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.