It’s Halloween, and that means it’s time for some dark, moody pictures. I’ll start with one of my favorite sinister shots of Little Corona Beach in Corona Del Mar:
Who just came ashore in that lone boat? Why do so many of the houses have no lights on? And is that a thin layer of mist creeping in over the oddly-still water?
And, of course, what would Halloween be without spiderwebs?
This spider web was covered in dew on a foggy morning at Crystal Cove State Park. It looks creepy to me, especially since the droplets look like they have little eyes in them.
Or a misty trail, heading off into the unknown?
A trail winds off in the distance behind scraggly foliage into a fog shrouded unknown up a hill. Taken in Crystal Cove State Park on a foggy afternoon, just before sunset. I love the creepy feel of this.
Or a giant spider?
A large orb weaver spider sits in the center of her web, just waiting for some prey (you, perhaps?) to come along and get stuck in her web. And if you say "Squee!" to this instead of "Eeek!", you're my kind of person 🙂
And, as a special Halloween addition, I saw a ghost while photographing the Occupy Orange County camp last night (gallery here). He was just a wisp of a man in a hat, holding a sign:
A long exposure shot taken at dusk shows just the outline of a man in a hat holding a sign next to an empty lawn chair at Occupy Orange County - Irvine. Is this a ghost of protesters past?
Do you have any scary, creepy, or sinister pictures to share?
Have a spooky day!
[Updated to add the ghost picture on Oct. 31, 2011, with thanks to Alpenglow Images for the inspiration.]
I fell asleep and awoke to fog while camping in Crystal Cove State Park a few weeks ago. The flowers became beautifully covered in dew, so I spent most of my free time photographing them.
But what struck me as I was doing my closeup work was how much the fog changed the feel of the park. When the fog rolled in a few hours before sunset, the landscape changed from a dusty, hot California hillside covered in dry grass to something moodier, almost creepy.
A trail winds off in the distance behind scraggly foliage into a fog shrouded unknown at Crystal Cove State Park.
As the wisps of fog blew by, trails that used to be perfectly visible became shrouded in mist. The plants transformed from water-starved sticks to haunting menaces, stalking trails that led into nothing by grayness.
Mist on a foggy morning shrouds the trail as it passes through bushes in Crystal Cove State Park.
And the spiderwebs seemed perfect for Halloween, the little droplets of water sometimes looking like a thousand little eyes peering out at you.
The droplets of water on this spiderweb are especially creepy to me, as they almost look like they have eyes in them.A spider web covered in varying sizes of dew droplets.A spider web covered in dew on a foggy morning at Crystal Cove.
Photographers: How do you work in fog to capture the feel of it, without just ending up with pictures that look under-contrasty and bland?
Hopefully these images will please Greg, as he’s ribbed me about my lack of grayscale work.
Crystal Cove State Park: Located along Pacific Coast Highway (Highway 1) between Corona Del Mar and Laguna Beach in Orange County, California. I camped at the Lower Moro Campsite, which is about a 2 mile hike in from the parking lot. Parking is plentiful at a new parking lot and picnic area past the Moro Campground (for RV’s), but you must pay either a day use fee for the state park or an overnight fee. The park is currently open from 6am – sunset; their website has lots of good information on it.
