When do you go out to shoot?

When weather turns 'rotten', do you go out to shoot? Adams clearing storm in Yosemite. Muench images of the Tetons in snow at 40 below. Galen Rowells images of storms. All shot in otherwise rotten weather or as it is clearing. The point is, they wouldn't get the images if they had not gone out in the 'bad weather' to be in the right place when the clearing started. Some images posted are taken in mid morning light, the photog stating he didn't want to get up early. If we don't get out & work for the simple images, is there really hope for getting the stunning, 'life defining' images? I don't think so. So, do you go out in the inclement weather on the small chance you can be there for that incredible light display?

For me, a good analogy would be excersizing. For example, I tell myself that I really ought to have the discipline to get up early and work out. However, when 6am rolls around, half the time I just say to hell with it!<p>

 

When I was on vacation this last summer in the tetons, I had 3 days of lousy weather when I could have been out shooting. I did manage to shoot a sunset/clouds clearing episode one evening. But when dawn came every morning, that bed seemed a lot more enjoyable than the cold dark, rainy outdoors!<p>

 

It would have helped if I had been truly camping, rather than lodging. When it's miserable outside and you are in a tent, you're already somewhat miserable! So it's not that much of a stretch to step out of the tent.

A lot of my pictures of the Grand Canyon were taken

in stormy weather--fewer crowds then :-). But, most of them

were also taken within a few hundred yards of the rental car...

 

<p>

 

I managed a 10 mile hike in about 3 hours, significantly aided

by an approaching thunderstorm that dumped 1/4 inch hail about

an hour after I made it back up to the rim. Normally, I take

longer to hike up than down... but I wanted to beat the storm

to the car.

 

<p>

 

For weather that is just miserable it helps to have

insulated pants and rain gear in addition to a good

down jacket, but I try to stay out of the dangerous stuff.

 

<p>

 

I often go to places specifically to use ham radio gear

and take a break for photography if I notice good shots...

which aren't unusual if you are there all weekend...

 

<p>

 

BTW, if you are near the summit of Mt Washington, NH the

weather often clears momentarily if you can wait an hour

or two... except for my last trip 2 weeks ago...

Well, the photos I like the best from my recent trip to southern Utah were taken before, during, and after thunderstorms. Only got one actual lightning strike photo, but rainbows, water, ephemeral waterfalls and creeks, dramatic skies, all that good stuff. I didn't get anything fantastic, but did get some stuff that I like well enough. And, there weren't many folks around though I was pleasantly surprised to see those that were, even the ones I'd call "snapshooters", were out taking photos of the storms.

 

<p>

 

And no one asked me if their gear would break in the rain, either :)

 

<p>

 

The one person who declined shooting in the rain was the 4x5 guy, who should've been the one shooting like crazy during it, as far as I was concerned!

Well, I live out in the cloudy and wet Pacific Northwest so I do most of my shooting when the sky is grey and often with some precipitation. Unless I want to packup my gear for 9 months out of the year I don't have much of a choice. Perhaps because the majority of the days from September through June are so cloudy, I find myself greatly tempted by the sunny bright days that modern photo thought eschews.

 

<p>

 

However, the real factor controling when I shoot is my domestic life. The reality of marriage and fatherhood is that you get to take pictures in between duties, obligations, and various crises. As I write this I am anxiously waiting for my wife to awaken and let me know if she feels well enough to mind the kids while I get away for an hour or two. And if it's an OK I will go regardless of the weather.

Some of my best pictures have been taken either during a clearing storm or during an incoming storm. As a rule I don't go out during a storm unless I'm going to photograph lightning or I see some fantastic light. Also you have to take into consideration that different areas of the world have different types of storms. For example a typical storm in the mountain states during the spring and summer may last a few hours. Whereas a storm in the Pacific Northwest during that time may last a day or more. So going out in a storm may mean something different to different people depending upon where they live or what season it is.

The weather has to be real bad for me to stay home. If it's just mist or light rain that that turns off and on, I'll be out in it. If we get one of those Lows that makes a hard rain, and wind I'll hang it up for the day. Here in southeast Texas, spring, summer, and fall we have some very good cloud formations that blow in off the Gulf of Mexico. Some are in the mornings, and some build up in the late afternoon. These storms usually don't last very long and can be very beautiful in the morning, or late afternoon light. In fact I shot some this morning.

I take most of my photo's in the mornings in a swampy/river bottom area. It's not really inclement weather, but inclement conditions. I'll get up at 4:00 AM so I can arrive while it's still dark, and hike to a area I want to shoot. The humidity is so high you can actually see the air. The morning sun rays shinning through the forest makes some dramatic images for about two hours, and it's like this almost every weekend in the summer months.

