Fair Weather Photographer
Why bad weather forces a change of mindset
Travel was my first love, I only picked up a camera to document the things I was seeing and experiencing. Gradually one passion overtook the other.
Yet I still strive to capture classic travel photography images: blue skies, perfect lighting, strong composition, bold colours. This all goes out the window when the weather doesn’t play ball. Reflecting on this, I’ve been asking myself if I’m a fair weather photographer.
I just got back from my 6th trip to Japan. The weather for the first week was pretty ordinary. Even when it was bright, the sky was a wash of grey. I saw a photographer on Reddit posted some photos asking “what exactly am I supposed to do with this sky?”. What exactly indeed.
The easy answer is: don’t photograph anything with the sky. Look for interesting scenes, colours, textures, and people that aren’t dependent on the weather. Soon enough, the magic will happen.
Following this train of thought, I added to my collections of Japanese photos. Don’t ask me how or why, but I have captured dozens of images of umbrellas, garden hoses, garages, shotengai (covered shopping streets), door step gardens, street signs - and even shops with Panasonic shutters. It sounds weird reading that back, but I really enjoy photographing those things in Japan.
Once you start taking interesting photos of one subject, soon enough, plenty more come along. Most of these images are captured on my Ricoh GRIII and can be seen on my Japan Pics Substack.
This post is a small selection of film photos from my latest trip. Soon I’ll be thinking about how to organise them, before posting more videos, podcasts and of course photos.
I’m still coming to grips with this Graves’ Disease that I developed earlier this year. I found myself taking it a bit easier on this trip as my energy levels weren’t 100%, which suited wandering around slowly and snapping photos.
See you next time!
Cheers
Matt
P.S. If you’re keen to see that selection of Panasonic photos, here it is.
I was never a fair-weather golfer and I'm not a fair-weather photographer either. That said, if my wife is intending to accompany me, poor weather tends to temper the enthusiasm a bit. I actually like dull skies when shooting street / travel as clouds are nothing more than big, airborne diffusers and avoid having to deal with hyper-contrasty conditions. Don't get me wrong, I quite like the "Fan Ho" style of shadowy figures set agains brightly lit backgrounds but that can (and is) overdone, IMO. I really like your shots and, in particular, the one of the abandoned chair. Great work and the "Klasse" seems to be a very capable unit.