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July. Trouble On The Horizon Steve Lewis
In planning this series, I wrote down a couple of topics against each month that I felt would be typical. Right from the start I had 'Haze' noted against July, until, that is, I looked at my notes and the Met offices' log for past Julys. The words 'wet', 'dull' and 'thunderstorm' crop up a lot. It seems that July is not as I remember it! The reason for the thunderstorms is that most of our weather systems come from the west, pulling in a lot of warm, moist air. When combined with rising ground temperatures leads to convection, resulting in cloud build up during the day. As it rises, it rapidly cools, creating the thunderclouds and storms, which are typical of July. The higher land levels along the western side of the U.K. (Snowdonia, Lake District, Scottish Isles etc) tend to exaggerate the effect, as the air masses have to rise up to pass over the hills. It's one of the reasons that these areas are the wettest in the U.K. Certainly in Snowdonia, it can be a hot, humid and sunny day in Bangor, which is on the coast, but move 10 miles inland, say to Capel Curig, and it's pouring down! Both shots this month have a lot in common, besides thunderclouds. Both are 35mm, both use a 200mm lens with a 2x converter, both are unfiltered and both were 'grab' shots. ('Grab' in this context is a relative term as I usually work with large format gear and a tripod!). However, they do differ in one important respect; placement of the horizon. Thunderclouds rise to enormous heights and it's always tempting to place the horizon low in the frame, including as much of the clouds as possible. Do give it some thought though, as even a small change in the horizon's position within the frame can change the entire 'feel' of the shot.
Placing the horizon low in the frame is fine if you have a good 'anchor' for the picture. In the shot of Caernarfon castle, the castle itself, lit by the morning sun, provides a good base, allowing me to include all of the cloud. Consequently, the cloud and castle become counterpoints to each other, actors on a huge stage, with the cloud threatening to overwhelm the castle. The second shot is looking across Snowdonia from above the village of Llanrwst. Here, placing the horizon in the middle of the frame has given the picture a completely different feel. Due to the lack of a single subject to 'anchor' the shot, I've used the receding valleys and hills as a foreground instead. This has added depth to the picture but has also raised the horizon. The result is that the big clouds now share equal space in the frame. Whereas in the first shot the clouds are a threatening and separate entity, in the second they compliment the land, contributing to the images tones and textures. The shots do show the value of having a camera with you at all times. The old and battered Contax RTSII which lives in my car has proved its worth on many an occasion (see also October's Logbook). For these shots, I pulled the car over and rested the camera in a folded jacket on the doorframe. I didn't have any filters with me, but I don't think either of the shots would be improved by fitting, say, a graduated neutral density filter. I did underexpose each shot slightly to keep the clouds dark as the camera's TTL meter tried to turn them to a mid-tone. You wouldn't think so, but you may need to be quick when shooting thunderclouds. Firstly, although the clouds lasted quite a while, the lighting in these shots is quite fleeting. Each shot is at that transition point where the clouds are lit by the last rays of the very sunlight they are about to subdue. Secondly, you may need to take cover from the inevitable downpour, although I've managed some decent shots in the rain. But I think I'll save them for another logbook.
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