What do you do when you can’t get outside to make new images?

In the northeastern US (and other parts of the country), it’s been extremely cold for the past week or more. Where I live, temperatures have hovered in the single digits and dipped below 0 Fahrenheit. I enjoy photographing in bad weather, but this kind of cold puts real limits on how long I want to be outside.

Photography is my escape from the daily grind.

When I can’t get outdoors with a camera, I start looking for other ways to relax. One thing I’ve found myself doing lately is going back through my catalog to revisit images that didn’t catch my attention when I first imported them.

At the time, there may have been other images that held my interest. Or maybe I couldn’t quite find an edit that felt right. But returning months or even years later often reveals photographs that feel different now, or at least invite a second look.

I am finding that I don’t always have to make new images to enjoy this process.

There’s value in going back to images that didn’t make the cut, spending time with them, thinking about what I might approach differently, and noticing what catches my attention now. It’s a quiet way of staying connected to the work, and it shapes what I’ll look for the next time I’m out with a camera.

When it warms up. Just a little.

Comment below: what do you do when you can’t get outside to make new images?

✅ Where to Find Me

You can find more of my work on the web at: Simmons Photography

If you want to work with me, or inquire about licensing images: Contact Page

More of my work can be seen on Vero and Flickr.

Lightroom keeps track of things I don’t think about while I’m shooting. I don’t usually do this, but I started looking at some statistics from my Lightroom catalog for the images I took in 2025. I think I felt I was changing lenses less than in previous years, but aside from that, I didn’t think I had made any significant changes to my approach to photography.

But I noticed some interesting patterns.

The Record

• ~8,000 images made in 2025.

• A small handful of lenses account for most of the images.

• Two lenses stayed on the camera far longer than the rest.

• Others came out only when there was a specific reason.

• Most of my images were created with Fujifilm X Series gear, with some 35mm film mixed in (vintage Nikon and Minolta).

What I Noticed

First, the totals were down this year. I’m not trying to get a certain number of images; quantity isn’t important. But I found it interesting that I took significantly fewer images than last year. Two things that contributed to this were taking some time off for my knee surgery in the spring and not shooting any school sporting events in the fall.

But what I also noticed was that I’m not taking as many shots of the same landscape scenes, playing with the composition and the exposure to see what works. Less trial-and-error, and more intentional work.

Besides that, the numbers reinforced my feeling that I was using less gear. I have a Fujifilm X-T5 and an X-H2. I’ve been leaving the 16-55 f2.8 zoom on the X-T5 much of the time, and the 50-140 f2.8 has been staying on the X-H2. These two lenses account for just under 70% of my images, with the 16-55 being used for a significant majority of all my shots this year.

I know that these two lenses mostly live on my cameras now. The image quality is great from these two pieces of glass, and they just do what I want most of the time.

The other 30% of my images were split between a couple of prime lenses and Fujifilm’s 100-400mm zoom. When I switch to one of these lenses, there is a specific reason.

Comfort vs Habit

These two main zooms are lenses that I have become extremely comfortable with. Comfort doesn’t automatically mean complacency. Although I will admit that going out with less stuff in my camera bag makes life easier.

These two lenses are at a point where they just disappear for me. I’ve stopped trying to decide if they are right for the scene. I’m not thinking about focal length. I know which one I want as soon as I get to a location.

In my mind, I know what I want, and which one of those two lenses will find it.

I am free to concentrate more on timing, framing a shot, and patience.

What the Awareness Gave Me

These stats aren’t really changing anything for me. But they are verifying some things that I already suspected. When I’m out photographing landscapes, I am spending less time trying to decide what lens to use, and what type of image I want to make, and more time observing, noticing, and composing images.

This gives me confidence. First and foremost, it gives me confidence in where I’m headed photographically. It also gives me confidence to get rid of some of my gear that is not being used.

The numbers gave me some clarity. It confirmed which tools in my bag are essential and which ones are optional.

