Shoot the conditions, not the subject

One thing I tell my workshop attendees all of the time is to shoot the conditions, not the subject.  That’s not to say we don’t need a compelling subject in our images, however, you need to shoot images that work well in the given conditions.  Being landscape photographers we cannot control the weather or the lighting direction or temperature, or even the clouds….we need to work with what is given to us to create great photographs.

These days I’m less concerned with photographing specific subjects than I am with creating photographs of whatever subject is best photographed in the conditions that I’m in when I want to photograph.  I spend more time studying light and tonalities and less time worrying about specific subjects…..and in doing this I feel that I am much more productive when I have a camera in my hands.

Case in point…my family and I came out to the Oregon coast to spend some quarantine time at our house here. When you think about photographing the coast, one thinks of grand vistas, shimmering seas, beautiful sunsets, etc.  However, the forecast was for clouds and rain the first few days.  To me, this forecast was just as exciting as a sunny one because I knew it would provide some great flat light, water droplets on plants and potentially some great environmental conditions.  It didn’t matter to me whether it was sunny or rainy, I knew that there would be something to photograph because I planned on shooting the conditions, not the subject.

Overcast Conditions

As I walked the dog each morning around the small town, the gardens and wildflowers were in full bloom.  I took my time and scoped out several promising patches of flowers to come back to when I didn’t have the dog with me.  One morning, with clouds overhead, I checked the winds and decided that they were low enough to not cause too much movement of the flowers and headed out with my tripod in hand.

Just a couple blocks from our house I found a patch of daisies growing alongside the street.  I set up my tripod and used my Fujifilm X-T3 and XF60mm Macro to capture this close up shot.

Just around the corner was a clump of calla Lillies that were just on the verge of turning brown at the edges.  I found the best example and spent 10 minutes photographing different compositions….all with the ocean crashing against the rocks behind me. The overcast skies provided perfect diffused lighting for flower photographs!

Then a couple of blocks away there was an huge clump of these yellow flowers.  The lighting was so perfect that even though this isn’t the best specimen, the image came out quite well I think.

Then continuing down the road, I went for a hike along a trail that follows the ocean and passes in front of a local hotel.  They have landscaped their property a bit and I found a great clump of leaves and small purple flowers to photograph.  The seascapes were not conducive to photography given the poor weather; again, photograph the conditions, not the subject!

Rain & Mist

Another morning I awoke and threw back the curtains to look outside and immediately saw low clouds and rain, plus, some gorgeous mist hanging in the trees slightly inland from the ocean.  After a quick cup of coffee, I grabbed my camera and headed east in to the forest.  I didn’t have a clue what I might photograph, no subject in mind at all, but I knew the conditions were very interesting and there could be some images to create!

I drove inland and then took a forest service road that I knew headed higher in to the mountains and eventually looped back to the coast.

With overcast skies that were spitting occasional rain, I spied some color alongside the road and stopped to warm up my creative muscles with the above image.   I had no plan on shooting wildflowers, but with the grey skies providing perfect light,  I took advantage of the situation and shoot the conditions, not the subject.

As I wound my way higher in to the mountains, the mist thickened and settled in to the trees.

One of my favorite subjects in shooting the mist in a forest setting and I was rewarded with the above image.  I worked to get as much separation between the trees as possible and shot several different compositions. The mist brings drama and mystery to an image and some added dimension to the image.

I eventually came to the top of the coast range of mountains and started to descend through the forest when I came upon a clearing in the forest, providing some visibility to the forest beyond. Much to my delight, there was mist hanging in the far trees!

I didn’t see “one” compelling subject, other than the mist, so I shot various images with sort of an abstract composition feel to them.  The great thing too is that the wind was blowing ever changing the shape and density of the mist.

Once home I even experimented with monochrome for some of the mist images to add to the abstract nature of the shots.

Eventually the road returned to the coast highway and given that it was still cloudy and the middle of the day I knew that most seascape images wouldn’t work well.  There was one shot I thought might work and that was of the Heceta Head lighthouse.  I have dozens of images of the lighthouse in sunny skies, but not with a dark, cloudy sky.  So, I headed off to see how the “feel” of the image would work with clouds and rain over the lighthouse.

The shot didn’t translate as I had hoped.  Here I was more shooting the subject (lighthouse) not necessarily the conditions or what would be favorable in these conditions.  Lesson learned.

Sunny Skies!

Eventually the weather cleared out a bit and we enjoyed the warmth of the sun.  Knowing that now with the sun, seascapes would be more workable, I set my sights on the type of shots that work best with sun and broken clouds.  Plus, one of the best times to photograph is right after a storm passes with some clouds lingering in the sky.

I was even able to catch some backlight on an adult and baby seal lounging on the rocks

Conclusion

To be continually productive as a photographer, you need to shoot the conditions, not the subject.  Sure, you can wait and wait for the right conditions for an iconic subject, but you can’t guarantee when that will happen.  So in the meantime to keep shooting and producing great images, learn to shoot whatever works best in the conditions you are given.