Outdoor Photography How To

I get ’em. You probably get ’em too. Those feelings of photographic futility when the sky and the ground and your car and your imagination are all the same dim shade of dirty, dingy gray, and there’s really no point to stepping outside to take photographs. How do you beat the bad weather doldrums? Here are a few ideas. 

We were going over the photos for this story when photographer Lucas Gilman said something I didn’t entirely agree with. He was talking about making an image in which a bird came into the frame just as a surfer was making his move on a wave. “Cameras are so good now, anybody can take the exact same pictures I can,” he said, “so what I do is look for and take advantage of subtleties that others overlook. That way I separate myself from everyone else who can buy a new camera and make great pictures.”

Scott Serfas is one photographer who likes to get in on the action. In fact, he thrives on it. There is a certain amount of serendipity involved, but there is also a certain amount of passive control, in the sense that Serfas knows what to expect and expects the unexpected.

The scene is often just the starting point of a Deborah Sandidge photograph. “It’s visualization,” she says. “I’m looking at a scene and imagining what’s going to happen over time.” What was going to happen at the San Antonio, Texas, River Walk was the continuing passage of the water taxis. Sandidge knew they were the key to an expressive, dramatic photograph, one that would get as close as possible to picturing the passage of time.

Winter Storm Jonas is bearing down on our nation’s capitol and threatening to bury DC, Philly and maybe even New York City in snow this weekend. In fact, if you live anywhere east of Oklahoma, you’re probably charging batteries, restocking the liquor cabinet and laying in a good supply of unhealthy snacks that you can justify eating only during a weather emergency. But how do you plan to protect your camera when you venture out to capture the storm? Here are a few options. 

Shutterbug reader Yvonne Baur captured this colorful image near “The Subway,” a uniquely shaped slot canyon in Zion National Park in Utah. “This spot is right before you enter the actual Subway section of the hike and the only water you see is through this tiny crack in the sandstone,” Baur says.