Rain in Amsterdam can be both enchanting and unpredictable. Well, apart from this week where the forecast said back to back showers, and it wasn’t wrong.
When raindrops cascade over Amsterdam's charming canals, they bring a tranquil ambiance to the city. While the occasional drizzle might dampen plans, the rain in Amsterdam adds a unique charm to the city, reminding me that even in showers, beauty can be found around every corner.
I arrived in the city with an open mind to what scenes I might be drawn towards this time and how I might approach capturing this place once again. This is often the way i approach my personal work, allowing influence and feeling to navigate my creative output. Except this time I found I had an uncontrolled hurdle direct how I would work. The first day, the first frame taken, and my camera decided to throw me a curve ball and failed. Luckily it retained the ability to shoot manual but without the light meter and also requiring around a 3 second pause between shots. otherwise it would completely freeze up. Obviously this was not ideal but if life gives you lemons, then make lemonade.
A slower way of working, no light meter - hang on, isn’t this like shooting film on a fully manual camera? It absolutely is, so sometimes things happen that are out of your control and all you can do is ride that wave and make the most out of it. My limitations were now in place, all I had to do is get creative, trust my eye and know that I can read the light. If this wasn’t screaming for black and white photography, I don’t know what is.
As frustrating as this situation was, it had a fun and liberating lesson wrapped up within it. Allowing me to be in the moment, watch the scenes and read the light. Now I don’t want you to read this and think that I can just eye ball any situation and know the exposure, of course I also got loads wrong, missed shots and had the camera freeze up at perfect moments. But knowing that this was all for fun and something of a unique experience to shoot with these limitations, I did come away with a fresh mind and experience. It was definitely a holiday for my photography and creative output.
Oh yes, and one last thing - Yes I did get shouted at for shooting around the red light distract at night. In my defence I was photographing it a pub scene (Ive included these photos). The guy who came across didn’t seem to understand that I was more interested in photographing the people rather than the girls in the windows. Also to my defence, there were no girls in the windows at the time. He did soon back down when he realised shouting at me really wasn’t causing any panic. But lesson learnt, maybe not the wisest to photography around this area at night.
