Oh, what do you do when it is grey and dull out?

[chrispiper]

Shoot! I love foggy grey days, they're made for B&W and Sonnars. It's like being transported to the set of an old movie.

Leica M3 + Canon 50 f/1.5 LTM + Kodak T400CN

more here

 

[Pablito]

exploit it

 

[Corto]

Also a good time to go and play around with a P&S................

Olympus Epic Stylus, Ilford HP5

 

[barnwulf]

I have mostly bright harsh high contrast sunlight most days here and I look forward to the few cloudy days we have. Jim

 

[Frank Petronio]

Shooting in the rain is beautiful. Get some plastic bags, a small towel, and a good umbrella, use a neck strap and keep it tucked inside your coat. Start with short walks close to home. All that pro gear you have can handle it very easily.

The wetness makes for wonderful reflections. Once it snows you actually gain a secondary light source - all that bounce!

 

[andredossantos]

If you live in a locale with seasons you gotta appreciate the dull grey winter days just as much as the sunny summer ones. Both are great for different reasons! No excuses, go shoot

 

[nighstar]

ahhhh, all these awesome foggy/rainy/misty photos makes me want to go out in the rain and take photos...... but i have this crazy fear of my cameras getting wet, whether film or digital. i wish i had a car so i could go out to some place cool in the early morning when it's really hazy, but alas, i rely on public transportation.....

it's been gloomy grey and/or raining all week and tomorrow + Sat are the days when i usually go out and take photos... hoping for better weather! otherwise i may just go Christmas shopping and take photos indoors/on the bus.

 

[collum]

.... out taking pictures.... it's when the sun's bright with blue skies that i get depressed and put the camera away

 

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

.... out taking pictures.... it's when the sun's bright with blue skies that i get depressed and put the camera away

Same here! I tell non-photographers that, and they look at me like I just escaped from the mental hospital. Bright sun is ugly, except in New Mexico. I could make it work there, but not here in Indiana. The sun is ugly here.

 

[EdwardKaraa]

Grey and dull? Black and White!

 

[Rob-F]

Mount slides. Assemble slide shows. Develop film. If really desperate, set up numbering and indexing system for all negatives and slides. Figure out where I have put all negatives and slides.

 

[paulfish4570]

i shoot dull gray photos ...

 

[brbo]

Grey and dull? Black and White!

Or color! No need to convert to B&W


not b&w by boachi, on Flickr

 

[nobbylon]

I was out yesterday at Scheveningen beach with the high winds and rain. I was covered head to toe in sand blown by the wind. Why people pay skin specialists to remove skin layers is beyond me!
Generally though I build a fire, stick old films on and veg.
My late afternoon film when I got back yesterday was one of the Pink Panther movies with the great Peter Sellers who incidentally was a Leica fan. He had an M4 that Peter at CRR serviced back in the day.

 

[Guaranteed]

Grey and dull? Black and White!

I was going to say aren't these the conditions for why they make B&W film?

I love it when the weather is crappy(read overcast slight drizzle and it's not cold as hell out), it means hardly anyone else will be out and about.

 

[sleepyhead]

Here in Denmark, being fairly North, the Sun's intensity is never anything as strong as where I grew up (New York). And when it is clear and sunny, the sun is often at a low angle in the sky.

We seem to have basically two types of days here:
75% - dim, dull grey - like living inside a large Tupperware container
25% - crystal clear air and sky, glaring sun at a low angle

Both types can make for interesting photography.

PS Chris Crawford, you might love it here (light-wise).

 

[hlockwood]

Since the output of my photography is supposed to be a print, the answer is obvious.

Harry

 

[Sparrow]

Well today, which was sunny f2 at midday, I stayed in bed till 09:30, took my son for a long lunch at a local pizzeria, now I'm playing about on the interweb to avoid doing anything productive ...

... works for me

 

[rbsinto]

I love grey, dull days, the best time to photograph. I'll often wait weeks without shooting a single frame, till I get a day like that, when I'll shoot 5-10 rolls.

Absolutely!
Bright sunny days have contrasty light with dark shadows, and invariably I don't usually like the street stuff I shoot on those days.
However, overcast grey days have even, shadowless light with nicely saturated colours, so all the details are there to see.
Sure, a grey sky in a landscape looks like a hole in the image, but for street and candid people photography, I'll take the overcast/grey/ foggy days every time.

 

[healyzh]

I have a long term project I'm working on that I only shoot on grey dreary days. It's also one that I'm shooting on film (35mm with my Leica M6 and 120 with my Hasselblad 500CM). I'm using a mixture of TMAX 400 and Portra 400. I use the Leica mainly when walking about scouting shots, while the Hasselblad on a tripod is for the meat of the project.

Somehow the grey and dreary project is working out a lot better than the Sunny day one that I've planned to do on E100G slide film.

Personally the challenges for me are bitter cold, and/or steady heavy rain.