A couple of surreal days – snow in Ireland…. a lot of snow, in fact! So much so that the population is ordered to stay indoors. The snow storm is battering my home for a solid two days now – getting to a level where I wonder: should I be worried?
Well, today, I ignored the warnings and went out for a walk with the cam in the hand exploring my local area…. running right into the midst of the storm! There were moments where you couldn’t see what was in front of view.
The white powder battering anything that’s in the way, be it houses, trees or human faces!
The Grand canal is frozen. The poor swan, lonely and waiting for better times, can only sit patiently on the ice in the hope of someone throwing him some bread. Hopefully – so the meteorologists say – the worst is over after the weekend.
Battered by storm and rain for days, Sydney still manages to produce breathtaking beauty: a massive double rainbow stretches all the way from Harbour Bridge across the entire city centre.
Photographs like this, but even more so these moments witnessing it in flesh are the reward for being out there regardless of the weather. If you wanna see it you got to make the effort. You won’t get this on your couch in front of the TV.
In these days here in Sydney, where it has rarely stopped to rain and I got soaked multiple times since I arrived, it would have been easy to kick back, relax and enjoy coffee and cake in the one of the really nice coffee shops the city has to offer aplenty.
But there is more to life, isn’t it? So I get out there and soak up the beauty of this place, the visual riches that keep giving and giving particular for photography.
Though, I have to admit, that particular day when this shot was taken – Thursday – a couple of hours before I was slightly depleted. I sat in the train on the way to the city, and the rain was hammering against the windows again… or still? You know, when this is all you see and hear for days it can be a bit depressing. Particularly if you fly around the globe to see this particular city!
But you know what? The easy option would have been not to get out. To stay snuggled up home, and let the rain pass. The easy option would have not rewarded me with the breathtaking view of a double rainbow over the Harbour Bridge.
Lesson of the story? Get out shoot enjoy life and keeping shooting!
What a day here in Sydney –my first day in the big city on the East Coast of Australia; a day literally drowned in rain! Since my arrival yesterday afternoon it has not stopped to rain. And more rain is expected over the next few day actually!
Now, that meant for today instead of the walking tour and ferry trip along the world renowned Harbour Bridge that I had in mind it had to be plan B: the opportunity to visit local race track Canterbury Park!
A wise decision. Because even now writing nearly eight hours after leaving the racecourse the rain is still hammering against the roof of my house – it wasn’t different in the afternoon. Thunderstorms and torrential rain would have made it impossible to explore Sydney in any meaningful way.
Canterbury Park on the other hand has a roof, first class facilities, and is more or less down the road from where I’m based anyways.
That, however, doesn’t make photography any easier. Soon after the second race ended the sky went so dark one could have mistaken the day for the night.
For the rest of the day it’s very much bumping up the ISO, shooting from the comfort of the stand…. or not quite. Because there those few brave moments where jump out off safety, the camera in my right hand, keeping the hood in place over my head with the other hand while I press the shutter erratically in the hope one of the compositions visualized beforehand get into the frame.
In the end it was a great test for the Tamron SP 70-200mm f/2.8 Di VC USD G2 to show what the lens can do in circumstances like this – obviously in low light situation the Nikon D7100 tends to struggle, so I was concerned.
However after looking through the results I have to be impressed once again. I wouldn’t say all is brilliant, but the auto-focus worked wonders, the shots are sharp enough for my liking, look decent even at higher ISO’s and again most impressed I am with the results of shots taken of moving objects – in this case fast running horses far away in the distance in low light, eve when cropped in heavily in post these images are still very usable.
Below a selection of photographs from the day. My focus was to capture the grind, desperation, emotions but also beauty of this race day held in these desperate conditions.
Four seasons in one a single day? Maybe even in one single hour? Yes, that’s Ireland. Sun, storm, wind, rain or hail – it all can go as quickly as it came at any given time. Be prepared!
Shoot It Now 