We’ve all been there. Gone for the day in search of that picture we never had the chance to shoot. The intention is nice, but nothing is cooperating. The weather turned to mush.
The wildlife decided to take a day off from modelling for you. After a few hours of this heart-wrenching torment, you are finally ready to give up and sell your gear.
It looks like we can only wander around, our target has eluded us one more time. So what should we do? By now, we are already 150km+ into a journey that has no goal anymore. All we are left with is some mild curiosity (if any) about what is around us. We are not really interested, right?
City park tree
We just click our shutters in the hopes of having shot something we didn’t notice right then and there. Gloom and doom are over us.
Nothingness
Well, that is often a time when pictures could come to life. Many of the pictures in this post were shot when going out and about with friends, some of them when I was on my own.
No Snowy targets
That aimless wandering was only a way to get out of the week's monotony. A much-needed time off from the rest of the week. As such, the trips were already a success, but were dampened by that sense of “Wish you were here”.
Heavy snow
And there seems to lie the problem with many photographers. We cannot always get what we want, but we may get what we need instead (yes, the Stones were right about that). When coming home after a whole day of missing the target of the trip, but with a bunch of “uninspiring pictures” we don’t feel satisfied.
Just… nothing
The pictures go onto the computer, we check them with this sense of disdain, they were not the desired pics at all, then forget about them entirely.
Ice disks
Then, after some time, in the case of this post, several years, they show up again and show some “promise”. These pics were not that bad after all! In fact, those moody pictures were quite good. They were just not what we were after at the time.
Unexpected airglow
In some cases, the clouds rolled in just after we arrived at our target destination. The above shot was kind of a surprise to see the airglow in the sky. It looked like an aurora, but this pic was taken facing south on a beach in Nova Scotia. Not an aurora at all. Also not very visible to the naked eye.
Mirror of tranquillity
When the season turns from vibrant to dull, many photographers put down their cameras as if there was nothing more to do but wait for better days. Take the shot above, for example. Hardly any colour, and no subject either. Yet the picture breathes calm and quiet. Exactly what we need at this time of the year.
Endless dirt
A dirt road, hardly worth a shot, right? Well, this dirt road can lead to some adventure that you will not soon forget. Or it can remain an uninspiring shot. I knew the rest of this road was much worse, so for me, this was the shot. My car was not built for that.
Dull or moody?
When the weather turns to simple mist/fog, there is nothing in terms of wildlife or good subjects around. The shot of a clump of weeds in the water may turn into a moody picture that will inspire others to go and find something similar. Or not.
Splash of colour
A walk in the nearby park, in search of the lost chord. Well, not really, but I always wanted to use that phrase. A morning with virtually no photographic appeal, except for this little piece of colour.
Wandering around aimlessly can still give nice pictures, even if we do not recognize them at first. Always take the camera with you, you never know what shows up.
Until next time…