Carrying It Forward

First off, just to be clear, I’m not using stats to drive what I shoot with going forward. I’m still picking up the camera and lens combo that feels right for the day. That’s how I have always worked.

I’m not going to go out of my way to pick up lenses that I haven’t used much just to justify keeping them.

I did notice that there are two types of shooting that I normally like to do that were missing from my 2025 library.

Macro/close-up photos out in the woods were one. Part of it was just the fact that I had a knee replaced last April, and getting down on the ground to look for and photograph small details in the forest wasn’t possible. That will likely return to my projects this year.

I also didn’t use my wide-angle lens much. And I have questions to think about. Are my tastes changing? Is it a lack of inspiration? I didn’t use my wide-angle zoom much at all, but I don’t think I’m ready to sell that one yet. But we will see this year if it makes a return.

I’m a software developer by day, and photography lends a creative balance to my life. Looking at these stats is an exercise in letting my logical brain check in with my creative brain, which is oddly satisfying. And the numbers gave me a little more insight into how I photograph.

✅ Where to Find Me

You can find more of my work on the web at: Simmons Photography

If you want to work with me, or inquire about licensing images: Contact Page

More of my work can be seen on Vero and Flickr.

Cold weather affects everything: your gear, your fingers, your timing, and even your decision-making. But it also gives you some of the most peaceful, minimal scenes you’ll see all year. I am not crazy about cold temperatures, but I love the images from this time of year. Here are a few tips for getting the most out of winter shooting without freezing your hands (or your camera).

1. Keep your batteries warm

Cold drains batteries fast. Carry extras in an inside pocket so they stay warm and ready. Swap them before they’re entirely dead to avoid sudden shutdowns.

2. Protect lenses from fog

When moving indoors, keep your camera in your bag until it warms up. Sudden temperature shifts = condensation on everything.

3. Use a lens hood in falling snow

It won’t stop everything, but it helps keep stray flakes off the glass and reduces flare when the sun is low and bright.

4. Bring liner gloves

Thin liner gloves under your main gloves let you operate dials and buttons without exposing your skin to the cold. I use thin gloves designed for electronics, either under my heavier gloves or by themselves for short periods, depending on the temperature.

5. Pack hand warmers

One in your coat pocket buys you several extra minutes of shooting before your fingers revolt.

6. Expect slower autofocus

Cold lenses and motors don’t respond as quickly. Give your camera an extra moment to lock on, especially in low contrast scenes like fog or snow.

7. Add +⅓ to +1 stop exposure compensation

Your camera wants to make snow gray. Gently override it to keep winter scenes bright and accurate.

8. Watch the histogram

Snow blows out quickly, especially in midday sun. A quick glance keeps highlights from clipping beyond recovery.

9. Lean on your tripod

Wind plus cold hands equals camera shake. A tripod steadies the frame, letting you work more slowly and intentionally.

10. Dress in layers (and then add one more)

Breathable base, warm mid-layer, windproof/waterproof shell. Cold discomfort = rushed compositions. Consider a heated jacket or vest, but do not rely on it in case the battery runs out.

11. Look for what winter reveals

Snow simplifies everything. Lines, shapes, shadows, and negative space become more pronounced, perfect for moody, quiet images.

12. Warm up your gear the slow way

After shooting, leave your camera in its bag at room temperature. Slow warming prevents condensation inside the body and lenses. I wipe down my gear before putting it in the bag while I am still outdoors. This removes all possible snow and moisture, while the gear is still at or near the outdoor temps. Then I bring the bag indoors, and leave it closed until my gear has had time to warm. Then I wipe it down again when I open the bag.

✅ Where to Find Me

You can find more of my work on the web at: Simmons Photography

If you want to work with me, or inquire about licensing images: Contact Page

More of my work can be seen on Vero and Flickr.

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• Touch Screen Gloves

• Touch Screen Liner Gloves

• Ororo men’s heated vest

The dark interior with the bright sunlight outdoors provides some interesting lighting. And the old lumber has some great character shows up nicely in black and white images.

