Wandering for Color in Bad Weather

www.dennismook.com

Fall is a prime time of the year to go out wandering and looking for images.  Generally, the weather is comfortable and the air is less humid.  Of course, we all like the beautiful colors of autumn, but there are many other subjects that lend themselves to photography as well.  You should look for small landscapes also, not only the larger ones.  There are a lot of things, whether in the city or countryside, that have color and lend themselves to making good images.

It was an overcast, rain threatening kind of day but I wanted to go out and photograph a tourist steam train operation.  I did and I was able to make five or six "keeper" images from that excursion.  I'll have to post some of those in the future.

But instead of going home, I decided to drive through the countryside, in places I had never before been, just to see what I could discover and, hopefully, find some subjects which would lend themselves to good images.

But, the rain started and it rained pretty hard.  Should I go home or continue?  Bad weather is a great time to photograph.  Most people in when there is bad weather, I go out with my camera.

Well, I continued.  The rain finally stopped after an hour or so.  As I was driving this country road, a small beautiful, white, wooden clapboard church appeared around a bend.  I stopped as it immediately caught my eye.  I wanted to see what trophy images I could bring home from this idyllic setting.  I suspect I stayed in the area of the church for the better part of an hour looking for different compositions.  Some were close, some were from a distance.  Some were horizontal, some were vertical.  Some I envisioned in color and some in black and white--especially the ones with the clearing storm clouds in the background.  By the time I left, I was very happy in what I was able to capture with my digital camera.

The lesson learned is not to be discouraged by bad weather.  In this case, the rain made the roads look differently.  You can see the sheen of the wet pavement.  The rain made the colors of the leaves really pop.  The clouds in the sky gave a dramatic effect and the experience was very satisfying.

Go out when you don't feel like it and when you are out, keep going and keep looking.  You will be surprised at what you may find.



Thanks for looking.  Enjoy!

Dennis Mook


All content on this blog is © Dennis A. Mook.  All Rights Reserved.  Feel free to point to this blog from your website with full attribution.  Permission may be granted for commercial use.  Please contact Mr. Mook to discuss permission to reproduce the blog posts and/or images.