On Wednesday 18 February our guest speaker was Ann Miles who is a highly respected photographer from near Cambridge. She delivered her presentation via Zoom. Ann’s talk was titled “Weather to Photograph” which covered how and what to photograph in different weather conditions including rain, mist and snow.
Ann particularly enjoys photographing in poor weather and she started by showing a selection of images taken in the rain. Many of her images included people carrying umbrellas which often make good pattern pictures. She also included images taken at night under cloudy skies, many in cities where the presence of clouds can enhance the scene by reflecting the street and other lights.
Other subjects included sculpture, insects, sport and flowers, the rain drops adding interest to these.
The colours of autumn also look better when photographed on a dull day. Keeping the camera dry in these conditions can however be a problem and Ann described an occasion when she had ruined a lens because, although she had stored it in a camera bag, this had turned out not to be waterproof.
Another favourite of Ann’s is photographing in misty conditions. Mist can simplify images, hide ugly features such as car parks and create atmosphere. Again, Ann showed a selection of images demonstrating how such weather conditions can be used to good effect. She then went on to talk about photographing in frosty and snowy conditions.
In the second half of her talk, she demonstrated how good images can be achieved under windy conditions, as well as on sunny days, Ann’s least favourite as they often present the most difficult conditions in which to achieve good images. She also talked about photographing sunrises and sunsets as well as special atmospheric conditions such as the Northern Lights.
Ann has travelled widely and showed images from many countries including China, Finland, Germany, Norway and Iceland as well as from locations closer to home.
To achieve her Fellowship of the Royal Photographic Society she camped in Lapland on a frozen lake which is an experience she said she would never want to repeat.
Her panel comprised photographs of the bleak landscape with scattered trees and buildings as her main subject matter. Ann delivered a fascinating talk and gave many useful tips to help and encourage members of the club to take photographs in all weathers.
Julie Walker
