I checked the weather forecast the other day and it claimed there was a single day of upcoming rain. I didn't forget that. I kept checking, I kept looking on various websites given how poor each forecast can be here. One will say the worst storm of your life and the following day will be a regular sunny day. One will say winds and rain, the other will say scorching sun. It's incredibly unreliable. But I woke up and noticed the weather was teasing a bit of rain: grey clouds hanging low above the city. That colder temperature in the air which just screamed of upcoming rain. The atmosphere was definitely there. And so I waited. I had my coffee and did a few things in anticipation, waiting to see if that rain would finally arrive.
Just as the daylight was coming to an end, I made the decision to hop on the bus and go into the very city centre, expecting the nicest views there with all of the shops and higher density of people, just knowing I'd have more options to shoot throughout the streets. The sun did set, and not long after the first downpour of rain hit. A strong, heavy rain that instantly soaked everything. The streets quickly emptied. Even the busiest street of Northern Avenue felt like a ghost town suddenly. The few people that remained were underneath the buildings and had entered the cafes around to seek shelter. Some stood in the underground pathway which leads to another shopping centre which is relatively boring beneath Northern Avenue. Despite the horrific intensity of the sun over summer, and having had no rain in months, this first rainfall in a while was not particularly welcomed well by the locals.
Some smart groups had their umbrellas at the ready. I wasn't one of them. I walked and got drenched. But I didn't mind it. I loved it. Where others took shelter, I continued to walk in the rain, getting all cold and wet. But that was fine as long as I had something to capture. As long as the gear was fine. And so I pressed on throughout the streets. Searching for little details in the artificial light. Looking for compositions that worked with it. Though as I said: many people had just disappeared from the streets entirely. They felt more empty than ever before. At it was only 6PM on a weekday. Usually this sort of time sees incredibly high street traffic. People all over. Coming from work or meeting their friends. Though I do suspect most went home, or into the various establishments to wait things out. I was tempted to follow in some way, to go to a cafe and warm up a bit. But I chose to continue, in case the rain did stop before I got enough of what I wanted.
I wanted to stick around longer but I did feel myself getting a bit cold, and running out of things to shoot. It wasn't that late but people were quickly disappearing. The streets felt a bit too void of story to capture for me to want to stick around. The highest density of people I noticed were those clinging to the shelter of bus stops as they waited for the bus to get home. I didn't quite understand the mentality, the people that hated the rain and felt the need to escape from it. While many did have umbrellas, even they seemed quick to get out of it. To get home and hibernate until that scorching sun returned in late spring. For me, this was a literal breath of fresh air. To feel the true signs of autumn finally, right on the cusp of November. Where it's actually already winter. And of course, no more rain is supposedly due for the next week. I'm glad I enjoyed what rain there was. And I'm happy with the images I came home with.
Lately, despite me constantly mentioning the limitations of the gear I have, I've been quite enjoying finding ways to push it to its limit. I think that's what matters the most about gear. You can have the most expensive stuff out there and it will guide you into better creations, but it's only a fraction of the process in the end. Though I won't lie, I really do want a Sony FX3 or at least some other full frame Sony that could offer some 4k and 120FPS. Especially with some variation of LOG to give me more range when it comes to colour grading. I feel the creativity oozing from me lately, I feel the motivation reaching an all-time high. I guess that's when we start feeling the want to get something upgraded. When the limitations feel like they're barriers keeping you down a bit. But I'll continue anyway.
