As I write this the skies have once again opened up and it is pouring with rain. We do like to talk about the weather in this country, largely because it tends to be so unpredictable, while the forecasts may technically be correct, most of the time, locally they seem to bear no resemblance to reality.
Photographers are not hugely adventurous for the most part, picture researchers tend to prefer sunny scenes so that is what they do and it is only a hardy few who venture out at any other time. A search for rain on the site returns about 100 pictures, some taken in the rain, some soon after and some of distant rain, but they do make useful pictures and towns at night after rain can look quite spectacular. Seathwaite in Cumbria. The wettest place in Britain. Roger Scruton
Our castle man Roy Stedall-Humphryes once sent us a set of pictures of Tintagel Castle with an appology that the weather was so poor, this picture is not only his, but one of our best sellers. Which just goes to show, with a bit of imagination a photographer can make something out of the most unpromising conditions!
Snow presents a different problem. Snow settling on your cameras can make photography pretty difficult and venturing out into falling snow is not always wise. A general search for snow returns some 850 pictures (if you exclude Snowdon!) though you will find a fair smattering of snowdrops. Of these only a handful were actually taken in the snow, most of these by Ashley Cooper who does mountain rescue and the like so you’d expect him to be pretty hardy! Snow in Pitlochory. Archie Young
And then there is fog. Maybe it’s my imagination, but I don't think there is as much of it as there used to be. A search for fog or mist returns about 280 pictures though looking at them a good number seem to be temperature inversions and I’m not sure they count. There are a few pictures taken in the fog, but condensation on your lens must make it pretty hard work! Misty morning near Guisborough. Mike Kipling
One subject that comes up regularly in all the conditions I have linked to above is traditional customs. Most happen on specific days of the year and a lot in the winter so a fair bit of bad weather is only to be expected. The big surprise perhaps is that so many people still venture out into the snow, rain and, I know this from experience - though it doesn't photograph, cold. Britannia Coconut Dancers on a very wet Easter Saturday in Bacup, Lancashire, England, 1966. Brian Shuel
