One of the most important attributes photographers, especially nature and outdoor photographers, can have is the ability to improvise, adapt, and overcome – to come up with a different course of action when the unexpected happens. It is a simple fact that our best-laid plans can and will go awry at some point. Sometimes, it’s caused by the vagaries of nature: the skies are clear when we want them to be cloudy, it rains when we want it to be dry, the wind blows when we want it to be still. Other times, it’s because of our own lack of preparedness: we forget to set our alarm clock or we forget to pack a vital lens. It could be any one of a thousand things that can cause a plan to not go as expected.
I photographed this barn several years ago, and it is an example of how being able to adapt to changing conditions can lead to a nice picture. The barn is located near the Buffalo River and is about a two hour drive from my house. My idea was to photograph it as a silhouette against the bright, bold colors of the sky just before the sun came up. I had set my alarm for 4:30 in the morning so I would have plenty of time to arrive at the location, find a place to get set up, and then wait for daybreak.
When the day arrived, the alarm woke me up at exactly 4:30, and I was out the door by 4:45. When I arrived at the scene just before 7:00, the sky was just beginning to brighten. This gave me plenty of time to find a place to pull off the highway and get my gear in position. Everything was moving along without a hitch until. . .
I discovered I had completely misjudged where the sunrise would occur. I had expected it to rise behind the barn, but it actually rose in the opposite direction than I had anticipated. Realizing I would not get the image I had planned, I knew I had two options. I could pack up and head back home and try again another time, or I could adapt to the situation.
I decided to adapt. Instead of an image of a barn silhouetted against a bright, colorful sky, I photographed the warm, golden tones of morning light on the distant trees against the rich blue sky all of which contrasted with the deep foreground shade in which the barn was standing.
While I wasn’t able to get the image I had originally planned, I was able to improvise and adapt to the circumstances and overcome the challenge I faced. The end result is a nice photograph that, to me, captures that quiet, tranquil moment when the new day has arrived, but no else has awakened.