Shooting Waterfalls in Miserable Winter Light: What I Learned From a Day That Fought Back

Shooting Waterfalls in Miserable Winter Light: What I Learned From a Day That Fought Back

Winter has a way of humbling you. Not the cinematic kind of winter with hoarfrost on the branches and alpenglow on fresh snow. I mean the other kind: grey, wet, flat, stubborn. The kind that shows up without drama and makes every composition look like a used dishrag. After twenty years shooting landscapes full-time, I still wrestle with those days. So when I came across a recent First Man Photography tutorial that documents exactly this kind of shoot, a winter day in northern England that refused to behave, I watched it twice.