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Photo BSP (Back Stage Pass!)...The best of the bad


Sometimes things just don't go according to plan. Sometimes you go out with expectations and the world lets you down. Sometimes you just expect things to be terrible...and they are! It's hard to know what's worse to be honest, but at least with that last one you can set yourself up for a potential struggle. One this shoot we fell into the second category. The weather just wasn't playing ball - we're talking flat light, overcast skies and a chilly breeze (and nothing gets me in a great mood like chills in uncomfortable places...cough.)

Anyway, we weren't gonna get any spectacular sunsets this time, so a bit of lateral thinking was in order. An awesome way of dealing with bad or boring weather is to make it a theme in it's own right. Play to your strengths and look for the aspects that make this kind of atmosphere peculiar to dull days. We're British; there isn't a Brit around who doesn't know what a dull day looks like!

That's your true job as a photographer - to present augmented reality. That sounds really deep but it really isn't meant to be. Don't think of dull days as boring, just view them as...well...dull. Overcast. Cloudy. We're used to this kind of weather because it's common to this part of the world. It's part of what makes Britain, Britain. Dull days deserve as much of a place in your portfolio as rich golden hours and sparkling summer vistas. Remember it might seem boring to you and not worth the effort, but to someone on the other side of the planet where it's always endlessly sunny, a dramatic stormy sky might seem the ultimate subject.

"Make your irritation an asset "

For this shot the course of action was obvious. Slap on an ND filter and make a big deal of those gorgeous clouds, painting them as streaks across a deep, dramatic sky. For a second the light broke through a cloud and created a spotlight on the dark foreground and that was my moment - I just hoped it'd be around for enough of my 20 second exposure to show up in the image. The wind was strong, the rain kept coming and going and the tide was on it's way in. I had only a few minutes to get this shot before we needed to retreat to safety; the coast can be treacherous in these parts and the water can very easily creep in behind you. It's quite creepy to be honest but the whole coastline is very emotive. It took a couple of attempts to ensure a sharp wind-free shot, but I nabbed it.

So from a potentially disappointing situation I extracted an image of a coastline that stayed with me long after I packed up and left (without getting wet I may add!) Don't ever give up without trying.

There's always a shot in there somewhere

Technical bits_

Tv: 20secs

Av: f/16

ISO: 250

Focal lenth: 85mm (17-85)

Talk soon!

Peter x

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