When I watched this latest video from Thomas Heaton - How I Handle a Terrible Day of Photography in the Field - it immediately resonated with me.
Thomas Heaton is a professional landscape photographer based in the UK who has a very successful YouTube photography channel. He is inspirational, supportive and encouraging of photographers at every level and his videos are always entertaining.
From his latest video I felt encouraged to make the most of photography in poor weather conditions, even on days when, as Heaton says, photography should have been a write off!
With the exception of two weeks in December, when we had crisp, frosty days making for beautiful photography conditions, the weather in this part of the world has been wet, windy and grey for most of the winter so far. Skies are dull, the light is flat and there are no beautiful sunrises or sunsets.
In these conditions it can be difficult to make any decent images, or even to enjoy photography, but in this video Thomas Heaton gives some tips on how to do just that.
I kept this video in mind as I made a two hour journey to visit my daughter. I often stop on the way at a lake or woodland area to capture some images but as I started out there was heavy rain and wind so I doubted if I would make any photography stops. However, as Heaton urges in his video, I did keep a lookout for potential images and for places that might prove to be good stopping places on another occasion.
As I neared my destination there was a break in the cloud so I decided to stop close to an old church to see if there might be a photo to save the day. Although the light was poor I did see a composition or two that I liked and I made these images.
I did'nt try to brighten the images as I felt that the dull colours reflect the cold winter conditions.
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The next day we took advantage of a dry spell to take a walk along a local canal bank. Although the light was poor I did see some nice reflections in the water and they
have prompted me to return in more favourable conditions.
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I had a similar challenge a few weeks ago when I took a short walk with my camera and I made a detour through a small park that I had not previously visited.
While I was there, I had a look around for some photo opportunities. The day was dull and the location didn't offer many good compositions so I started off by shooting in black and white and then, as the sun began to make an appearance, I captured some shadows.
Later I tried out some compositions using leading lines to see if I could turn a relatively dull scene into some worthwhile images.
Although none of these images were taken in ideal photography conditions, I did have some memorable moments, and although I didn't come back with any winning images, I enjoyed being out with my camera and taking on the winter challenge.
I hope you will enjoy watching the video from Thomas Heaton as he urges us not to rely on great weather or epic locations but just to get out with our camera, get creative and grow as photographers through overcoming less than ideal consitions.
Watch the video here: