A few months ago, I was talking with a friend. We both felt that our photography was missing something, and most images had the same feeling: BORING!
Part of the problem, we thought, is that we always venture out when the weather is looking good, often shooting during the golden hour. In the past, this wasn’t the case. Although we might end up photographing in bad weather, which is unpleasant, the light would often be more exciting and dramatic. Also, as it’s usually raining here, we might get out to do more photography.
Here are a couple of shots when I tested this idea by climbing up a mountain in the Lake District during a storm.
At this point in the day, it had been raining horizontally for several hours when there was finally a break in the cloud. Although I struggled to stand up, I captured this shot handheld.
I was using my Fuji XT5 with a Fuji 10-24 lens at 14mm. The exposure was 1/170 seconds at f/7.1 and ISO400. I also used a 4-stop soft ND grad filter on the sky.
This shot was taken about an hour later when there was another break in the sky and a shaft of light appeared on the mountains.
This was also taken with the Fuji XT5, but it used a Fuji 16-80 lens at 30mm. The exposure was 1/90 second at ISO400 and f/10, and I was still using the 4-stop ND Grad.
Now for the final shot, about an hour later, as I descended the mountain. It was quite a pleasant change to be in the light rather than watching it from a distance. It had also finally stopped raining.
This is another XT5 shot using the 16-80 lens at 16mm. The exposure is 1/200 second at f/8 and ISO400, with a 4-stop ND Grad filter on the sky (I was past being bothered to change filters).
Analysing these shots, I love the quality of the light but remember how difficult the conditions were to shoot in. I enjoyed it, but getting a decent shot was almost impossible. I will need to give these another couple of months before processing them again. Perhaps I will have better ideas if I let more time pass.
I hope you like the idea, if not the shots, and I hope you have a great weekend.
The Lightweight Photographer 
Personally, I’d set up camp and stay put, regardless of the weather, what a view ! As photographers we often seek out the best shot, chasing optimal lighting conditions, and we certainly become accustomed to what we see almost every day. However, it’s essential to remember that our audience simply sees the splendor of nature itself, many almost never see real nature – and as a result here, stunning shots.
Sometimes it can be very difficult when the rain is lashing down on top of a mountain with little shelter and the wind is so strong you can’t stand up. Perhaps I should take a spade to dig myself a hole to wait in. We photographers must be mad.
Dear Robin, I think that these are beautiful pictures, and entirely agree that bad weather may yield beautiful pictures. As I live in Italy, our storms are often less severe than yours, while the sky may be equally dramatic; thus for me shooting in bad weather is less painful. A point I noticed is your preference for wide angle and extreme wide angle lenses. This causes the elements far from you to have very little impact in the composition, and might be one of the reasons why you feel that your images are less varied than they could be.
I do lover the wide angle but I don’t think it’s the problem as I also shoot with various lenses and focal lengths. I’m quite convinced that I miss the best light be because I can’t be bothered to head out in bad conditions.
I love photographing in the storms but it creates problems protecting the gear, myself, and avoiding falls in slippery surfaces. I like your photos from the day, but the last one has a strange composition that doesn’t help. Keep on the good work, luck is part of the game.
The last one was a bit of a compromise. I needed to turn further left but didn’t want to cut the tree off. Equally, if I turned a small way to the left the flare from the sun was terrible, showing up the dirt on the lens and filters. I also didn’t have time to change lens and couldn’t move back either. I agree that this does show in the composition but I like the light.