I need to spend a little more time, and look closer at some of the fixtures and other items that are still here.

For Sunday’s post, I will look closer at using shapes in monochrome compositions.

✅ Where to Find Me

You can find more of my work on the web at: Simmons Photography

If you want to work with me, or inquire about licensing images: Contact Page

More of my work can be seen on Vero and Flickr.

Digital Monochrome

On the digital side of things, I am saving the images in both RAW and JPG formats in the camera. The JPGs give me a straight-out-of-camera file, which matches what I saw on the camera screen while I was shooting. And I’m also keeping RAW files, because that lets me experiment with different Lightroom presets and film simulations to see what they do.

One extra feature of this is that I can go back and look at a color version of these images later, as was suggested by . His tip was that when he shoots with the camera set to black and white, he finds in many cases he has better color images later when he checks the colors in his RAW files. Long term, this is ultimately what I’m trying to do with this project: to get better overall compositions by looking beyond color. However, for this month, I won’t be checking the color versions; I am immersing myself in black and white.

I’ve also saved some custom settings on my digital cameras, so I can quickly revert the camera to the black and white mode I have set up. It gives me the black and white preview on my EVF and my screen, as well as some saved settings for tone, contrast, and grain. For Fujifilm shooters, I am using 2 film recipes that I will link to below. For everyone else, if your camera lets you control some of these settings, I highly recommend experimenting with different looks. You can always change it later when editing the RAW files.

With my digital cameras, I am leaning into the flexibility of changing looks and using film presets in Lightroom to learn more about the different looks and how they impact a composition.

The Analog World

I’ve also been experimenting with analog for the first time in years, so that is going to be a big part of this. Not only will I be shooting the Ilford HP5 I have already been using, but I will also be trying out other film stocks to get different looks.

I’m revisiting an old favorite from years ago in the form of Kodak Tri-X. I also haven’t shot T Max in a while, so I did pick up a roll of that for comparing to the others. And I have some other films that I have not used before, including Ilford Delta 100 and Delta 3200, Kentmere Pan 400, Cinestill BwXX, and Arista EDU DX 400.

I don’t know if I’ll be able to shoot all of these up this month, but that’s OK. I won’t stop shooting monochrome on September 1st. But I will get to as many of these as I can in August because I want to have a better understanding of the creative choices they give me. I am also going to have an eye on how the film compares to their corresponding film presets (and in-camera recipes) for the digital cameras.

Analog Delay

I am not developing my own film, and I don’t have a lab anywhere near me. So there is going to be a delay before I can share the film images that I’m taking today. So a couple things about my posts in August. I’ll be using the digital images in most of my posts due to their timely availability. I will be mixing in some shots that I already have taken to illustrate things I’m learning about analog, at least early this month. And the film images I get later this month will likely be shared in posts later on. I’m going to be writing a lot about film, and monochrome will continue to be a big part of my creative process. But the film I shoot now is on roughly a 1 to 2-week delay by the time I save up a few rolls to send in together, and then get them back from the lab to scan them.

Fujifilm Recipes

This will be of interest to a few of you, but not everyone. My Fujifilm X-series cameras have film recipes available. I have found a Tri-X recipe and one called Reggies HP5, which I have stored in two of the custom settings spots in both of my Fujifilm cameras.

The Tri-X recipe is based on the built-in Acros film simulation with a green filter. It has a grainy and contrasty look that has a very “vintage” black and white vibe. It also brings out one annoying little feature in these cameras. For some reason, changing the Clarity setting to anything other than 0 in the menu causes the camera to take an extremely long time to save an image. This has a cool look, but it’s slow. If you’re interested in it, you can find the settings for this recipe here. If you don’t use Fuji, you may be able to set some of these parameters on other cameras to get a similar look.

The HP5 recipe is a sharp monochrome image with a lot of detail in the shadows and highlights. I’m pretty sure the digital images have a lot more exposure latitude than the actual film, but it’s still a very good look. And I like it better as a default monochrome than just setting the camera to monochrome or Acros. This recipe is based on the Acros + red simulation in the Fuji camera, and the full list of settings can be found here.

