Photo Answers

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- Andrew James

Grey day shooting

Q I was in a seaside town recently, but the weather was grey and wet, so I didn’t get any shots. Can you share an approach for working in these kinds of conditions? Julie Hope

A Somebody much wiser than me once said there is no such thing as bad light; just different light. While there are times that I could quite easily have argued against this premise, I do think that in almost any conditions it’s possible to get good shots as long as you adapt. Weirdly, I find out-ofseason seaside towns endlessly fascinating and there’s no doubt they are great photography locations. The combination of faded grandeur, weathering and unusual landmarks, such as piers, can really make for interesting images.

In poorer weather, you need to put in more effort to create an interesting photo and that can often be a good thing. Composition is always important, of course, but when you don’t have breathtaking light to lift an image, it has to do more of the work. For example, as you can see from this image of the pier at Cromer on the Norfolk coast, I’ve used the little hut where people are sheltering as my main focal point, while the seagulls to the left add some important action to lift an otherwise static image. The wet floor of the pier boardwalk helps to lead us down to the theatre building at the end. The whole image is effectively grey, it was raining and the lighting is flat, which I’m sure are the conditions you faced, Julie.