Lately, I have had plenty of things on my proverbial plate. Not so much food-wise, though. Photography takes a lot of space for me and will remain doing so. Not going to ditch photography… No, these ditches are the ones on the side of the road. There are times when getting out on foot is not the best. Either because it is too hot or because it is too wet.
This week, we went from +37C to +13C overnight, with rain on the end of it. All in all not very conducive to walks outside. I know I will have to get used to this weather, but hey, a little bit of time for that, please!
So when it was pretty hot, I took many pictures and noticed that the rubber ring on my 28-300mm started to come loose. Not sure what to do with that yet. When it got wet, I kept in mind a remark by Moose Peterson: “If I can take it, my gear can take it”. My guess is that I can’t take a jolt of my speedlights, so they stay inside when it’s raining.
Dame’s Rocket
Yet, when it rains, it becomes a bit more of an effort to go out shooting. The usual wildlife subjects tend to stay inside (now, there’s an idea to follow!) or at least hidden from the rain. So the next subjects that are available are the ones that don’t move around. In Manitoba there were the old barns and abandoned buildings, but Nova Scotia cleans them up and re-uses the land instead.
Daisy Fleabane
So now I have plants, trees and flowers to shoot. As well as the occasional rock or animal skull. Shooting the waves of the Atlantic tends to be underwhelming when it rains. I don’t know, those pictures never seem to come out good enough to post anywhere.
Tufted Vetch
Today was a drizzle type of day. Drizzle is pernicious. It goes into everything, makes you and your gear wet and on top of that, you only notice it when it’s too late. Drizzle can get on your lens, and you won’t see it until you come home and check the pictures on a bigger screen. Doh!
Wild Carrot
Drizzle has a few advantages too. If it has gone on for some time, all plants and flowers (or weeds, if you prefer) will have drops of water on them. While in dry weather I take a small spray bottle with me with distilled water, in drizzly weather I don’t have to. Flowers always have better colours when they are wet.
Rabbitfoot Clover
Well, perhaps not over do it, after all, a few drops will show up nicely, a drenched flower is useless as a subject. With my “new” Nikon D750, I now also have a swivel screen, which allows me to take pictures from angles that before required me to lay down in the mud 
.
Northern Evening Primrose
While some people would love to see a photographer roll in the mud, I am not so much inclined to be that photographer 
. Even if the audience is attractive. So what comes up in a ditch that is worth shooting? Surprisingly plenty of things. Rocks, plants, insects and other subjects remain in their ditches and can become nice subjects.
Knapweed
My preferred lenses for this type of work are my 60mm macro and a 28-300mm zoom. That last one allows me to get close enough as to not having to wade through the water or the mud, while the 28mm side allows me to get the full plants with stem, leaves and flowers in one shot. That makes identification a lot easier and accurate.
Ditching photography? Never! Ditch Photography? Any time!
Until next time…