Final Thoughts

What I want to take away this month is a much better understanding of my approach to composition and how I can impact it by taking away color. A secondary goal is to compare film to digital in this process. If you are following along, please comment if you have questions, suggestions, or if you think of something that might be interesting to explore further. I hope to learn something this month. If anyone else picks up a thing or two with me, even better! Thanks for reading.

✅ Where to Find Me

You can find more of my work on the web at: Simmons Photography

If you want to work with me, or inquire about licensing images: Contact Page

More of my work can be seen on Vero and Flickr.

I recently had the opportunity to tag along with a friend and her family as they enjoyed their hobby, and it gave me a chance to enjoy mine. They are part of the local ballooning community, and I met up with them at a small local airport as they prepared to launch their hot air balloon. And I was able to photograph the process.

Photographing a balloon on the ground as they set it up is an opportunity for some fun photos. Balloons have lots of color, and they only come out when the light is at its best because they need very good weather to fly. Besides color and light, there is a lot of activity. It all adds up to provide many photo opportunities.

And when the balloons launch, it all comes down to light and color. When airborne, you control the lighting angle by positioning yourself relative to the balloon and the sun. Direct frontal light, side light, and back light or silhouette. It can be a very colorful study on lighting a subject.

Ballooning and photography both offer endless opportunities to learn, explore, and get a little better each time out. They’re reminders that the best hobbies are less about perfection and more about enjoying the chase.

✅ Where to Find Me

You can find more of my work on the web at: Simmons Photography

If you want to work with me, or inquire about licensing images: Contact Page

More of my work can be seen on Vero and Flickr.

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Between recovery from knee surgery and weeks of rain, it had been a while since I’d gotten out to just be in a landscape. and watch the sunset.

It seems like forever since we have had a decent sunset. But mostly it’s just that I have not been getting out much. Over this past weekend, the weather finally looked promising at the end of the day. I had a list of locations locally that I wanted to check out. This one is at a small lake on a back road with a small parking area on the eastern edge of it. It was about a 30-minute drive from home so off we went

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Over the last week or two, we have occasionally had a hazy sky from smoke generated by wildfires hundreds of miles away. That added a haze to these shots, which gave the setting sun more color. However, it also muted the reflections in the sky and clouds. It seemed to make the sunset more colorful when the sun was above the horizon. However, after the sun went below the horizon, the color quickly went away. There was no reflection of color on the clouds.

It wasn’t an ideal evening with the haze, but the color was there, especially while the sun was still above the horizon. Most of all, it was refreshing just to be back out with my camera again.

Images were taken with a Fujifilm X-T5 and XF 16-55 f2.8ii zoom lens, mounted on a 3 Legged Thing tripod.

✅ Where to Find Me

You can find more of my work on the web at: Simmons Photography

If you want to work with me, or inquire about licensing images: Contact Page

More of my work can be seen on Vero and Flickr.

🎒 The Gear Bag - Gear and Inspiration

Some links in this section are affiliate links. If you make a purchase through them, I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. I only share gear and resources I personally use or believe in.

As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.

• 3 Legged Thing Tripod

Aside from fog or other weather conditions that can help, I have found a few ways that work for me. In this Field Journal, I will talk about one of them.

Look Down

The following set of images are from a short hike on a trail at a local campground we were staying at on a mid-September camping trip. You can do this on an afternoon outing almost anywhere. I used a Fujifilm X-T5 with an XF 30mm macro lens. I secured it on a Platypod Extreme. I’ll talk about the benefits of using that more at the end. Most images had some lighting and contrast adjustments in post-processing using Lightroom.

Tripods and the Platypod

Many landscape photographers are using tripods less and less due to the image stabilization abilities in today’s cameras. I really like being able to shoot on the fly in many cases. However, in woodland photography, there are some advantages. In these images, I used the Platypod to get the camera low to the ground and to be able to fine-tune the composition. I’ve got terrible knees, and my days of kneeling to get these low shots have long gone. A flip screen and a tripod are the best way for me to compensate for this.

