Learning to Work in Extreme Weather

In last week’s Critical Reflection and Review of Practice I wrote of the challenges of continuing with my practice in bad weather.  Unfortunately, this last week has been a total washout with gale force winds and very heavy rain.  I did go out on two occasions to start work on the small woodland areas on the fringe of Loch Cill Chriosd.  On the first day, I tested out a new multiple exposure combination designed to create a mystical feel in my images, however, for this approach to work successfully I needed bright light or sunlight.  I had a lifeless sky so although I was able to test the idea, I was not able to really work on the images.

The following day I returned to the same area and when I arrived the sun was bright, although the strong winds made it difficult to work with double exposures, as the leaves and boughs were being buffeted by the gales.  After taking a few shots in the sunshine, I realised that the new technique I had be experimenting with, required more steps and changes in settings and I had failed to remember that the second image should be nudged out of focus.  At this point the rain comes down and I return to the car to ponder my failure in the field.  After writing some thoughts in my journal I realise that the rain is not going to relent, and daylight will soon be lost.  I conclude that unless the weather improves that I should abort my planned practice for the week and concentrate on reading and writing.

That is what I did, but I found my mood degenerating as the week goes by.  I need to be outside, and I am keen to practice my camera skills with a new multiple exposure combination.  I need to find strategies to feel comfortable as the climate rages around me and continue with my work, or at least take myself out to the locations and write, rather than take images.  And maybe I should continue to take shots as the rain pours down and not worry too much about wiping the lens – maybe when the lens is covered in rain-spots I should press the shutter?  And there is always the option to take images through the windscreen and windows of my car – a strategy I have used before to good effect!   And I need to accept that I cannot control the weather and need to go with the flow. . .