The majority of my clients happen to be from out of state--visitors to the Emerald Coast choosing to relax on our white, sandy beach and swim in our emerald green waters. However, summer is met with sporadic thundershowers, making me constantly track the weather. We have such a high humidity index during the summer, that many times it rains because it is so hot. Usually we could count on an afternoon shower after the extreme heat, which would result in a more pleasant sunset.
That is until this year! My husband--who is a native to the area---says he doesn't remember a summer as rainy as we have had this year. The days have often been "a wash" as far as photo shoots are concerned! It is difficult to reschedule a session when families are only here for a limited time, and I am booked solid. It's like there is no where else to put them in a day...and I don't want to do mid-day shoots if it stops raining, because it is too hot and bright. So we are left to shoot early morning, before 7, or in-between rain showers. If it is cloudy after a rain, we can do the session then, during the day, in case it looks like rain for sure towards sunset.
Many times it rains on the main road--highway 98--and not on county road 30a, where I usually do my sessions (because it is more secluded). And then sometimes, it rains on one end of 30a, and not the other. Recently I had a daytime session scheduled and when I met the family, it was raining at the location. I took a gamble and told them to follow me down 30a. Within a few miles we had outrun the rain, and we had dry skies for their session! Someone else might have just given up.
Just yesterday I had a session with a family I had photographed two years ago. It was a rather large group, with two little ones (and babies can be a challenge, but I love it!) They had not known if the photo shoot would be able to come about, since some of them had to rerun home earlier in the week due to a death in the family. They were able to return midweek. The rain chance was great the day before, and then it lessened to almost nothing on their day. But later in the afternoon I saw cloud rolling in, so I called them to see if they could meet sooner.
We met an hour later, with clouds in the sky.
As they got out of their cars, the sprinkling began. I looked overhead and saw one slightly dark cloud, and I could tell that was soon to pass, and it did! We were able to successfully continue the session, and the family was happy. And that, makes me happy!!
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My point to this post is that it is always a challenge being mainly an environmental photographer (I do have a residential studio, which I mainly use for infant sessions), especially when my clients are only here for a limited amount of time, and my schedule is packed, with not much room for rescheduling.
However, I will always go the extra mile to attempt to accommodate my families! With that said, wish me luck for tomorrow as I have two sessions scheduled!
