Wednesday, March 11, 2009

Exercise Bike


I've never understood why photographers wait for sunny days to make pictures. I seldom like the look of harsh sunlight—I don't mean I don't like what happens photographically but that I just don't like it, period. I suppose it could be connected to the fact that I've always been susceptible to sunburn (through a cotton shirt, through tinted auto glass, under a hat from light bouncing back up off the ground...) but I get a warm, glowing, feeling from the look of an overcast day, not from a sunny one. The way that light delineates and describes objects on an overcast day can be a delight. Not all cloudy days are created equal. Overcast can be sullen and dull, but it can also glow. In particular, the moments just after a sky clouds over, or later the moments when the overcast thickens enough that it just begins to rain, these are times when the light turns rich and photographic description can become especially vivid. All the pictures in this series were made under rich, variable overcast conditions.

1 comment:

robert said...

For me the light seems evenly dispersed? on overcast days and I especially like it right after a rain when wet pavement,puddles and tree trunks add a distinctive look to photos.