Perfect Conditions

Ask most nature photographers what their perfect conditions are for photography, and they’ll talk about light and weather. Golden hour is the most popular time for creating images; when the light is warm, shadows are long, and contrast between light and dark areas creates more texture and dimension. And when it comes to weather, it’s always great to have some drama in the sky, but ideally, it’s not raining heavily. 

This weekend, I found some perfect conditions of a different variety. Firstly, it was a holiday Monday—Presidents’ Day, to be precise—and one that not every workplace accommodates. That benefited me because I could be outdoors, but I wasn’t competing with full-on weekend crowds. Secondly, it was raining. Torrentially raining. Again, that meant almost everyone stayed home, and I found myself in a near-deserted Point Reyes National Seashore. And even better, a few scattered breaks in the rain made photography possible. So, definitely not perfect light and weather conditions, but for someone starved of photo opportunities and quiet time of late, I couldn’t have asked for more. There was more, though.

I was driving along a country road late in the afternoon, looking for bobcats (Lynx rufus). There was a particular spot where I’d seen a bobcat once before, but years had passed, and I’d never seen one there again. Still, I couldn’t resist checking it out every time I drove by. On this occasion, there it was: a bobcat hunting amongst the scrub, exactly where I looked for it. I pulled over and slowly moved closer, hoping to get close enough to photograph it without scaring it away. When I got into place, it saw me and continued to hunt with indifference. I sat on the wet grass and happily created a few images until the bobcat chose to move on. Perfect conditions, indeed.