Waterbury, Connecticut

Storm Light, 12/10/08

It's always puzzled me that so many photographers insist on "good weather" for shooting and avoid inclement weather for making photographs. Nothing strikes me as quite so dull as the light of a bright sunny day. OK, there are a few subjects that I think respond well to hard sunlight. My Drive-in Theaters and White Churches projects (both in the galleries on my web site) have quite a few sunlight pictures. But mostly I pass on clear sky days.

Yesterday it rained all morning in unseasonably warm temperatures, then began to let up in the early afternoon. Since I had to do some errands, I extended my drive to a place where I frequently hunt for pictures. I was rewarded with a little less than an hour of sometimes magical light. There's a special point just as it begins to rain, or just as the rain lets up, when things begin to glow. The conditions held at this point, in and out of a light rain, while I found subjects nearly every place I looked. Then the light got even better, very briefly, then plunged into darkness. Too dim for hand held shooting with the equipment I was using. When I downloaded the memory card I was surprised to see I'd made nearly two hundred captures in the brief session.