Photographers know that the best light for image-making is often to be found at the "edges" of things, like the beginning or the end of the day, or before or after a storm. Longtime National Geographic photographer Bill Allard has said that his photographs -- in which wonderful light is often an element -- are the result of “simply showing up for work on time.”
Photographers try to stack the odds of finding and making good pictures in our own favor by being out early, when others are eating breakfast, or in the evening, when civilized folks are sitting down to a glass of wine and dinner. Additionally, a couple of shooters I know -- myself included -- have fashioned a clamp setup that will hold an umbrella over a tripod so we can keep camera gear dry and we can work in a rain or snow storm.
Yes, we show up for work on time...and last weekend I found the image you see above because I went one step further: I showed up for work early. I had a wedding to shoot on nearby Bainbridge Island at a venue that was new to me. I timed my arrival so that I could walk around the place and check things out, maybe shoot a few “scene-setting” images. Thus, I was onsite with camera in hand when wonderful light happened on the island landscape.
There is, of course, a bit of hyperbole in this business about “showing up for work on time.” I’m one of those photographers who nearly always has a camera with me, and making photographs is an integral part of my life. I guess it could be said that I’m always “working.” For me there’s no such thing as a beginning, or an end, to my photographic day.