You can leave the camera in one place and wait once you have your composition. In the woods, the light changes quickly on the right kind of day. Between the leaves, the sun changing position in the sky, and clouds moving overhead, something that is completely shaded now can have a spotlight on it within a very short time. I set up a composition, wait for that highlight to shift slightly, and then take the shot.

Besides the Platypod, a small travel tripod can also work. Either a tripod that allows for a very low point of view, or any tripod that lets you flip the center column upside down. I use a Vanguard VEO travel tripod for these outings as well. This tripod has a multi-angle center column and allows you to get the camera very low to the ground.

A small LED fill light is also valuable for smaller subjects in the woods. They can take up a very small amount of space in your camera bag and are rather inexpensive (see a link below). I did not use one in these shots, but I often take one along for some additional lighting options.

The Forest Floor

Leaves, acorns, pine cones, and small plants can provide almost unlimited photography interest in the forest. So, one option for simplifying and isolating subjects in the woods with your camera is to look down.

✅ Where to Find Me

You can find more of my work on the web at: Simmons Photography

If you want to work with me, or inquire about licensing images: Contact Page

More of my work can be seen on Vero and Flickr.

🎒 The Gear Bag - Gear and Inspiration

Some links in this section are affiliate links. If you make a purchase through them, I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. I only share gear and resources I personally use or believe in.

As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.

• VIJIM VL120 Portable LED Light

• ULANZI RGB Full Color Mini Light Stick

• Vanguard VEO 3T Travel Tripod

• I don’t have any affiliate association with Platypod, but here is a link to the Platypod eXtreme and the Delta. I have one of each. The Delta is a little lighter, but the eXtreme offers more stability.

It had been raining most of the day, but as sunset approached, the weather app showed a break in the clouds to the west—and it was getting closer.

We set up near the marina, where we had a good view of the river and the setting sun. We had scouted the spot earlier, hoping we’d get at least one clear evening. And we waited. The sky was clearing—but too slowly. The sun was setting, and the clouds weren’t going to part in time. Not the way I had hoped. But…

These clouds were just as good.

They matched the quiet energy of the empty marina in late season. The tourists were gone. The warm summer days were behind us. The sky mirrored that feeling. In fact, a bright, glowing sunset might’ve felt out of place. This moody sky felt right.

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As the sun dipped below the horizon and blue hour set in, a cargo ship passed along the river. Commerce continues, even when the light fades.

I didn’t get the fiery colors I had hoped for, but there was texture—so much texture—in the sky. So I focused on capturing mood. I leaned into black and white. The first shot, of the marina, was taken with the Fujifilm X-H2 and XF 10–24mm: 1/4 sec, f/8, ISO 640.

This photo was shot with the Fujifilm X-T5 and XF 55–200mm: 1/50 sec, f/8, ISO 3200. There was a bit of noise in the RAW file, but Lightroom cleaned it up easily.

Over time, I’ve stopped chasing only orange and red skies. I used to leave the camera in the bag on cloudy evenings, but I’ve learned that the end of the day can offer something different—and just as interesting. Without the color, other elements stand out: the shape and texture of clouds, side light, subtle highlights on the water. Mood, texture, quiet transitions. Embrace the cloudy days. Sometimes they’re the most photogenic of all.

Filed under: Visual Field Journal – Waddington, NY | October

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This conservation area is a spot where I can go and shoot without a plan. The woods and wetlands are always changing and it seems like I can always find something interesting. It’s good to have a place or places nearby where you can practice looking for images, and take some photographic sketches. It’s good to have a place when you need to get out in the woods.

This day I had light rain as I walked around the trail, resulting in soft diffused light. You can see the rain hitting the water in some shots. I took the Fujifilm X-H2 with the 50-140mm lens, a weather-sealed combo that’s good with less-than-ideal lighting.

Do you have a place nearby where you can go with your camera when you feel the need to get outdoors?