Bad Weather? Good For Photography

Out of the fog... (click to enlarge)
These three guys just came off of the James River, which is 4 miles wide at this point, and sees lots of traffic, from large
cargo ships to work boats to pleasure craft.  On a day like this, I would think it would be quite dangerous for them.
Olympus E-M1 Mark II, 12-100mm f/4 PRO lens @ 100mm; 1/320th sec. @ f/5.6; ISO 400

When I awoke Saturday morning, the fog was thick and the rain was drizzling.  The day felt dreary.  Most people would think it was a miserable day.  Immediately I thought.  "Ah ha! This is great photography weather!"  

Normally, I would have headed outdoors right away before the weather could change but the conditions told me that the fog would be around all day—and it was.  I knew I could enjoy my morning coffee before going out to find something interesting to photograph.  

After coffee and breakfast, I got dressed and drove toward a nearby small inlet where oysterman moor their deadrise workboats to see what I could find.  I thought a water centric subject was as good a place as any to photograph on a day such as it was.

No Work Today... (click to enlarge)
Three deadrise oyster boats, The Rian Michelle, Capt. Jody and Miss Arlene.
Olympus E-M1 Mark II, 12-100mm f/4 PRO lens @ 12mm; 1/125th sec. @ f/8; ISO 400

To simplify my impromptu outing, I decided to just pick up my "grab and go" bag, which is my small nylon blue Ape Case Messenger Bag containing my Olympus E-M1 Mark II, the Olympus 12-100mm f/4 PRO lens, a couple of lens cloths, a spare battery, a spare memory card and a 72mm polarizing filter instead of taking a larger bag with my Fujifilm gear.  The reason I chose the Olympus system is that I wanted to take just a camera and a single lens and that exquisite, "all around" Olympus 12-100mm f/4 PRO lens would preclude me from having to take any additional optics.  With the Fujifilm gear, I would have to take at least one other lens, most likely the 50-140mm f/2.8, to cover what I anticipated encountering as subject matter.  I wanted smaller, lighter, more nimble for this outing.

Still Water... (click to enlarge)
Olympus E-M1 Mark II, 12-100mm f/4 PRO lens @ 17mm; 1/100th sec. @ f/8; ISO 400

After arriving at the inlet, I walked around to get the overall idea of potential subject matter then I started making a few images.  It was about that time that the rain changed from drizzle to falling quite heavily.  Luckily, I had my Tilley wide brimmed hat covering my head, ears, neck and face.  I've owned and worn Tilley hats for more than two decades.  Even more important, the Olympus E-M1 Mark II with the Olympus 12-100mm f/4 PRO lens are pretty much waterproof.  Olympus would never say waterproof, but my experience has been it is extraordinarily protected from water incursion.  In other words, I had no worries walking around with the camera in direct heavy rain.  The camera and I both quickly got drenched so I didn't stay but about 15 minutes.  Not very long, but I made a couple of interesting images.  Nothing great, but it was a nice outing, nonetheless. 

 (click to enlarge)
Olympus E-M1 Mark II, 12-100mm f/4 PRO lens @ 28mm; 1/125th sec. @ f/8; ISO 400

As I've said many times in the past, bad weather can make for some good photography, or at least interesting photography.  Everyone photographs in good weather.  Only a few get out when the weather turns sour.

At Home... (click to enlarge)
Olympus E-M1 Mark II, 12-100mm f/4 PRO lens @ 38mm; 1/160th sec. @ f/8; ISO 400

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Thanks for looking. Enjoy! 

Dennis A. Mook 

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