There was a stretch of nearly two weeks in June where it rained EVERY. SINGLE. DAY. in Chicago. I’m not talking a brief afternoon shower, but a steady rain that lasted most the day. Enough rain that I didn’t have to walk the 4 four blocks to Lake Michigan to swim in a lake. I could simply step outside of my condo building and take a dip in the lake that had formed at the end of my street. After a silently cursing Mother Nature, I decided to flip the script and learn to shoot the rain.
Things didn’t quite go as expected. To begin with, I didn’t have any rain gear (other than a janky umbrella) – for me or my camera. I wrapped my camera in plastic grocery store bags and taped them up with painters tape (classy, right?).
99.99% of the photographs I took during those two weeks turned out blurry. Out of the 100+ photos I took, the one below is the only one that didn’t make me want to hurl my camera into the lake at the end of my street. Turns out it’s really hard to get the camera to focus on water droplets. It was also dark and dreary so I really needed a tripod so I could shoot with a slower shutter speed, but of course Murphy’s law dictated that my tripod would break.
So I present to you……. (drumroll please)….
Rainwater on Leaf, Chicago 2021
The only photograph to make it out of my camera during Chicago’s brief monsoon season.
I have since bought little raincoats for my camera, a poncho for me and brand new tripod. I’m looking forward to some more rainy days.
Love this picture. The lighting is perfect and it offers a sense of calm and peace and freshness.