I hate winter.  I hate being cooped up inside.  Also, I hate the snow and the cold.  I really hate the fact that when it looks like I might be getting an opportunity for a photo shoot, the weather says “Nope!” and we receive a serious run on foul weather either on top of us or where we want to go shoot photos of.  If you can’t already tell, I’m don’t love this time of year for many different reasons and more than just for photography.  Still, the light after a storm makes perfect shooting conditions.

I’ve spent no less than the past 2 winters hoping to go out and get a shot only to have it get cancelled because something, like the weather, got in the way.  I can go a bit stir-crazy and find myself in a creative bind.  I need to create something but what I want to create isn’t an option.

On those rare times when I do get to go out and create something during the winter, it feels wonderful.  Ok, it also feels really cold and I don’t like staying outside too long because of it.  I had one of those opportunities come up very recently.

We had last year’s project expand on us.  That’s a good thing by the way.  It does mean that we need to go and scout out more locations.  Thanks to bad timing and inclimate weather, we’ve been staying a bit closer to home than usual.

We made scouting trip out to one of our next targets during a snowstorm.  This trip was almost cancelled like many others before it because of the weather.  Thankfully, the snowstorm wasn’t serious and the abnormally warm weather lately was keeping the snow from sticking.  Road conditions were much safer than they appeared to be at first glance.

After scouting out the area and assessing what kind of place we were working with, we found ourselves driving home in the middle of golden hour.  Normally, that’s a big mistake for me.  This time, not so much.  On the way out, I noticed the clouds hanging very low next to some distant hills.  The light on the hills was perfect.  We pulled over so that I could get the shot.

Despite my already very cold fingers and hands, I managed to get the tripod and camera set up in time before the wind blew the clouds away revealing the light after a storm.  It was one of those moments I was glad to be present for and armed with my camera.  When the moment came, I was ready for it.