Summer storms can materialize really fast and can be dangerous to get caught in them without warning. This past weekend I was out on the local rivers and sure enough, an afternoon thunderhead popped up out of nowhere. To be honest I was thankful that it appeared because the skies were really boring before they did. The one cloud added a nice bit of a pop to an otherwise simplistic landscape.
If there is one thing that determines where I go out shooting more then the light it’s the weather. Weather means clouds or no clouds, high wind or no wind, hard light or diffused light. All of these elements change where the best shooting locations will be for landscape and will change the behavior of the critters in the nearby areas. No matter what the case is, gotta get the camera out.
After a week of rain and snow this weekend is the first to have sunshine in it. Which means that critters will be active. Not sure what the plan is yet but I know it will involve a camera.
Over the last year I have been posting more about my trips out fishing in Montana and how I’ve incorporated it into my photography. Well on Sunday I went out with a couple of friends partly to fish and partly because I wanted to try the 18-35 f/3.5 in some portrait work. It was a great way to kill two birds with one stone as they say. Well we never really had that great fish moment that any of us really wanted to shoot so I ended up shooting a very small amount except for some landscapes.
Usually I go out pretty light when I’m walking the rivers, mainly because I’m afraid I’m going to fall in but also because those 8lbs, while not much, really gets tiring on the back after four miles of hiking along a rocky river bottom. I kept it minimal, D4, 18-35mm, and my Lexar Cards. Simple shooting. It’s actually a great way to go out shooting because it makes you think about your compositions very carefully. You don’t have multiple lens options so you have to be creative. Well the Shields River is known for it’s simple beauty as well as having lots curves and cut backs. Playing with the light and reflections is a lot of fun and great for the 18-35. What got my attention the most was the light.
This was a great day to be out because of the clouds. Puffy scattered clouds are great! They are dramatic, they keep changing and everybody likes them. What’s interesting is how much the light changes in mere seconds when you have scattered skies like these. These two images I took within a minute of each other and yes the composition is slightly different, I moved to my left in the bottom image, but the light changed in that moment and the result is a very different feel between the images. That’s why I like and enjoy being out on stormy days or right after storms. The light and drama is still there and can yield some amazing results!
