WALK #49

Since starting this walking project, today's walk was my first time to walk in fog. The first image below is not bad for capturing today's morning fog. But I was struck by how the 2nd and third photographs are flatter and, thus, fail to capture the bodily sense of fog. This reminded me of who I consider to be the best living painter of fog and mist: Randy Dudley. In the past, I've lived with two of his paintings from the "Gowanus Canal" series and I've always felt like I could walk into those paintings, and walk far for a long time after I stepped over the frame to enter—he had captured such expansive depth in portraying fog/mist. From fog to an artist I hadn't thought about in a while (though his works are unforgettable), from a vineyard to a polluted Brooklyn canal—physical walks are great if they also encourage a mental walk. In that sense, a walk can be like a poem.

The Poetics of the Nebulous

Fog is nifty

when you

can't

anticipate what's revealed

after it

lifts

but the revelation

will provoke 

pleasure