I think we can all agree that outdoor sessions in the natural light are absolutely stunning and timeless. Beautiful light makes for happy clients and gorgeous images! This doesn’t always come easy, however. As we all know, South Dakota weather is greatly unpredictable, and not always perfect. By choice or not, we are completely at the mercy of Mother Nature. It is no secret that weather can affect the quality of your images, my equipment, and the overall mood of a session. I have to be honest here… I am not one of those hard core photographers that will venture out in tornados or epic snow storms. It’s not my style and I know that about myself, and my clients know that about me as well which is why they are my people. So in general, I am looking for conditions to be fairly moderate in order to shoot your session. Weather can get frustrating for both my clients and myself, but it also is something that we cannot control. Most importantly, if the weather does affect your session and we need to reschedule, it will be well worth the wait!
What weather will cause rescheduling?
- The most common reschedule is RAIN! Rain is most definitely a cause for rescheduling. I take into account the chance and hour by hour, but if it looks like a wash out I will call it early, but if it looks like just potential showers, I will take into account the gloom factor. If it is going to be extremely gloomy (not just overcast) that will affect the beautiful lighting of your images, I may also chose to reschedule.
- Wind is another cause for rescheduling. If there is high winds, we will reschedule. I don’t mind light winds and of course in South Dakota we cannot avoid that, but heavy winds are not ideal. Wind can cause clothing to cling to our not so favorite parts and frustrate us more than it’s worth. Long hair will whip around and be disheveled. Even boys with short hair may have issues as there hair does tend to stick straight up and if I even attempt to edit that they will look like they have no hair!
- Gloomy Dark Clouds, as I mentioned before, would be another reason to reschedule! I dont mind overcast, however dark and gloomy clouds limit the light and actually creates undesirable affects in lighting. For example, Just as heavy sun can cause raccoon looking eyes, so can gloomy clouds. Lack of light is a major reason to reschedule!
- Rain prior to the session may also be a reason we chose to reschedule. This will greatly depend on the session and location. I like having my clients cuddle and snuggle and shooting above my clients, so I often have them get on the ground. Littles ones sometimes fall when running around. A Muddy Messy Ground will not make for ideal photos.
- Heat and Humidity is another valid reason to reschedule. Skin gets blotchy, hair gets frizzy, and people sweat vigorously. It only takes about 5-10 minutes in extreme heat and humidity to lose your makeup and hair style.
- Extremely Cold and Blizzard Conditions– I love a snowy shoot just like the rest of us but, if the temps are below 32 degrees, and it’s a heavy snow, we will need to reschedule. Unfortunatly it is INCREDIBLY hard on my equipment when it is that cold, but thousands of snowflakes in front of your face are not ideal, and not always editable. A light snow is beautiful, a heavy snow, not so much.
Referencing paragraph one, no amount of bad weather is small enough to make me want to venture out to photograph your session, but I have actual reasons!
- My camera costs upward of $3000, and, depending on the lenses I chose to bring that can bump it up a few thousand more, so we are talking a bit of an investment for replacement. Unfortunatly our insurance places a lot of limits on what they will replace when it comes to avoidable weather related damage, including the temperature that the camera is exposed to, so, I am saying this with a smile, and sweetly, but I do not risk weather damage to my tools.
- You have also made an investment in this shoot, and the amount of work that goes into it involving clothing choices, makeup and hair is all included in this investment. All of these things are compromised when it comes to poor weather.
- You might think you will be ok with the results, but my experience of 15 years says you won’t. Dreary backgrounds, muddy feet, wet and frizzy hair, running makeup; those things just dont work for beautiful photos. I have a specific glowy light style, and that just doesn’t work in dark and gloomy weather.
Bad weather is unavoidable, but as I said before, I promise that you will be much happier with rescheduling, and your kids and family will thank you for it!
