Harris Beach in the Rain - Brookings, Oregon

Okay, you are standing on some of the most beautiful coastlines in the world with gorgeous rock formations and sea stacks sticking out of the ocean. You have waited a long time for this trip so that you can photograph its beauty. You hope for gorgeous weather with blue skies and just the right amount of cumulous clouds that look like they were painted there. You time it so you are there at the golden hour. For landscape photographers, that is the dream. Reality sometimes bites and the sky has no blue (only white), the golden hour light is non-existent, there is fog in the distance and it is raining. What do you do? Shoot anyway. Try to make something out of nothing. When I encountered this a few years ago, I decided to set up the tripod and shoot some long exposures. I rarely think of black and white photography when I am shooting - it is usually a post-processing decision. When I shot this, I knew it would be processed in B&W. Why? Two reasons. The color was muted in the scene anyway, and I knew a B&W treatment would better bring out the details of the rock formations.