I have some nice photo's that would not be in the files if I hadn't either gotten up very early, or stayed late, or been out in the rotten weather conditions. My loving spouse thinks I'm a little touched in the head for going out that time of the day, or in bad weather conditions, until she sees the slides. I think she's beginning to understand the nature of the beast after six years. If it was easy, evrybody would be doing it.

Some of my best shots have been taken in inclement weather. My wife and I spent an April weekend in Yosemite Valley this year, and pondered the wisdom of leaving camp to set up for a shot of Halfdome even though it had been raining lightly all afternoon. I decided I would feel like a world-class fool if I was sitting in camp and saw the clouds break for a few minutes. Sure enough, as soon as I got my gear ready, the clouds broke for three minutes and I captured some beautiful images of Halfdome's peak shrouded in a snowstorm with the setting sun lighting its face.

 

<p>

 

In July I spent an entire day wiating for rainstorms to pass through the Bristlecone Pine National Forest so I could capture the light on wet trees. Bristlecone pines are incredibly colorful when wet, and dark clouds make a nice, contrasty background if you are lucky enough to shoot the ancient trees on a rainy day.

 

<p>

 

Shooting only in good weather leads to blandness in my photography. Not that I like being out in the bad weather, but the images make it worthwhile. Besides, all the tourists stay in their motel rooms in bad weather, so I have more time to enjoy the solitude.

Gentlemen,

 

<p>

 

Photographers photograph. It's what we do. If we don't do it then we are wannabes oe exes. Sometimes we get tired. Consistently great pictures usually require consistently great effort. Simple in theory, difficult in execution.

 

<p>

 

So what am I doing here?

 

<p>

 

Steve

this seems to be a matter of "what is the motivation to go out in

bad weather and shoot". a macho inmage..meeting an editor,s deadline

...you will probably not get to this place anytime soon...breakfast smells great....a hundred reasons to go or not to go!!

i also agree with james, the Holiday Inn is more of reason to stay

in bed than if you are camping and miserable and wet anyway.

but its really what is important to YOU and not what we all think.

Oh, the things I would have missed if I had wimped out during the rain! Droplets hanging off tree buds in the spring, the overcast sky bringing out the translucent colours of springflowers, a deer fawn that I came upon, huddled down on the forest floor....(only problem there, got SO excited, snapped off a few quick shots, got the heck out of there so as not to disturb....lighting was not the greatest, only one shot turned out "good". Consolation came a couple years later when I found one amongst ferns on a nice day....)

 

<p>

 

Anyway, like one mentioned earlier, the tourists stay indoors, leaving parks and beaches quieter. Wish I was more into photography when I lived in Florida, used to collect seashells out at Honeymoon Island during "bad" weather. Just kicking myself that I didn't take the camera to record the fog rolling in, and hundreds of seabirds grounded along the shore. Best pickings for shells were after rough weather, many nice specimens landed on the beach, would have been great for some macro shots!

 

<p>

 

Here in Ontario in the winter, some of the best views are between snow squalls, fresh snow on the pines.

 

<p>

 

By all means, keep the rain gear handy. Besides, the odds are that the more you're "out there", the better the chances to find something interesting!

I'd be lying if I said, "Weather has no hold over me when it comes to photography!" But I do often find myself outdoors with a camera under less-than-ideal conditions.

 

<p>

 

One reason for this is that I often go out with a group of friends who are avid lightning photographers. It may be one in the morning, and I'll get a rough shake and a, "Weather radar says a thunderstorm's coming. Pack your gear." Half an hour later, I'm awake (sort of), packed, and walking out to a good spot.

 

<p>

 

Another reason is that bad weather, even completely non-photogenic bad weather, can be neat simply because people normally DON'T go out under those conditions. A little over a year ago, my father, wife, and I were staying on Mustang Island off the coast of Texas. I normally get up to catch sunrise, but the sky had been overcast the entire trip. One morning I got up, threw my gear in the car, and headed out. Just as I was pulling out, my father walked up, handed me some coffee and jumped in. The weather was terrible, even for photography. Completely monotone sky, high wind with blowing sand, and a dull sea. But we stood outside waiting, anyway. In a split-second, everything changed. The sky was still all one color, the wind was still blowing, and I was still drinking sandy coffee, but there was some quality about the scene that had just subtly, but definitely changed. The sun had come up.

 

<p>

 

I don't always get out when the weather is stormy, and my gut reaction to bad weather isn't always, "GREAT!! Get the cameras!" But I've had some unique experiences in so-called "rotten" weather. I wouldn't trade them for anything.

 

<p>

 

Tom