You shouldn’t shy away from engaging in “boring photography” — grabbing a camera and shooting images even of mundane, every-day things.
There are two reasons to get out your camera, even if you think the possible subjects for the session aren't all that interesting or exciting:
— What seems boring and mundane today will be more interesting later as a reminder of what was in times past.
— It is possible you will encounter something unexpected and wish you had a brought a camera after all.
These factors become more important as considerations when the weather turns interesting.
For a photographer, what most people consider to be “bad” weather is, in fact, interesting weather.
The Legendary Canon EOS 1Ds Mark III
Our camera for a quick photo session in interesting weather but with potentially "boring" subject matter was the now legendary Canon EOS 1Ds Mark III.
Why legendary?
When released upon the professional photography world, there was nothing else quite like it. It offered an astonishing sensor with 21 megapixels, when its nearest competitor offered 12. Yet it was still offered reasonably fast performance (for the time) and extremely high image quality even at elevated ISO settings.
Modern cameras would laugh at those ISO settings today, but shooting clean images at 1200 or 1600 ISO at the time of the release of the 1Ds Mark III was quite a luxury and only a few cameras could match or exceed it. The camera was so good that it still holds up today, as these low-light landscape images demonstrate.
The camera also offered Canon's best weather sealing, making it a very useful professional tool even in "interesting" weather.
We would put that to the test.
Snow Comes to the Lake Superior Snowbelt
And so it was one early morning in the Wisconsin Northwoods when we needed to take the weekly garbage run into town to dispose of the trash. The second snow of the season had started overnight, and along with falling temperatures well below freezing, the lakes and rivers of the region were starting to accumulate their shell of ice for the season. As we headed out the door to the truck, I grabbed the 1Ds Mark III just in case we’d see something worth capturing during the short trip.
You can guess what happened. Yup, the weather made driving a bit perilous — though not too bad in a properly equipped 4x4 — and also made the forest a place of magical mystery. After dropping off the garbage, we would definitely be stopping for a few quick photos at one of our favorite nearby lakes.
Parking at the boat landing near a small stand of “popple” and balsam fir trees, the first thing that caught my attention was a pair of ruffed grouse no more than 10 feet or so from me as I stepped out of the truck. While I had a clear view of the pair for a second, they disappeared into the brush. I had no chance at all of getting a photo as I hadn’t even gotten the lens cap off of the Canon 35mm f.2.0 lens I had mounted to camera.
Speaking of the camera, the Canon 1Ds Mark III, though something of a relic from the early age of digital cameras, is still one of the my favorites as it continues to deliver outstanding image quality. It's 21 megapixels are still plenty for large prints even today in the era of 45 and 50 megapixel full frame sensors.
With the snow falling heavier than earlier, and with Denise recording video on my trusty but increasingly creaky iPhone 8, I looked for shots at the shoreline of the lake. I didn’t have to look too hard — the Northwoods is beautiful at all times and there is something remarkable to see everywhere you look. The softly falling snow and silence of the lake, with not even a ripple to be seen on its still waters, was remarkable.
After a few shots at the shore, Denise pointed out some bright red berries still hanging on some low bushes at the edge of the woods. While not a macro lens, the 35mm Canon captured the berries well enough, though I would have liked to have had a tripod and our 100mm f/2.8 macro lens at the time.
We only had a few minutes to spend shooting at the lakeshore before it was time to get to work for the day, but the time we did spend was well worth it.
Equipment Used & Affiliate Links
We used the Canon EOS 1Ds Mark III camera with the Canon EF 35mm f/2.0 IS lens.
If you'd like to get your own copies of this camera and lens combo, and support us a bit at the same time, we recommend shopping at MPB.com.
