storm

Roadtrip from the Blue Ridge to Mount Jackson in the Rain /  by Todd Henson

Towards the end of April my father and I went for a day trip in Virginia. We’d visited a hamfest in the morning, then drove along Skyline Drive in Shenandoah National Park and found some white trillium flowers closer to noon. Just after photographing the trillium it began raining and it continued for some time as we drove out of Shenandoah National Park and along Route 211 west towards Luray. I was the passenger on this trip and had kept my camera out as we drove so I decided to create some “from the road” photographs to capture some of our trip and show what the roadside scenery looks like in a storm.

Route 211 From the Blue Ridge to the Massanutten

Route 211 between the Blue Ridge and Massanutten mountain ranges can be a beautiful scenic drive. These two photos were created past Luray as we approached the Massanutten. You can see the same house and barns in them both. As beautiful as this area is, I felt it was even more beautiful on this rainy day, and I even enjoy the spots of rain on the windshield, something I most often try to avoid by clicking the camera shutter just after the wipers clear the windshield.

Route 211 west towards Massanutten

Raindrops on the windshield while riding towards Massanutten on Route 211

Route 11 from New Market to Mount Jackson

From Route 211 we turned right and headed north on Route 11, leaving New Market and heading towards Mount Jackson. This is another beautiful stretch of road that parallels the Massanutten mountain range. I found several scenes I thought were worthy of photographing, with various buildings set off against both the Massanutten in the background and the clouds in the sky.

A farm house, clouds, and Massanutten

A church and the Massanutten range along Route 11

Farm land and the Massanutten range

Tips

So often on these trips I see what I believe would make wonderful compositions while in the car, but seeing them and capturing them while the car is moving are two entirely different things. Everything is in motion, the car, me within the car, the camera within my hand, and other cars on the road. I’ve shared some techniques in the past to help with photographing from a moving car, such as raising the ISO and shutter speed and turning on vibration reduction, and to add to those suggestions, keep your arms and body slightly flexible so they move with the movement of the car. This might help reduce the harder vibrations of the vehicle moving along the road, similar to how moving video cameras are sometimes mounted on stabilizers to smooth the motion.

Photographing from the road is a lot of fun and something I highly recommend if you’ve never tried it yourself. It gives you the chance to realize some photos you might not otherwise be able to create. Just be sure you’re a passenger if the vehicle is moving.

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Storm Over Washington - The Story Behind the Image /  by Todd Henson

Storm over Washington

Changing weather can create amazing photographic opportunities, if you’re in the right place at the right time and have your gear ready. Sometimes you can plan for the opportunities, watching the weather, knowing there may be gaps in a storm, or arriving just before or after a storm breaks up, hoping opportunities will emerge. Other times you may get lucky and happen into a situation when you’re able to take advantage of it. My Storm over Washington photo benefited from a little of both. My brother and I were in Washington, D.C., hiking around the Tidal Basin photographing the cherry blossoms. We knew there was a chance of rain but decided to make the trip anyway, knowing the weather might just work out.

We started near the Washington Monument and hiked in the direction of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial. The weather held for most of the hike, until we were close to the Thomas Jefferson Memorial. Facing the Jefferson the sky was nice and clear with a few puffy clouds here and there. But looking back to the left, where we’d come from, was a long string of storm clouds moving in quickly. It looked fantastic. I brought up my camera and started shooting, knowing it wouldn’t be long before the storm reached us. I kept looking to the right to judge how long it would take to reach the shelter of the Jefferson, then back to the left to judge how long until the rain reached us. We exchanged glances, somewhat wide eyed.   We could tell from the clouds it was really pouring, but we were both willing to take the chance.

After I felt I had some nice shots we started quickly walking towards the Jefferson, trying to pack our cameras into our bags as we walked. Lots of other people were doing the same thing, and the Jefferson already looked full of people. As luck would have it, we didn’t quite make it before the rain started pummeling us. By the time we reached the Jefferson we were soaked, but laughing about it. I felt confident I had captured some images that would be worth the soaking.

Thankfully, I was not disappointed. When I got home and looked through the images I felt compelled to try a black and white treatment on the photo, thinking this would bring out the drama in the sky and the sun light illuminating the Washington Monument. I spent a little time dodging and burning different areas, trying to keep the cherry blossoms from going too dark, and adding a bit of a vignette to keep the eye in the frame. I like how the line of clouds and the cherry blossom shoreline leads the eye to the Washington Monument. Creating this image was a great ending to a fantastic day.

Storm Over Washington is available for purchase as wall art or on a variety of products.

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