Less than good weather

Hello,

So in quite a few parts of the US it is cloudy, rainy, and stormy. For some this is the time to figure out something else to do rather than going outside and taking pictures. Catching up on a blog, studying other’s work to figure out how that shot was done, reading a good book, editing pictures, cleaning gear, and a plethora of other things that aren’t going out in cloudy, rainy weather.

Don’t be sad like this little girl because of the rain. Grab an umbrella and enjoy the change from clear skies.

I am going to say go out into that not so sunny day and take pictures. Landscapes come alive with clouds in them, rivers look full of action, cityscapes become reflected, rocky cliffs become waterfalls, car lights double, there is a possibility for lightning  and waterfalls increase in volume.

Granted some of those are only if it is actively raining others are post rain and clouds. One of my favorite parts is that a lot of people don’t go out when it is raining. I have gone to normally busy locations to hike and been alone. Normally there would be hundreds of people and no parking.

I have been to some stunning places in my life and not always to photograph. To me a clear blue sky is rather boring. Give me some clouds to break it up, some water on the road or rocks to add some dimension. It could be because I have been in the desert so long that rain and clouds have become something special to me. I believe the Las Vegas area has around 300 days of sunshine a year. The clouds and rain are few and far between.

I know that the pictures above are of foggy, cloudy, and rainy situations. I am realizing that I don’t have many pictures with clear blue skies in them. Not to say that you can’t take good pictures with clear skies I have multiple, the sky is not usually the focus of the image though. We all have our preferences as to how to produce an image, I am just encouraging you all to not discount the less than perfect weather days.

I would enjoy seeing images you all have taken even if they are bright blue skies. As always comments and questions are welcome. I will try not to let so much time go by before the next post.

~Scott

Revisiting Photographed Locations

Good Morning,

If one has been photographing a while they probably have an old haunt that they enjoy photographing. Some of us do not though feeling that it has already been photographed. Different times of the year can yield greatly varied results, even a different time of day can, or a different mind set even. 

Below is the same location. One shot during a rain and the other shot the day after one, granted the rains were nearly a year apart. The two images have a completely different feel to them. Same camera, lens, tripod, and focal length. They were taken probably 6 feet or so from each other too. 

This was a calm pool taken the day after a rain in Red Rock Canyon National Conservatory. I found this spot while I went hiking with my daughters and it was empty. I knew I had to come back after a rain and photograph it.

After taking the calm picture and how full the pool was I wanted to come back during a rain and see it with flowing water.

So those places that capture us should be looked at again and imagined in different times of day or year, with different weather, etc. The results might be ho hum or they might be spectacular. So grab a camera , revisit locales, and go out and shoot.

Can wait to see what is produced.

~Scott