Photographing Bern - on a grey rainy day

So it happened to be Bern, but it could have been any city in any country around the world. What to do when you arrive at a location and the weather conditions are not all that great for photographing? 

You have 3 options: 1) go back to the hotel and mop about it for the rest of the day, 2) photograph what you had planned despite the weather and get mediocre images (and maybe a cold too), or 3) find a subject that is suitable for the weather! 


In my case I have picked option number 3. Of course, I walked around in the rain for a bit, but I settled for spending most of my time on the Bern Botanical Garden. In association with the Bern University, these gardens are home for many exotic species. It consist of gardens, show houses, and green houses within an area of 2 hectares. The highlights for me are the orchid nursery and the palm tree show house. 


I have selected a couple of the most beautiful species to concentrate in the not so warm green houses and show houses, therefore no orchids or palm trees unfortunately! It is important to remember that drastic change in temperatures will make your lenses fog up and it can take a while until you can go back to photographing. To avoid the waiting period, I have picked the green houses with similar temperature than the outside weather.

Image 1 - Paeonia rhodia

Image 2 - Arum creticum

Image 3 - Chamaerops humilis

Image 4 - Cyclamen repandum

Tip: When I am on an environment that provides the scientific name of the species, I always make sure to take a picture of the name plate in between the series of images. When I get home, I can match the image with the specie and then with the name in whatever language I need.


I don't have a macro lenses, but I cheat a little to get closer: I use my teleconverter 2x, which  doubles the zoom of my lenses allowing me to maintaining the same distance for focusing purpose and crop tighter into details and patterns. The one watch out is the very shallow depth of field, which forces photographers to double think on the composition and the arrangement of elements. 

Image 5 - Arum creticum detail

Image 6 - Paconia rhodia tight crop

Image 7 - Arum creticum tight crop

Image 8 - Chamaerops humilis pattern

Image 9 - Arum creticum detail

Image 10 - Paconia rhodia shallow depth of field

Image 11 - Arum creticum tight crop

Once the rain had stopped and it was only the grey sky ruining my landscape pictures, I have moved outside and photographed some of the flowers still with the water drops. On the same corner, I saw some snails. Since this is the only form of wild life that my lenses are fast enough to capture, I snapped a couple of shots of them as well. Land snails will always come out during wet weather, be prepared to take advantage of it.   

Image 12 - Pulsatilla vulagris

Image 13 - Pulsatilla vulgaris bud with rain drops

Image 14 - Helix pomatia - edible type aka escargot 

Image 15 - Cepaea hortensis

The Bern Botanical Garden also has a very curious platform that takes you high above the trees line. If you are a patient photographer (I am not!) you can capture many birds that live on the trees.  

Image 16 - Stairs to take you up above the tree line

The sky had cleared out a little and it was time to leave the woods and move back to the civilization. I was ready for my next adventure, the city of Bern will have to be visited again!