Sometimes clouds are just drifting by, and other times they seem a little more threatening...

These didn't bring any rain, but they hung around clogging up the sky for the entire day. And it's lucky they didn't bring rain, because I was walking around on my photowalk without any umbrella. I don't mind getting wet, but I don't trust the weather-sealing on my camera. Or I don't want to have to test it, at any rate.

This road brings back memories. We lived along this road when my first son was born. On nights where he wouldn't go to sleep, I'd strap him to my back and walk up and down along here until he fell asleep.

Anyway.

Clouds are always good subjects in photos. I know many photographers who won't bother taking landscape photos if the sky is clear. I know others who will take the photos but who will then photoshop in clouds in post-production to add interest.

I haven't actively used Flickr in years, but back in the day when HDR was a popular photo technique there were several groups that only featured clouds. It's an easy subject to photo and can look pretty impressive, so one can understand the popularity.

Personally I prefer just a few clouds in the sky. You get too many and there is just too much to look at. A few drifting by gives enough interest without being overwhelming. Some of Ansel Adam's iconic shots show this perfectly.

But I'm not him (nor was I lugging around a large-format camera) and this day wasn't one of them, so we take what we can get, eh?

Here are the same two shots in monochrome. Using a pseudo-red filter in software to increase the contrast a bit.

Speaking of monochrome photography, a buddy in Tokyo has one of the latest Leica monochrome cameras, the Q2.

Man, the photos it produces are just gorgeous! Capturing a monochrome image directly instead of converting from color just gives you a nicer image. I don't think I've ever seen monochrome images from a digital camera that look so nice. At $6k it's a bit beyond my budget, but if Hive ever moons I know what I'm buying!

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David LaSpina is an American photographer and translator lost in Japan, trying to capture the beauty of this country one photo at a time and searching for the perfect haiku.

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