Eye in the Sky

The Appalachian mountains here in Western North Carolina can have fairly intense weather shifts. When I began this day, it started in a storm, heavy rain, but bright sunshine blazing through cracks in the clouds, only a mile up the road from my first stop that day, near perfect blue skies with just a hint of dark on the horizon. A little further on there were clouds streaking high in the sky. I relaxed into the current mountain mood, worked on finding a composition for the day, and at last I ended up at this location. I took a few quick photos, and then we were hit by a wave of low lying clouds, creating patterns in the sky, the other photographers on the scene stopped, waited for the clouds to clear. I stopped for a moment, changed lenses, and recomposed a unique scene developing just down into the valley.

Weather has even been a friend of the photographer, it’s up to us to find how to best utilize it in our compositions. While yes, it is easier to wait for the clouds to clear, remember, those things you find detrimental to your photo, can indeed be the very thing you need to complete your image. From where I stood, there were few compositions I could find. I had tried up and down the clearing some two miles worth of investigating areas. There are a few compositions from that trip I did like, but the foreground was awful throughout them. The foreground here isn’t by any means flattering, but we can make it work without trying to crop it out or erase it form the scene.

The clouds, when they first rolled in created a perfect white out. No view, no chance of composition in the deep haze, but I had a feeling. Often times I get these feelings while on location, and believe me, I am very often wrong. This particular instance worked out though, but only because the clouds hanging low in the sky does this image even remotely work. Weather is a framing device, it’s a mood enhancer, and most importantly, you’re only going to get one chance within any particular moment.

Until Next Time!

Aperture: f13
ISO: 640
SS: 1/30th
Focal: 50mm

Fujinon 50-140mm