Photographers Blog

Covering a dust storm: Top 10 tips

Last Wednesday Sydney experienced a dust storm, the likes of which have not been seen since before World War II.

Weird weather doesn’t always give much of a warning so to get the pictures you want you have to be prepared. Follow these 10 easy tips and you can’t go wrong.

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1). Have a nose for a good story. Well before sunrise, a haze of martian-like dust wafted into my bedroom and the olfactory assault it delivered got me out of bed well before my year-old-son does. The best shooting light lasted only half an hour. In the pictures business, the early bird does get the worm.

2). Make like a boy scout.  Be prepared. Have your kit always ready to go next to the front door.  Mine has all sorts of goodies for all occasions.  The most precious item on this assignment was the lens cleaning cloth. It must have come out of the bag a dozen times on Wednesday morning. There’s also charged batteries, wallet with spare cash, press ID, eye drops (useful in dust storms), wet weather gear in the trunk and so on.

3). The journey to your destination.  You have this great picture in mind and you jump on the bike, in the car, on the train but keep shooting.  There’s a bunch of pictures you can make that others don’t even notice. My first picture for the day was shot through the windshield while crossing the Sydney Harbour Bridge.