Rain Doesn't Stop Photography

I often hear people complaining about rain ruining a perfect photographic day. Why is that? Rain simply brings a different aspect to photography: water. I personally love water and water features, so I jump at a chance to take rainy day pictures.

I went out to the Johnnie Mercer's Fishing Pier while it was raining one day. In fact, it just started to pour when I got the pier. People started running off the beach, ducking for cover, and running underneath the old concrete pier. I, instead, paid my $1 to walk out on the pier and snapped off the photo above. I used a 135mm lens, focused closely, with an exposure of 1/500. I wish the raindrops could have been falling on something other than wood, but this turned out good anyway.

I got this picture a few minutes later. I figured since it was raining I might as well get something to eat. While sitting outside in the covered patio area on the pier eating, I saw this seagull just hovering in the wind. The wind was blowing to the left in this photo, so the seagull just hovered above the table for a few minutes before finally landing.

The thing I love the most about rainy days at the beach is that it never really last a full day. In North Carolina, a thunder storm can pop up in a matter of minutes, dump an inch of rain in an hour, and then disappear like it never happened. By the time I had finished eating, the rain was gone and this was the photo I got.

The clouds surrounded Wrightsville Beach like a puffy cotton ball halo. Reminded me somewhat of a hurricane. But the point is that I was still able to get some great photos despite the rain.

I used a 135mm lens with the Wide Angle Adapter for this photo. I have done some reading and most people have stated this is a mistake. Never use a Wide Angle Adapter on a lens longer than 50mm is stated in several books. But after taking this picture, I don't see why I shouldn't. The affect I got was a long lens to capture a narrow angle of view, but with the Wide Angle Adapter I got everything from beach to the top of the clouds. With the 50mm lens I also got a lot of junk along the sides such as houses and the edge of the pier.

The last photo I snapped off before I called it a day was a beautiful shot along the edge of the pier. By this time, probably 30-40 minutes after the rain had stopped, the sky was clear, birds were fluttering by, and people had come back out. I was so happy I decided not to just stay indoors because of the rain. I got some great pictures this day, some that I could not have gotten on a clear and sunny day.