What does a landscape photographer do when the light/weather is terrible for shooting?
It’s been a while since I’ve taken my gear outside but that doesn’t mean that I haven’t been busy. It’s the beginning of the year and one of the necessary but not looked forward to tasks is getting all my receipts in order and tabulating them for my accountant.
There are a whack of images from last year to fine tune before sending them off to the agencies. Now that I finally print my own stuff, I am still browsing through hundreds or maybe thousands of photos I have trying to decide what I would like to print for myself.
Oh yeah, and the puppy. I posted a pic of him a few months ago. He’s now ten months old. A Weimaraner and VERY photogenic. The other day I dragged out my old Speedotrons that I used to use for fashion and food, plugged them in to hear the fans on the flash heads start to whine and then pushed the test button. POOF! They worked and the distinctive smell of ozone when the flashes discharged reminded me of years ago when this was something that I did regularly.
With how beautifully the new printer handles black and whites, I set up the lights to photograph Cooper, that’s his name, for a large print for the living room. The plan is to do an artsy portrait of him, for lack of a better term. If there’s enough interest, I’ll post the final images and how I got them.
After getting spoiled early this winter with abnormally warm weather and having almost all our snow melt, we were hit with more normal -30 Celsius temperatures and wind which made the windchills at time close to -45 Celsius. The forecast for tomorrow is for clearing skies after a few days of light snow and hopefully I’ll be out for the morning.
I almost, yes, almost decided to make a day drive to the mountains but the weather is still to iffy and I really don’t want to drive for ten hours in a day and come back with gray images.
That reminds me about something that I read this morning. What if you were lucky/unlucky enough to have paid for a photo tour this past week in Alberta. Would you have gotten value for your money? I see how popular these things seem to be and I can only shake my head at either how naive people are or how little they value their money. Booking a few months or weeks ahead of time for a photo tour is a crap shoot.
Landscape photography is about, in this order, the light, the weather and lastly the place. There are probably exceptions but most photo tourists end up shooting less than one hundred meters from the road. Do you really want to pay someone one and a half thousand dollars for the privilege of being taxied around the mountains or desert?
Maybe I have this all wrong. Lots of people from all over the world read this blog. I am sure some have taken these tours. I’d like to hear about their experiences both positive or negative and most importantly, see the photos that they brought home.
Well, back to figuring out my gas expenses and mileage for last year…
Happy shooting,
Dan
Fantastic perspective…the horizon just pulls you in!
planaquarium said this on January 21, 2012 at 8:40 am
Great shot & composition.
Jimi said this on January 21, 2012 at 10:01 am
When it’s as cold as this week was, they stay inside and process haha.
Thanks for the reminder aboot the tax man – NOT. argh.
Pat Boomer said this on January 21, 2012 at 10:06 am
Much as I hate winter, you manage to make it look beautiful.
klrs09 said this on January 21, 2012 at 3:16 pm
@ Heather, it really is beautiful. We tend to stay indoors when the best stuff is happening. The forecast for tomorrow, Sunday morning looks like one of the best in weeks.
Sunrise is still only around 8:30 a.m. so it’s not too hard to be on the outskirts of Edmonton before the sun is up.
Thank you as always for visiting and commenting,
Dan
Dan Jurak said this on January 21, 2012 at 3:29 pm
@ Pat, I have a very special surprise for all the fans of summer storms.
Dan Jurak said this on January 21, 2012 at 3:29 pm
No, you don’t have it wrong at all, Dan. I’m not sure what a photo tour will do that a Google Map and GPS can’t. Part of the joy of landscape photography is discovering new places to shoot. On the other hand, I might pay for an editing class specifically for landscape photogs. There’s one given by a guy I know where you bring your coffee and your laptop, and you get a half day or so of useful instruction for a reasonable fee.
Rick said this on January 21, 2012 at 4:49 pm
The photo in this post is beautiful. The small, slight pink drifts in the snow perfectly angling against the fence post and barbed wire.
p.s. I would love to see the artsy portrait(s) of Cooper!
The Artist Makena said this on January 21, 2012 at 9:39 pm
@ Makena, I just got in from checking out the country side this morning. Nothing much to see. The skies were dull, the snow, sagging under a warm front that arrived overnight, all of it’s sparkle gone.
I’m going to post Cooper momentarily. Thank you for visiting and commenting.
Dan Jurak said this on January 22, 2012 at 7:14 am
That’s to bad! But at least Cooper gets a showcase today! Checking it out, now.
