Learning Log – Exercise 44 – Rain

The following is a direct copy and has been Pasted in for future reference from the Art of Photography coursework PDF Doc.

1 photograph

Imagine a magazine cover on one subject: rain. You have the entire cover space to work in, and you should produce a single, strong, attractive photograph that leaves no one in doubt about the subject. This is first an exercise in imagination, not always easy, and second an exercise in producing a photograph to a specification. If you need guidelines, here are some:

• Think of all the effects of rain that you have ever seen.
• Keep it simple.
• Be interesting; don’t settle for an ordinary middle-distance shot of a street in the rain.
• With some picture ideas you need not wait for a rainy day.
• If you can’t be completely original, at least make the photograph attractive.
• Even if your idea is original, still make the photograph attractive.

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What have I learnt from this exercise

In this exercise I have learnt to accept rain as another photo opportunity, I have also learnt that there are fewer pictures of this type of condition because nobody really wants to be outside in the rain. The results can be more interesting too, for example if one was to capture children playing outside during rainy conditions or even a man walking home from work on a drizzly evening, the faces captured are likely to have more characteristic expressions (i.e. grim / sad / melancholic) than more neutral / expressionless of more tolerant weather conditions. This is probably state the obvious in context but until it is said and brought to our attention it is very much overlooked.

Thoughts and Reflection

I’m not likely to give up fair weather photography for rainy conditions but having applied myself in this exercise I can see great benefits from shooting in rainy conditions. The same argument can be applied here to shooting with the right light conditions as the shot you are after could benefit from more dramatic weather. For example, if we think of a coalmine … it’s dark, it’s damp … and therefore would look far more in keeping amidst damp and wet conditions opposed to a picture of the same mine in glorious sunshine with birds tweeting in the background.

Summary

In the future I must not be afraid of taking the camera out in the wet (within reason) and with this … be more experimental!

For more information on my thoughts and ideas whilst performing this exercise, please see my hand written notes in my ‘schematics and thoughts’ sketch book (Jan 2014).