What do you do when the weather sucks and you’ve already made plans to go out shooting with friends ? If you’re me, you embrace the grey, the rain, the wind and the cold and you go anyway.
This past week my good friend Jon (@Dinoczars) reached out and said he had a rare weekend when he was free and wanted to know if anyone was available to go shooting with him. Now mind you, Jon recently had a baby and hasn’t been out shooting for a while, August to be exact. So when he reached out my response was an automatic “yes!”. I was watching the weather forecast all week and the chance of rain had been vacillating between 30% and 60%. Not exactly a weather forecast to get excited about. In fact Seattle has had a pretty wet winter this year. I think we were spoiled last year when we were in the thick of a nasty drought. Those cold, clear days were a photographers dream. This year, cold, grey days with a constant chance of rain are more normal.
But like the intrepid north westerners we are, we did not let the weather stop us. Jon and I went out both days, Saturday with Wiiman and Carteraug21 and on Sunday with Bear__Trap. Both days were cold, we had rain both days and high winds on Saturday (mini figs do not do well in the wind!). While Sunday was just plain grey, we were blessed with a little golden hour sun on Saturday.
Despite the weather I was happy I went out with my friends. We had a chance to catch up as well as continue planning the upcoming Seattle Toy Meet-up. I didn’t manage to capture any obvious gems, but I was able to try out a few ideas that have been bouncing around in my head. By trying these ideas out in bad weather, I know I will have a better chance of nailing the shot once the light is better.
So my advice to you is that no matter how awful the weather is, you should take out your toys and go photograph them; you never know what you will come back with. Just make sure you have pants you can get wet and muddy, boots that are waterproof, something to lay or kneel on, and a good pair of gloves and a warm hat.
…and of course a good selection of toys.
~ Shelly
What is the worst weather you’ve ever shot in? What is your temperature limit? How rainy? How snowy? What do you do when the wind is up?
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- More puddle fun!
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- Boba looks good no matter what the weather!
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- A little sunset magic!
Rednecks: yes…75 today: oh yes:)
-Paul (a.k.a. @bricksailboat)
I’ll take my 48 and drizzle over your 75 and rednecks any day, thank you very much! I can travel to warm weather when its needed. Its much harder to escape those red necks though.
The older I get, the small the climate window gets!
I hear you Margaret! It took me many hours to warm up on Saturday. I look forward to the change of seasons!
Excellent! Always find it hard to shoot on bad weather days, but no matter where I go or what the weather is like, always bring some figs with me. That being said, I live in the mountains where it is covered in snow for at least 5 months of the year. Not easy to find places to take pics when your backdrop is all white, but I do what I can and you never know when an amazing bad weather idea will come to mind and that is why no matter the weather, temp or conditions, I always have toys and a camera.
I like your style Josh, you simply have to deal with the hand your dealt. Personally I wouldn’t mind a sunny day in the mountains for a few new snow pics. But I understand that their can always be too much of a good thing. It doesn’t matter what the weather is, unless you go out shooting you will never know what you’re going to find. I look forward to seeing you in May!
A very nice reach of our weekend!
While it certainly was cold and windy this weekend, almost defeating at moments, the resulting photos and camaraderie all make it seem worthwhile now.
Last winter during our one snowy day, I went out alone to try and get a wooly mammoth shot. The winds kicked up and I got my shot, but my hands were frozen so thuroughly that I couldn’t operate my camera properly after just a few minutes. I vowed to get good gloves should I ever attempt a snowbound excursion again, which sadly, hasn’t happened yet this year.
Jon it was a great weekend and I have the photos and memories to prove it! Thank you for being the catalyst for a great weekend of photographing toys with friends.
I’m pretty sure your holly mammoth shot is all the more memorable because of your frozen hands. But, yes a good pair of gloves is a must! I had a great pair two years ago and I have since lost them.
I look forward to our next adventure…
The worst weather I experienced while shooting was in Montreal last year. It was the end of the winter and the last week with freezing temperatures. I went to the park “Jean Drapeau” located on an island on the Saint Laurent river to get shots of the sunset over Montreal’s skyline. Temperatures were at least -20˚C and after more than an hour standing still next to my tripod I started to feel cold. So I finally decided to pack my stuff up. I removed my gloves to do it and just touching the cold metal of my tripod for a few seconds hurt my hand like never. I still remember the feeling of burn on my fingers and trying to heat them up in the subway. It might not seem like a good memory but actually it’s one of my most epic experiences and would do it again if I had to.
Nevertheless I have problems with the weather on a daily basis. Even though until now we have had a pretty “good” winter in Belgium with some rather high temperatures, it is still discouraging me from going shooting outdoor. I have the feeling that since the beginning of the year while we had very few freezing day we also had very few days without rain. I would gladly trade the belgian rainy weather for a dry one even if it implies having extreme cold in the winter.