of our strange state legislators (and the governor) to return to their home planets.



It was starting to get late, but I made one last stop before heading home. I drove by the offices of the Department of Arkansas Heritage, which sits on the river by the Baring Cross Bridge. You can get a really good view of the bridge from their parking lot, and as I drove up I saw a train was starting to cross the old bridge. I grabbed the camera and tripod and ran out of the car, hoping to get a shot set up in time. Of course, the center column of the tripod decided this would be a good time for it to detach and fall to the ground. I jammed it back in and got the tripod set up. I managed to just barely get the camera onto the tripod with enough time to set up a shot before the train passed through the bridge. Still shocked that it was actually all in focus.



The train passed over the bridge, and loudly headed down the tracks towards Union Station with a bang and a clatter. I carefully gathered up the camera and then hurried across Cantrell Road (luckily not much traffic on this late night). I managed to get this shot - it's a 20 second long exposure of the train as it rumbled on by. The rail cars turned into a blur as they made their way to the station, which was nearly obscured by the fog. I was only able to get three exposures here before the end of the train passed below. The cacophony of sound from the train quieted down, and was enveloped by the fog.