The Artist Makena said this on January 22, 2012 at 11:21 am
I spent three days on a photo tour at a wonderful lodge on Abraham Lake. I know you have driven past this spot many times on your way to the mountains. I was lucky enough to recieve the tour as an anavsery gift from my wonderful wife. The tour was put on by one of Alberta’s landscape photographers that frequent the lodge. Normal weather for the area as low as -8C. Our first morning was -28, -32 and the final day was a balmy -24. We were out each morning to witness grey skies at many locations along the lake. For a break we snowshoed? in to an old mine near Nordegg, we did get some sun there. I was looking forward to some education along the weekend to learn more about landscape photography though was dissapointed in the results. It appeared that what I would recieve was to be taken to spots to shoot landscapes, no sharing of knowledge. You may be able to bring color into a black and white landscape but I am not. The owner of the lodge was quite helpful with answering my questions as best he could, the learned photographer not. I did enjoy the three days, learned that equipment will hold up in the harsh weather. Met some wonderful folks that run the lodge and ate rather well. I learned a lot from the three days though not much about photography. Could I stop at those locations along Abraham Lake by myself or with a friend or two, yes. Would I pick grey skies, fridgid cold and wind, probably not. I did come home with some photos though I have some very nice ice photos from Oster Lake also, and that is just out my back door. Photography is about learning from your mistakes at times, this lesson will stay with me. I still had a wonderful time and enjoyed the gift. I would not take another tour like this one though would appreciate some real education on processing landscape images, I will search carefully for that. I can’t seem to attach a photo from the tour.
Bryan Flaman said this on January 22, 2012 at 12:42 pm
@ Bryan, I get more private email than you might suspect about bad workshop/photo tour experiences. One day I’ll blog about that asking people to mention good and bad experiences, without mentioning names of course. The photo tour business is really the wild west when it comes to getting what you think that you are paying for. I see so many AWFUL photos from tours taken from that area. The majority were taken at a time of day or under conditions that really aren’t conducive to good photography.
I’m close to retirement and I’ve been pondering offering something like what you’re suggesting with a small group where clients can get the attention that they are paying for. There are not mysteries in how to shoot landscapes or how to process them to get the look that you want. It’s more putting in the time and growing from that.
Thank you for commenting and visiting,
Dan
Dan Jurak said this on January 22, 2012 at 3:23 pm
I’ve never attended a tour or workshop that cost more then a couple hundred dollars for a weekend. In all cases (and all local to where I live), I left with some great new contacts that I continue to learn from by staying in touch. Did I learn anything while actually attending the workshop tours? With the exception of a few very specific questions, probably not and certainly nothing new from what is printed in books or online. However, I did learn about the communities, found some unfamiliar locations (that I continue to revisit) and in one case, asking permission to shoot on private property. For a little over $100 a day, I felt it was worth the experience to travel around in a small group with a full time working photographer.
I have also traveled to cities where going on a relatively cheap tour was much easier (and cheaper) then renting a car. While they were not at all photo friendly, they can offer a fairly easy way to first discover an area. You just need to accept that ‘be back on the bus in 30 minutes’ mentality.
I live in a city that is visited by a high number of cruise ships every year and the touring business is huge. Hundreds of passengers exit the ship and pile into tour buses for the day. Some of these buses are targeted specifically to photographers but while they are guaranteed to be shooting mid day, the locations they visit would be unrealistic to achieve on their own in the small time frame they have.
I also often attend the local photo club meetings. To argue for workshop positives, there are for sure beginners that would benefit much more from an in person hand holding demonstration then they would by trying to figure out where to start on their own.
So I guess the key is expectations. I would never book anything with the expectations of a guaranteed shot. It’s almost like a whale watching tour.
*** unrelated and for another topic are conferences. People spend just as much money to listen to people talk and share a slideshow of images.
Stephen said this on January 22, 2012 at 4:01 pm
I’m not sure I’m on either side of the workshop/tour argument. I see both points and have participated in a few tours but with full knowledge going in.
All the tours I did were at Abraham Lake – probably the same as Bryan above – and enjoyed all of them. I think the difference is that I was expecting more of a tour than a workshop. The reason I went was to be taken to some spots I’d never been to and to learn how to shoot them. While the leader wasn’t pushing info on us, he was available for questions and allowed us to look through his viewfinder to see what he saw…something that I learned a lot from.
As for the price, I justified it because the hosts are amazing and the food was just as amazing. Getting accommodations in the Rockies is pricey so it wasn’t a stretch.
I think that tours work if you’re living a busy life and go into them with 100% knowledge of what the tour is about. If you go in with certain expectations, ask a lot of questions to ensure you’re getting what you want. I also thing references would be something to seek out…
What did I take from the tours? A ton of locations that I can revisit for years to come and a greater knowledge of what to look for when scouting locations. Did that make it worth it? For me, yes…would I do another tour…no, not in the Rockies.
But perhaps in other locations that I’m less knowledgeable about…who knows. The busy lifestyle of someone with two small kids doesn’t really allow me a ton of time for research and scouting.
My two cents.
Michael James said this on January 23, 2012 at 10:25 am
@ Michael, there are always two sides to every story. It sounded like it was a great deal for you. It’s always good to get other’s opinions on here.
Dan
Dan Jurak said this on January 23, 2012 at 12:25 pm