One of the perks of photographing landscapes is that it instills a wonderful sense of actually being there when you view the image. As a photographer however, I have learnt, that every perk usually comes with a pitfall. Shooting amidst the dense tropical country I call home this came in the form of bad weather.
Over the years I've found myself shooting in different adverse conditions, so much so that when the local village folk scurried away I just carried on with what I was doing. What amused me was the look on their faces as they went past me.To be quite accurate it probably translated to 'this guy is stark raving mad'. As amused as I was this also intrigued me, so I caught up with a young chap and asked him what the fuss was all about. He just looked at me blankly, pointed towards the heavens and murmured something akin to 'trouble is coming'. OK, I must admit that the skies looked darker than usual, but hey this was Sri Lanka. It rains here as often as chameleons change colour. My smile just perplexed him even more and off he went, apparently in the right direction. What came a few minutes later confirmed every bit of it.
Bone dry to soaking wet, all in under a minute. I did try and outrun it but clearly nature had won before I even began. What made matters worse was the rain brought with it a formidable ally, in the form of the wind. Not just any summer day breeze.This was a howler of a gale on an agenda to tear me up into minuscule pieces and disperse me like pollen from a dandelion.I was well and truly beaten.I had to swallow my pride and seek refuge among some foliage beside the upper bank of the river, hugging my camera gear in the process. Definitely not how I envisioned my day to go. Eventually, after what seemed like an eternity the storm passed and I dragged myself back to the car and drove home. A shower and a hot chocolate later I sat down and processed the images that I had managed to capture before nature unleashed its wrath on me. The one below is my artsy twist on a pre-storm landscape.
Comment here and let me know what you think.
Naush..really diggin' this blog bro! Love the soothing shades of blue in this shot. Your vivid recollection of the moment brings the image to life! Look forward to more bro :)
ReplyDeleteKev
Kev, thanks very much and I'm glad you like it. Definitely will be more coming.Hope you subscribed:)
DeleteThis is such an amazing shot! Great work.
ReplyDeleteTruly appreciate your words.Thanks a lot Chester.
ReplyDeleteThis is a good picture.. but there are a few flaws. When you are taking pictures of landscape, try to remember the 1/3rd rule. Never get the horizon in the center. A little bit more up or down would have been better.
ReplyDeleteThanks Gayan. I'am well aware of the rule, but I personally feel that there are moments when it doesn't necessarily have to be followed. The idea HERE was to portray a dramatic landscape, for which equal proportions of the foreground and background were necessary.
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