By Jim Zuckerman
When it comes to outdoor photography, luck does play a role, particularly when it comes to weather. Too many times when you want sun, you’ve got overcast or rain. When you want soft lighting from a cloud cover, the sun comes out and harsh shadows make good photography impossible.
A truism I learned a long time ago is this: the more times you go out and shoot, the luckier you get. In other words, the more you put yourself in photographic situations, the odds increase in your favor that you’ll be ‘lucky’ and have great weather. Amateur photographers tend to think that pros are lucky more than they are. The truth, though, is that we spend a lot of time shooting and the chances we have for great conditions are increased simply because of the investment in time. And, we don’t show you our bad pictures where the light was hopeless.
The photo below was taken on my recent trip to France. Provence in June and July is very much like Southern California – monotonously sunny, very hot and very dry. On my last day in the region, an ominous storm came through, seemingly out of nowhere, and the sky became dramatic and even unnerving. I was thrilled, because to have rows of lavender flowers that stretched to the horizon beneath an angry sky was just too good to have hoped for. It made for some great pictures.
WOW!, Jim... That is a beautiful and awesome photo! I love it... The composition is excellent with the rows of flowers leading you into rest of the photo... Nice shot and this blog about luck is soooo true!!
Michele Wassell
Posted by: Michele | September 17, 2006 at 11:20 PM