I've been inspired in recent times to take photos in overcast conditions. Often I would shoot on overcast days when making photographs of details of buildings and forest and/or flower photos to avoid high contrast situations where I have to contend with overblown highlights and deep shadows. I’ve been drawn to the less is more approach with my photography, breaking down a scene to its essential geometric lines and shapes, photographing subjects on an overcast day is another tool I use to accomplish this minimalist aesthetic. Sometimes I'll convert my photos to monochrome in post processing, whilst other times I will retain colours where the subject warrants this processing as I’ve found it can further draw attention to the subject with no detail in the sky. I no longer view overcast days as non photography days and these conditions provide yet another option for my subjects.
Photographing on an overcast day and keeping the file as a colour image further highlights the warm tones of the bricks and glass decoration and avoiding shadow detail in the entry area allowing us to see the beautiful timber door details. Ukrainian Catholic Eparchy of Saints Peter and Paul of Melbourne (1958), North Melbourne
I love how photographing on overcast days further enhances the geometric shapes, lines and textures of a building as is the case in this suburban parking garage.
I’ve been enjoying the process of building up my book collection over the years. In regards to Artists who use overcast conditions in their photographs, I’ve been captivated by the works of German photographers, Bernd and Hilla Becher and Thomas Struth. The built environment in which these photographers have captured inspires me - often their compositions are of massive built structures. Struth’s photographs exploring street scenes and the built environment of cities around the world. His book Unconscious Places captivated me with his street scenes and buildings devoid of human life. This book is an excellent addition and inspiration in my book collection. It covers his works from 1970-2010. The photographs are in beautifully executed monochromatic scenes, devoid of human life and scenes of the everyday, that would be overlooked by the casual passer-by. There is such beauty in the formality of his photographs and the banal becomes a subject of beauty and fascination. The empty streets devoid of people are eerie, the scenes familiar but in this context of emptiness and overcast skies it all comes together to create a sense of intrigue, mystery and impact.
This time capsule into the mid 20th Century I photographed in overcast conditions so I could retain detail in the windows, the beautiful period typeface. With no sky/cloud competing with the antenna it becomes a bold part of the overall photograph I wished to capture.
In the case of the Becher’s works, overcast conditions are the only time they would make their photographs. I remember when I picked up their book Basic Forms their typography of industrial buildings inspired me and the lack of detail in the skies intrigued me. Their methodical consistency of industrial buildings resonated and inspired me, especially in my project documenting Tasmanian Art Deco and Modernism over the past twenty years. The pursuit as a visual record of a past fading from lived memory. How the Becher’s create a typology by having their industrial buildings laid out on the page one after the other is brilliant and what would otherwise be a single photograph with no context works so well as a visual series. Their dedication to their pursuit of documentation inspires me in my own work and seeing their works presented in this way reminds me of a past that at the time was so everyday and now it's largely a forgotten past. The photograph is a constant, even when the physicality of the buildings photographed are long gone.
I’ve recently picked up a copy of the latest publication on the Berchers, titled “Bernd & Hilla Becher” published in August 2022 by Yale University Press. The book is the first monograph and retrospective of their works, and I'm really looking forward to spending some quality time with this book.
Photographing tall buildings in cities is often fraught with deep shadow and blown out highlights due to shadowing caused by surrounding skyscrapers. Photographing in overcast conditions eliminates this. The former Melbourne Safe Deposit Building - designed in 1890 by Architect William Pitt