It’s amazing how much greyer and darker it became since the last time I was outside with my eyes wide open. It’s still rather warm, at good days some 10° C, which is warm for November. But the rain, it feels like everything else than a warm summer shower. Oh well, I was happy to get out with my camera yesterday, even if I had this feeling of missing something. The autumn must have been short, I remember that the summer continued a good way into September. The photo above is taken outside a restaurant in Lund where there are outdoor tables during the warmer half of the year. The gas heaters still stand along the wall, and I wonder if they really can withstand this weather… We don’t.
Btw, I tried to order that book again, “Photography and the Art of Seeing” by Freeman Patterson, and this time I really got my hands on it. Yay! Will be good to read now when the available light hits the bottom levels and you’d better dream of photography than trying to practise it.
12 Comments
Ove
I must have looked at this image 10 times today I really like it, living in the NW of the US I know about rain. The cold kind of rain, and the dark that goes with it. This captures that feeling very well. I can only imagine the feeling is worse living in the city.
Ove, during your time away you certainly didn’t loose your eye for a good photography composition, wonderful photo! Your weather sounds much like what we have experienced here today– 11° C, fog in the mornings and rain most of the day. Everything feels cold and damp.
No, I don’t believe those heaters are up to the task.
Ray, I’m glad you enjoyed the image that much. You might be right about the city, it certainly feels rougher with all the cold and damp asphalt, stones and concrete.
Thanks Earl. This is interesting, the thing that you don’t loose style and interest in certain image subjects even if you lay down the camera for years. I don’t know if you can generalise like I did now, but it seems to be true for me. I had a break during the late nineties to the early twenties, and it felt like no time had elapsed when I finally picked up photography for real, again.
“Will be good to read now when the available light hits the bottom levels and you’d better dream of photography than trying to practise it.”
A very nice, moody photo. I don’t think that I’d like to set outside with or especially without those heaters.
Well, Ove, there’s always night photography!
The placement of the figure with umbrella—deep into that corner—beautifully enhances the sense of cold and how one’s world can seem smaller and more confining on a dark rainy day. Very nice.
No no, Paul, no one likes to be outside these days, no one. But as you said, there is night photography, which I actually like, so I might spend an hour or two outside anyway.
Glad you liked the composition of this photo, Anita, I did find her position in the picture very lucky, because I had my Lensbaby mounted and that’s a way slower lens to operate than the usual lenses I have. Thanks!
Your image is like a still from a film noir. Wonderful. I’m looking forward to reading your views on Patterson’s book.
Paul is right: in winter, especially when it’s cold and wet, it’s the nights when you find your images. Cities, colored lights, the streets are wet, all those reflections, endless possibilities
I think you captured the mood of rain perfectly with this image. Nicely done.
Freeman Patterson is a favorite of mine. I have no doubt you will be inspired by his writings.
Oh, that was a wonderful comment, Cedric, I’m a huge fan of film noir stylish photography, and since I this time not even thought in those terms it become such anyway. I guess I’m a little noir as a person.
Andreas, your right, I shot a few ponds that the rain created on a road of cobble stones, and I even got some neon light into it. Exactly as you describes it. For some reasons, these photos are lovely to take, but they seldom speak to me later on. I don’t know why…
Welcome to my blog, Mark! And thanks!!!
My goodness, it’s good to have you posting your images again. These latest images leave me feeling like the weather in Lund is much like the weather in Pittsburgh lately.
Yeah, I suspect you have pretty Gray and cold weather as well. Not fun for photography… But thanks!