Foggy mornings

Grande Prairie, Alberta 08/02/10 Photo Randy Vanderveen A crane flies trusses to the roof of the PointsWest Living project under construction on the city's west side north of Grande Prairie Mitsubishi Monday morning, Feb. as fog surrounds the site. The project is just one of the larger construction projects underway in the Swan City.

Photography sometimes involves taking the old Nike slogan to heart "Just Do It".

Often times it seems like it would be easier to not go out when it is foggy, snowing, raining, cold, cloudy, too hot, or fill-in-the-blank. It would be easier to just postpone going out and getting photos.

However, just the act of getting out there and photographing when you don't feel like it means you are improving your craft.

It means you may be thinking outside the box and actually making photos instead of just taking them. Conditions like fog force you to try and be creative in the use of white balance, under and over-exposure etc.

Why not head outdoors on a self-assignment to see what sort of photos you can create on a day when you really don't feel like it.

Imagine if the crew working on the building in the photo above had the same attitude that we often have when it comes to doing things.

How long do you think a project like this would take if the entire crew only worked when it was warm and sunny?

The contractor would soon go out of business.

But by getting out there and working regardless of the conditions  — with the exception of when the weather becomes a safety hazard itself — the project progresses on time and with a much better chance of being on budget.

Sometimes these same lessons can apply to our daily lives too.

If we don't do something because we have a sniffle or not prepared to try something new because it is different, we are short changing ourselves.

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I don't know about you but I really like checking out the work of other photographers. There are some who are well known like Joe McNally, Sports Illustrated's Robert Beck or National Geographic Traveler's Bob Krist; however, there are also some incredible photographers that many people are unaware of.

Cameron Davidson has aerial photographs that are amazing and Matt Mendelsohn, who I have mentioned before,  has to be one of my favourite portrait and wedding photographers.

I enjoy checking out updates to these photographers' respective web sites and blogs and the variety can be quite diverse, but I find it quite inspiring.

Do you have a photographer whose work you admire? Is there a blog you follow regularly? 

Often by checking out the work of others at the top of their craft, we can better own skills by becoming inspired to work harder at our photography.

If you have interests that don't include photography like writing, music, carving etc., the same thing applies. The internet is a wonderful resource in that aspect as you can become exposed to the work of others with your same interests and talents that you never would otherwise. You can be inspired by others around the world.