We had a job scheduled for Monday and I was just about to call the client to see if we could juggle the days so I can get down to San Antonio on Monday to follow through on that pesky real estate closing. Just before I reached for my phone I got an e-mail from the same client. She nervously asked me if we could schedule her job later in the week. I was quick to agree and then I asked her, "what happened?"
She admitted that she just couldn't take the heat. Even though we'd have access to shade and places where we could take air conditioner breaks she shared that even today's "mild" 105 degree temperatures were more than she felt she could deal with and the forecasts are for temperatures on Monday to be up over 107 degrees. I had to agree with my client; I had a meeting at UT Austin today and had to walk about a half mile across campus from the only parking I could find. The heat hit me like a physical wall. My long pants and dress shoes didn't help much.
Addendum; forecast for Monday revised to a high of 109 degrees farenheit. A new record for that day in Austin, Texas.
I walked through downtown yesterday and even though it was only 102 I had to tie a cotton handkerchief to my camera strap to keep the sweat from rolling down my arm and soaking my camera.
There are some days which experience and common sense tell us are better spent laying on the couch under a couple of ceiling fans, reading a good book, and praying to the air conditioning goods to keep your systems running.
Also, for all of you who must shoot in this heat, be aware that high temperatures can cause an increase in file noise in digital cameras. My old Kodaks were infamously noisy when the temperatures rose over 102 (f). You could see the noise as color artifacts randomly distributed over the frames --- even at ISO 80. A white "flag" over the top of your camera works wonders for keeping the black metal surfaces from heating up and transferring the thermal load toward the innards.
Don't forget your wide brimmed hat and your big water bottle. If you're shooting around here you're going to need em. Careful y'all.
I like my client. She probably saved me from my own worst instincts; the ones that tell me to always be working....
9 comments:
Too bad you don't shoot film anymore. Sounds like the perfect temperature to develop colour film outside.
Just need a tank and a black bag.
I live in the Dallas area so the temperatures are about the same as Austin. I've been craving a mid-day walkabout (for extreme contrasts) for photos but the forecast for Saturday is 108F. UV forecast is severe. Uhm, nevermind!
Temperatures around 7 am aren't that bad at 85F. That is good photo walk temp this time of year.
And I thought the last weeks in a 33°C heatwave were bad.
The good thing about riding a bike in this weather: as long as I roll along, there is fresh air cooling me down. Having to stop is were the problems are starting.
Accept that the higher heat is the new normal. 8-(
Cheers
Jack
When my wife and I landed in Phoenix in early May it was 106 degrees. Fortunately, we were headed for Sedona and higher elevations. When we lived in Healdsburg, CA...Sonoma County wine country...we were blessed with the daily arrival of cool air off the Pacific at between 4 and 5 p.m.. Like clockwork. Free air conditioning evey day. The temperature swing in summer was nearly 40 degrees. Then one day it didn’t arrive. For a week the marine layer stayed offshore. The temperature quickly rose to 105. After a couple of days it no longer cooled off at night; the pavement just radiated heat. In your part of the world this may not seem like a big deal, but we felt like a couple of rotisserie chickens.
I was at a Phillies game 2 weeks ago and my FZ1000 shut down due to the heat.
Hi Kirk:
Two questions, slightly off-topic, about self-portraits like the one in this post:
1) I notice many photographers, including portraitists like yourself, don't correct the mirror image in a self-portrait, to show what you would look like to the viewer. I guess this reflects the fact that the final image is in fact a photo of a reflection?
2} When we view a mirror image, why is it only reversed left-to-right, and not also top-to-bottom (like we see in the ground glass of view camera)?
I'll take an answer to even one of the above.
Thanks for your many years of sharing all manner of wisdom from life.
John Merlin Williams
From things you have said over the years I take it you were in Austin during the summer of 1980. I was a UT student living in an apartment (without aircon) on W. Oltorf St. between Congress Ave. and I-35. I was going full-time at UT during the summer and working part-time. I generally rode the bus to UT that summer, but had lots of walking around on campus during the hottest time of the day. Boy, that was a hot summer with a very long string of 100+ days. It was record setting, but I don't know how it compares to this year. I found an article about it here though:
https://www.nbcdfw.com/weather/stories/Heat-Streak-Scorches-On-126138273--.html
By the way, that summer of 1980 was also the summer of "Who shot JR?" :-) Just a bit of trivia from 38 years ago....
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