One of the natural occurring features in Montana is the geothermal rivers. We have a lot of heat keeping the rivers often unfrozen in the winter time. The closer to Yellowstone you get the better the water is and thus the greater the steam is coming up off the water. Lately what’s been happening is we get these great cold snaps that are followed the next day by a warm spell, and I’m talking about going from 10 degrees up to 25 degrees and then if it’s nice it might hit 30 degrees, but these snaps are creating some great fog banks. This winter I’ve seen a lot of these fog layers, one time it was so thick that it was white out and it lasted all day. Well these layers are great for photography especially at sunrise and sunset when the light really starts to bounce around.
This was taken last weekend when it went from 16 degrees one day to 30 degrees the next and at sunset the light was just gorgeous on this ground fog. This was up towards Canyon Ferry Lake on the Missouri River and was a quick click with the D4 and 24-70 AF-S. I really encourage people to go out and drive around with a camera on their lap because that’s all this shot is. It wasn’t a lot of prep work, just knowing the weather patterns and exploring can produce some pretty amazing results.