Capturing the feeling of a storm? Okay, as a photographer I can capture a photo of a storm. How can I capture a feeling? Well, read on and find out!
Capturing The Feeling Of A Storm
My Intention
In an earlier blog, I talk about the influences on my work and how I set an intention for a piece that I follow. This is a quote from my website which sets out my aim when I am creating my photo art:
“In my processing of the photographs I endeavor to give the piece a feeling, an emotion, of how it felt to stand and look at a particular scene, for example.”
For instance, I took this photograph inside a medieval town wall in Citta della Pieve in in Umbria, Italy. I had stepped from baking hot sun into shade to do so. In my processing I try to emphasize that contrasting light and shade to emphasise just how welcoming the shade is.
But what about capturing the feeling of a storm?
Getting Caught In A Storm
Pea Soup Fog
Do you remember the old ‘pea soup’ fogs that used to be depicted in old films? Here I am thinking of the old black and white Sherlock Homes films in particular. How creepy were those old films? And so much of it was the atmosphere created by the fog! Of course, in London during Victorian times that horrible choking thick fog was quite common due to pollution. Regretfully it can still be seen in parts of the world today. Sometimes though, with bad weather, fog can descend anywhere and change how a scene looks.
London and Storm Barney
In 2015, I was trying to photograph some views of the River Thames. It was night and my intention had been to capture the lights and reflections in the river. But ‘Storm Barney’ was raging and I was soaked through, hanging onto metal railings for grim death because of the strong winds. But I was determined to get something atmospheric for my trouble! I couldn’t even use two hands for the camera as I was holding on with one, and in between I had to push the camera inside my raincoat to try and keep it dry. I could hardly see out of my spectacles as they were covered with rain drops. It was a wild old night I have to say! Not as bad as the hurricane that hit the South of England in 1987 and which I was caught up in, but still pretty unpleasant.
Having got my shots I disappeared into a pizza restaurant to dry off and reward myself with pizza and cheesecake! I felt I deserved it.
Thames Night View Series
From the photos I took that night, I produced three photo art images when I got back home to Italy. I already had a vision in my head of what I wanted to achieve with these. I wanted that feeling of it being hard to see, of just vaguely making out the shapes of buildings and famous landmarks. At the same time I wanted to emphasise the wild and windy nature of the night. And give a little nod to the idea of pea soup fog!
I called them Thames Night View 1, 2 and 3. I think I was successful in capturing the feeling of a storm, don’t you? They are available individually from each of my three print stores, though they have been created so they will hang as a group on a wall. You can see them in more detail by clicking on the links below.
Where To Purchase Prints
You can buy prints of my London images from Art Heroes (Europe), Pictorem (USA and Canada) and RedBubble (worldwide.
Before you go
My name is Dorothy Berry-Lound an artist and writer. You can find out more about my art and writing at https://dorothyberryloundart.com.
You can follow me on Facebook and Mastodon.
Thank you for reading!
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