There’s something about the fog that interests me. It is quiet yet disturbing. It is peaceful yet carries a tang of dread. There is something about the fog that makes me unsure on how to feel. It’s unlike the storm that ushers anxiety and trouble to anyone trying to scurry away from the downpour. It isn’t the clear summer skies that invite people to frolic under the sun. The fog is like an emotional limbo, a state of unease, a teeter between gladness and despair.
The fog casts a different canvass over the landscape, an image that isn’t always shared and rarely appreciated. Under it, colors aren’t too radiant and blinding as in the sun, yet they aren’t too gray and gloomy as in the rain. Colors become simply soft and subtle. Church spires and tall towers aren’t as pointed as well, quietly softening edges as the cloud envelopes them. Paintings of sunny landscapes are quite common whereas the rain, storm and snow are also being celebrated on various media. On the other hand, I think the fog isn’t a popular subject in arts and other media. I wonder how many painters have tried immortalizing the images of the fog. Although I have to say that the fog is quite infamous on horror or suspense movies as carriers of the evil.
It is quite unfortunate that fog is mainly depicted on horror movies. It can’t be blamed, though, since the sudden shortening of the visual capabilities plays with one’s imaginations, heightening his senses. Even outside a movie scene, some additional auditory elements – an innocent cocking of a crow or sudden flapping of bird wings – would give rise to a good horror imagery. However, I think there is still more to the imagery of a thick fog than horror and suspense.
I think the imagery of the fog is a perfect metaphor of life itself. It reminds me so much that life is will be obscured and visions will be limited. There will come a time where the life that one lead becomes familiar while seemingly different. Yet we trudge forward even though we’re unsure and insecure about what lies ahead.
Architecture Wander 