The Joy of Rain Walking
After a long stretch of dry, warm weather, this weekend a large storm swept across the Pacific Northwest. It rained, which was good because we needed it desperately. The state of Washington, along with most west coast states, have been experiencing a drought, so rain is good.
But Saturday morning when I woke up to rain I had second thoughts about going out for a walk. One day off wouldn't hurt, but then I reminded myself that sooner or later this fall my walks will be mostly in the rain, so I needed to get back in practice.
I equipped myself for rain and took off for my walk. The first sniff of the clean air and cooler temperatures invigorated me. Because I wasn't sure how hard it might rain, I decided to take my iPhone with me as my camera for the day. For the last few months I have been walking primarily with my Canon 6D and new Lensbaby Velvet 56 mm lens playing and practicing (which I need) using the manual focus.
So it was a treat to just take photos with my iPhone. I started seeing things as if they were on a larger canvas, and it inspired me to take different types of photos. I loved seeing the water puddles with reflections on the walkway.
Also, the colors seemed brighter and richer under the cloudy skies. I edited the photo below in Snapseed on my iPad then transferred it to my computer using Topaz Impressions to create the image that I saw on my walk.
Snapseed has great editing options. I used several filters included in the app to achieve the photo below.
One of the things that I love about walking in the rain is the skies. Stormy skies make for better photos than a sunny blue sky. I wasn't disappointed on my walk.
Clearly it was going to rain.
In addition to capturing the beauty of the skies, walking with my iPhone gives me flexibility. I wasn't weighed down with a large camera worrying about whether or not it would get wet in the rain. I could just put my phone in my pocket in between the stops I made to take photos, then pick up my walking pace. Good photos and a great walk!
I enjoy walking around my neighborhood capturing ordinary things that I think have beauty, and I find that using my iPhone allows me to do this without being too obvious.
Changing up your walk using a different lens or camera, can inspire you and make your walk more enjoyable. Using my phone as my only camera this weekend did just that. I plan on walking more often with just my phone to get more variety in my photos, which will become handy when the fall rainy season finally comes. This weekend was a good trial run for what is ahead, and I know that I will be out there daily rain or shine Camera Walking.
From Carol and Michelle: To see our posts from the last two years, please go to http://blog.camerawalking.com.
