City in the rain

It is difficult to take pictures in the rain:

- That is because I need to keep the camera from the raindrops falling from the sky and an umbrella in one hand makes the photography process much less convenient. For going shooting in the rain, especially at night when long exposures are necessary, I need to be absolutely sure that the resulting picture will be actually worth all the inconveniences.

- That is also because the lens anyway catch some raindrops even when it is hidden under an umbrella or shelter.  Raindrops usually appear on the picture as big blurred spots so I need to wipe the lens all the time and do it carefully so there won’t be many traces.

- That is also because in the rain the colors fade and the views become gray and sad. I need to find such a composition that in spite of all of that will look good.

But “difficult” and “interesting” very often walk in pair. So in the rain of any strength I take out my camera if I see any potential in the surrounding views.

I picked several photos from different times and different places that were shot in the rain and decided to remember how the photography process was going on.

Regensburg, Germany. My one day trip from Frankfurt airport to the Austrian city of Linz. On my way it started to rain so heavily that I couldn’t make the planned stop in Regensburg. I wanted to see the city so much because I have never seen it before so we just drove on it’s streets to give me some impression. I got captivated with the reflection of red stoplights and traffic lights in the raindrops of the windshield and I started to take pictures without going out of the car. At one moment I saw a man crossing the street far away in front of me and I managed to capture his small figure in my picture. So I got this nice rainy shot:

It actually rains often in Germany. Experimenting with different exposures I’ve captured the pouring rain as it is. The raindrops are visible but are not frozen with an exposure too fast and are not turned into fog with an exposure too long. Just the right amount of time to capture both visibility and fluidity. This kind of rains is possible to watch often from the window:

In Hong Kong there are days when it’s raining cats and dogs the whole day without stopping. The wall of rain appears like fog. It’s very interesting to watch the changing skyline of the city being drawn by rain. The skyline sometimes disappears completely and sometimes vaguely shows up on the horizon. I like to capture that intermediate state:

Paris, France. That was the time when I had to wipe the raindrops from my lens all the time. I had no umbrella and the rain was free to spoil my pictures. Gray-gray city, gray sky with the gleam of white clouds somewhere far away. I found the composition interesting and capturing well that condition. I look at this image and I immediately remember that smell of the Paris rain. I immediately feel myself a little cold and wet and I want to quickly warm up in some cozy French cafe.

On the night pictures the rain appears like mist. The view becomes not so sharp and bright as it could be in the good weather. But it’s possible ti make a full-fledged night image so I don’t give up when I see rain.

Salzburg, Austria. I was waiting for the night for so long to take this picture. But when is started to get dark it also started to rain and pretty heavily. My precious camera was mercilessly bitten by streams of water.  There was no shelter. I didn’t want to pack up and leave at the very moment that I was waiting for. So I let my camera to get wet for  several seconds while I was making the exposure. And I actually liked the resulting image:

Lucerne, Switzerland. At first I planned a completely different spot for taking night pictures. But a pouring rain interfered with my plans and I had to hide under the famous landmark of Lucerne – the Chapel Bridge. The bridge is covered so it was a good shelter. The streams of rain appeared on the photo as lines and that is very rare to capture on a night picture.

Interesting photos of Moscow

Moscow is my hometown so I come here often. And of course I also take pictures here. I try to regularly come to the famous places to look for new angles or wait for an interesting light.

This summer while standing right next to the road and hardly holding my tripod from being knocked down by cars from the one side or by pedestrians from the other I managed to capture this dynamic photo:

And a year ago I caught a fantastic rainbow over Kremlin!

Yes, it is difficult to make myself always walk downtown with all my equipment and very often come back without pictures at all but when I finally do capture a unique image all those expenses pay off. Needless to mention that those are only expenses of time and power, a trip on metro there and back can hardly be called a money expense, it is so low compared to a trip to another country.

Here are some more pictures of Moscow

Germany, the country of rainbows.

I have never seen as many rainbows as I have seen in Germany! I think it is the combination of rainy weather, sun showing up from time to time and the pure air that gives that effect. Sometimes I can see 5 rainbows during a week in different days. And I don’t even need to do any effort. Sometimes I just need to look out of the window. Also rainbows like to meet me on a road and then it’s very important to react fast and find a good place to stop. But possibilities to stop on highways are limited so often I have to take pictures right through the windshield.

When it starts to rain my attentiveness and keenness of observation become stronger and I start to watch the potential place where a rainbow can show up. In contrast to the locals I like German rains. Because I know what I can find after they stop.

At first when I saw such a bright event as a rainbow I got so excited that my hands started to shake and I was randomly pushing buttons on my camera to try to capture that wonderful image as soon as possible. But now when I see those colorful stripes at the horizon I try to carefully consider the right composition, find the best angle, move fast in different directions watching the rainbow becoming more bight or less. I pick interesting surroundings from houses or plants to give a professional look to a picture, not just “here is a rainbow”. In general I try to capture the most artistic landscape during the short period of time when a rainbow is visible.

After the wonderful rainbow summer last year I decided to make a collection of rainbows from different countries. Bright and faint, full and partial, urban and natural – any type of rainbow made me delighted and with my ability to turn the observed landscape to an artistic photo were successfully added to my collection.

The end of fall, winter and long journeys to snowy Moscow stopped the inflow of new rainbow images. But with the beginning of spring and returning to Germany colorful shining outside the window  reminded me again of my collection and started to widen it. Of course most of my rainbows are German but I slowly start to add other countries too. But actually I doubt that any other country can catch up with so wonderful rainbow conditions of Germany.

My collection can be viewed here: rainbows of the world

Lightning hunter

What do I need to catch a lightning:

1.  Patience. When 100 of dark pictures without lightning are already shot not to give up but to continue making 101-st picture where at last the lightning will show up.

2.  Steady nerves. When the thunder is so loud that it blocks the ears and the lightning flashes so near that it blinds the eyes not to run away to hide in the corner but to go towards the natural phenomenon putting in front the most precious thing – camera.

3.  Tripod, remote control or shutter release cable. All or each of them can be invaluable assistants but without the first 2 components will unlikely work.

This beauty I caught recently at Victoria Harbor in Hong Kong. The weather in that part of the world is favorable for lightnings and an open space like the harbor is good for hunting for this bright phenomenon.