Inspiration when the weather is miserable?

mdjchat

mdjchat

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Mathew
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Just lately it seems that every time I have a day off work the weather is grey, wet and pretty uninspiring. What do you do when the weather is like this? Do you have any favourite spots/ subjects that come alive in miserable weather or do you all stay indoors and practice your still life/ window lit portraiture e.t.c. Just looking for some inspiration to encourage me to get up off my rear and make the most of my free time.

Currently I'm wondering if it's worth getting out and getting soaked with a few plastic bags to try and keep the worst of the weather off my gear when it is out of my camera bag. Later today there is snow forecast for Mam Tor (Castleton, Peak District) which is pretty tempting.
 
Depends on how bad the weather is really.
Grey skies are good for long exposures at the coast and also goods for the woods, waterfalls etc where the sun would usually create harsh shadows and dappled light.

If the weather is really bad, I'll find something to do that is unrelated to photography. It's good to take time out every now and then.
 
Actually when the weather is next dry and overcast I've earmarked a graveyard with an abundance of snowdrops to photograph.

I appreciate it helps to take time out, my trouble is that working long awkward shifts it's hard to get time on in the first place [emoji14]
 
mdjchat said:
Actually when the weather is next dry and overcast I've earmarked a graveyard with an abundance of snowdrops to photograph.

I appreciate it helps to take time out, my trouble is that working long awkward shifts it's hard to get time on in the first place [emoji14]
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I'm in the same boat. I work all week and rarely get out other than weekends but as much as I love to get out with my camera, I try not let it get to me when I can't. If the weathers crap, it's crap. Now't you can do about it :)

I see Thomas Heaton out and about in god awful weather and he gets some amazing bad weather photos but I'm just not a crappy weather person. I can handle grey but that's as far as it goes I'm afraid ;)
 
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inspiration when the weather is miserable? When the weather is as rough as it is today, I find my inspiration comes in the form of a mug of tea and some hot, buttered, crumpets (photos of which are optional)! ;)
 
Stick a prime on grab a brolly and head to the nearest town centre.

But yeah I know how you feel that's why I gave up landscape photography.
 
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Bad weather is inspiration..
 
Alastair said:
Bad weather is inspiration..
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Oh it can be and it can be very photogenic but when free time is scarce and seems to always coincide with days when the weather is bad in a bad way for photography it can all get a bit annoying...

There are too many days when the bad weather isn't conducive to photography because the light is flat and next to non existent and there's no detail at all and the sky is just a featureless white/gray nothingness. Like today. If you've never seen conditions like that before or are in a new and strange and therefore interesting place then I suppose it can be good (bad weather in Kazakhstan was new and good for me but irritated the locals) but when I've only got a few hours free time and I can't drive to some distant location I start to feel that there's just no point bothering as I have thousands of pictures of my local area on dead light days.

But there's always excessive processing in Nik filters to fall back on.

PS.
I've taken my gear out is all conditions and in storms I could hardly stand up in but what I really want is some interesting photogenic light.
 
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Dave the macro glass/ water shots are great. Particularly the shot on the left.

I grabbed a camera just in case and headed out for lunch with a mate. The light came good after lunch so I decided to wander into the city centre. Got my first shot and the clouds returned so I made do with a good wander and a brew. One lesson learned though, the sky was looking interesting and I had HP5+ in the camera but no yellow or orange filter to make the most of it. I shan't be doing that again.
 
Alastair said:
Bad weather is inspiration..
Click to expand...

+1 zillion

When I was wind surfing, I invited a friend to join us on a
beautiful, sunny day. He answered: "No thanks, I only go
out when everyone gets in!" Mind you, he was quite a few
levels above the rest of us. —I remembered that.

I remembered as well, being a biker: "there is no bad wea-
ther, only bad equipment. So I decided to explore their ar-
guments for myself.

As Canadian, snow storms or heavy rains, baking Sun or
3 weeks of minus 40° (that is the only place where °F = °K)
were frequent occasions to to experiment the extremes.

I took the habit (in this supported by the gear I have) to go
out when everyone gets in… there's no one anywhere, it's
like the planet is yours!

This shot was done the morning of the first snow late 2016.
Low fog, grey sky, cold and wet… I was alone. Really?

B7935%201Dpp.jpg
​
 
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on the rare occasions that I get free time and the weather isnt great I end up either still going out or I read/watch videos on stuff I want to learn - currently Photoshop stuff.
Im lucky enough to live the near the coast, so even bad weather can prove to be exciting and no two days are the same. In the worst weather I park the car side on to the sea and shoot through the open window :)
 
For street photography I actually prefer poor weather. Low contrast files taken under an overcast sky are great to work with, and I find them perfect for B&W portraits. A wet city has a shine to it which I often prefer over textbook perfect light which, for me, stimulates creativity less and often leads to "pretty" but boring pictures (again, speaking about me!)
 
I follow this blog: http://www.theonlinedarkroom.com/

The weather up there in Scotland seems to be often gloomy and wet ("dreich" as the Scots say) and he gets some great shots. I've certainly found it inspired me to go out in conditions that might be seen as less than ideal. In fact I've sometimes hoped for misty, wet days just to facillitate a photo with a certain atmosphere. :)

I guess it's all down to personal taste in terms of what sort of shots people like, but there's always something to shoot, even if you set yourself a challenge and force yourself to find a good shot in a single room of your home or something.
 
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