Photo by Leyre on Unsplash

Why Black and White Photography on Wet and Rainy Days is a Great Opportunity

“A great photograph is one that fully expresses what one feels, in the deepest sense, about what is being photographed.” ― Ansel Adams

Ever since I got into digital photography, I’ve sought out the best places on the internet to connect with other photographers and artists.

I do this to learn something I don’t know. Some of these places are good, some are full of erroneous advice that makes you feel as if you are in an echo chamber.

These internet spaces tend to bang on about the size of their sensor, and which settings are best for such and such a type of photography — and people actually give their meaningless answers.

I don’t spend much time on those forums anymore.

Good advice is that it doesn’t much matter what type of camera you have; an old DSLR, a mobile phone, or a mirrorless, an analogue camera will do the job, and you can work at pushing limits on all of them.

The weather changes rapidly, and that’s all we need to know; it’s when we are busy on the street taking photos that we need the knowledge of how to react quickly, both technically and mentally.

Photo by Author — Royal Enfield Motorcycle seen on the Street

Long ago, I was an oil painter. I learned about oils, pigments, and grounds. These are the materials I used to create paintings.

This training helped me understand that when it comes to creating images, my mind is my main tool. What I see in front of me is the material, and I should have the skills and knowledge to do something clever with those materials.

Those ideas transferred well into photography. Colour and tone are a basic-knowledge that a photographer should have.

When I look at the work of other photographers, and I see that they have achieved an effect that I don’t fully understand, I search through the old painters.

The Germans for their Northern Light, the Dutch for precision and contrast, and the American painters for…