Of course,w hen the autumn weather turns nice in the Lakes District, as it did the next day, the results are spectacular.
Archives for October 2012
Taking Rainy-day pictures
The autumn leaves were gorgeous as the weekend approached, warm and glowing across the city. Imagine what they would look like in the rolling hills and reflective waters of the Lakes District? A bit of planning and the visit was set.
To coincide with a day of torrential downpour.
It’s easy to take great pictures on sunny days, early and late sunlight, contrasting blue skies and orange leaves. Mist and rain change light: they dim the intensity, soften the contrasts, eliminate shadows, and absorbing long-wavelength reds. 
This creates a lot of variations of grey, not well captured by the camera, and dull dark colors even in autumn photos.
As well as water on the lens.
What to do (in addition to keeping the camera dry)? A soggy day offered an opportunity to take the challenge.
First, the water itself can be an interesting subject, close in puddles, embedded in landscapes, or misting the hills.
Second, the deeper shadows create scenes with planes of light and dark tunnels. Light balance is hard, though, and I have to be careful not to aim into sunlight unless I want stark black/white pictures (making tree trunks into clawed feet).
Third, wet objects do have more color than dry ones. The trick is finding scenes with partial natural illumination. Using a flash on landscapes is not effective, and post-processing is artificial.
Finally, mist adds areal perspective, depth and distance, and textures skies as they curl over mountaintops.
There are photography sites (and here) with further suggestions, but what’s been your experience and tips?
Weekend recommendations
A few sites worth mining on a cold, wet fall weekend.
The Browser: Billed as “Writing worth reading”, this site offers links to articles, ebooks, and interviews organized into wide-ranging topics. I’ve found lots to enjoy, from Freeman Dyson’s discussion of how philosophers lost touch with modern audiences to Dieter Bohn’s explanation of how Google is designing predictive search and Wells Tower on being a barista at a Dutch coffee shop (with a C): It’s like working at a Starbucks where the customers are cranky zombies, and a latte costs fifty bucks. The fun is in finding short articles that you’d have never come across otherwise while waiting on line to see Skyfall.
HSBC Expat Survey: The 2012 results are in, the Netherlands is number 26, and there’s lots of interesting statistics and perspectives in the improved Explorer. Transport and healthcare fared well; making friends and setting up utilities were predictably difficult. I miss the old .pdf format, but I like browsing through the comments and comparing countries.
The Sinica Podcast: Kaiser Kou broadcasts a weekly podcast from the PopUp studies in Beijing, featuring expats and journalists discussing news and perspectives on China. I first heard of Kaiser though a This American Life episode, and I’ve listened to about a dozen back shows. Discussion ranges across issues that are broadly interesting to expatriates: How do you decode local media, How do foreign countries interpret US new broadcasts, How are expat blogging communities evolving? It’s been interesting to translate the commentary over to my own experiences in the Netherlands.
Quizlet: With my language exam fast approaching, it’s been key to turn my vocabulary sheets into some sort of drill that I can work on. Quizlet is a free site that has lots of Dutch language flashcard sets and a reasonable interface for flipping through them: I’ve been able to move some of my sets in as well. The quality and depth of the decks varies, but it’s a broad resource to tap into.