Five Reasons Photographers
should embrace Autumn
As winter approaches you may be tempted to
store away your camera gear till the weather warms up again but before you do
let me try and convince you other wise. I know that the days will be getting
shorter and that on some days it seams that even the sun has not bothered to
get out of bed, which is where you feel you belong.
There will be days when your efforts of
capturing a great image will be completely washed out but with a bit of
planning and an eye on the weather forecast let me give you five reasons to
embrace the winter season.
1)
As the weather changes and the
trees lose their leaves the mood of a landscape will completely change,
sometime from day to day and defiantly from week to week. Pick a location or
two within easy reach for you then go and photograph them each and every day
even if it is raining or foggy, catch the frost and the first snow fall, then
the snow again when everyone has walked in it. Before long you will have a
collection of images that will show the changing mood of the location, you
could extend this project to make it “A year in the life of” you could keep
coming back to this location and make it “X down the years”, it is up to you
how far you take it.
2)
Sunrise
3)
Car Lights. You know the ones
that I am thinking about, the ones with the solid lines or red or white light
cutting through the image. In summer for it to be dark enough you would have to
take the image in the middle of the night when almost everyone including the
traffic were in bed, then you would have to explain to the police why you are
here at this time photographing their car. In winter you can take these image
at a more reasonable hour of the day with lots of people (so safer) and traffic
about you can have the images in your camera and be back home before your feet
get cold.
4)
Holiday lights and store windows. Many towns and cities will put up
Christmas or holiday lights which can be very photogenic in them self as well
as adding character to the streets. In addition to this many stores will put up
illuminated decorations and window displays which can be the subject of you
photography on their own or with their surroundings. The lighting displays do not
have to be the subject them selves, you could use the thousands of coloured
lights to illuminate your subject, the people in the street or you could
combine them to tell a story with people looking into the store window.
5)
Reflections. The wet weather
that comes with winter means that you will have standing water all over the
place so you will no longer tied to lakes, rivers and canals to get your fill
of photographing reflections. It is not just standing water ether, wet roads
and sidewalks will reflect the coloured lights from store displays and street
lights. Familiar buildings can look fresh when photographed through reflections
and you do not need mirror perfect puddles, try taking an image when it is
still raining so that the puddle has ripples in it which will distort your
subject giving it an abstract feel.
A few things to keep in mind before you
start. You need to stay safe, dry and warm, so wear appropriate clothing and
shoes / boots, now that it is dark out you need to be able to see and be seen so
wear reflective clothing and have a light so that you can see where you are
going and find things in your camera bag. Try it out before you go out, them
gloves may keep your hands warm but can you change the setting on your camera
with them on, the will not be much good if you have to keep taking them off. It
is not just you that will feel the cold but your camera equipment as well, give
your camera time to adjust to the temperature change both warm to cold and cold
to warm. Batteries hate the cold so give them a good charge before you set off
and keep your spare ones in an inside pocket so that your body heat will keep
them warm.
Hope that you found this post useful, if so
why not share it or leave a comment. If you have any tips your self for winter
photography add them in the comments to let other know.
