Winter Is Coming...

Surviving and thriving as a photographer in the winter season

Quick night image made literally two steps from my front door, from my porch on November 25, 2020. I noticed the powers that be built a city in the bay. As soon as it was dark a horrible looking scene turned magical. The water was unusually smooth for a November evening. ISO 100. Spot meters are your friend at night!!!

A combination of factors conspired this week to make it clear winter is not only coming but here for many of us in the northern hemisphere. The first thing was the clock change with the increasingly shorter, and shorter hours of daylight. It is pitch dark by the time I have dinner now. The second was a blast of cold weather and wind. I know there are some readers that may enjoy the winter time. I am not one of them so I try to look at the positives from a photographic point of view.

Even for those that enjoy the winter, here’s a short list of great things about the winter for photographers, especially those that put their cameras away until sprint. There’s no need to do that. In fact there are some great things about the winter I’ll point out today…

Night Photography

It’s been on my list for quite a while. I really want to do some night time photography. The night simplifies and mystifies a normally chaotic scene. I make mental and sometimes physical notes of locations and scenes that I think would look great at night… Gas stations, car lots, that lone country store that is open ‘til 10PM. They are not interesting most of the time but take on a new life in the dark.

Winter is great because there is so much opportunity prior to 8 or 9PM to make night photographs. Honestly, I’m done with the day by the time it’s completely dark in the summertime. Now there are endless opportunities to make stops or minor excursions before I’m home for dinner. I am dead serious. Start looking for them when you venture out, make some mental notes for the way home. Contrary to popular belief you do not need super-high ISO’s to do night photographic work. The point is not to turn the black to white or see into the shadows. It’s all about the lights that are on which are fairly easy to shoot at comfortable ISO speeds. It’s all about that simplification of the scene where most of the elements are black or extremely dark. Both color and black and white are equally magical at night.

Sunrise Is Easy

I’m not really an early riser. It’s a chore for me to catch sunrise in the summer. Anyone can shoot sunrise and the golden hour in the wintertime. I leave the house a lot, even now, before the sun rises. There are dozens of scenes, like the horse farms, and marinas, and endless bay coastal marsh areas within a few minutes of regular routes I drive.

I am sure there are plenty of great spots you can think of that look great at sunrise or a little after in your neighborhood. Take advantage that you don’t have to get up with the fishermen to make great sunrise, golden hour photographs in the winter. In fact the sun is always at a lower angle in the northern hemisphere from now through early March.

Fog, Mist, Snow, & Overcast skies…

Much like darkness, all of these things are great photographic opportunities depending on exactly where you live. All of them simplify and mystify countless outdoor scenes. I personally love minimalistic landscape photos. Beyond darkness Fog, low-lying mist, along with overcast skies are usually transformative to normally ho-hum, blah scenes. Pay attention, especially early in the morning if you live anywhere near water or other areas prone to winter fog and mist.

Up Your Still-life Game

I’ll admit there are days so miserable I don’t want to go anywhere. If I must I am going to do my best to minimize my time outdoors to seconds. I forget about some of the opportunities I just mentioned because I do spend a lot of time in the winter doing a lot of indoor still-life photography. This year I think I’m going to do a bit more macro orientated work. We’ll see. It really doesn’t have to take up too much space but you’ll be surprised at how much you can accomplish with a table top setup, simple lighting, and a few interesting items.

Last year I did post a newsletter about being inspired by a few unlikely leaves on my porch that somehow survived the brute force of the peak of the winter season. Right now there is spectacular color, half of it is on the ground. I think I’ll collect a box of that now and get a head start. You should too.