black and white image of a rainy day outside performance

Wow, I really have sympathy for sports photographers now. No offense to any other outdoor type of photography, but weather is simply another complication to a type of photography that’s already challenging indoors!

This was a performance that was going to happen, rain or shine. It had already been postponed and rescheduled twice due to weather and it was just getting too late in the season to try and reschedule a third time.

So what are the challenges in the rain? Well, water for one. But just to back up a bit: Performing arts photography in general is challenging. It pushes the limits of camera performance, due to fast motion and low light. Cameras like light, but a bright stage isn’t always the best setting for a show. Ever try to take a photo of an artist on stage? Did you get a very sharp and bright image? Probably not, especially if you were using your phone or a point and shoot camera. This is a job for the big guns.

Also good is that the big gun type of camera is fairly water resistant. You can’t submerge in water and expect it to keep working, but a bit of precipitation should be fine. That, combined with my Flash Bender flash modifier providing a mini-umbrella for the flash I could make it work. I did have a towel with me which was soaked by the end of the day, but at least my camera was dry.

Another thing that can get challenging in the rain is auto-focus. Typically I’ll use auto focus because is really fast on my camera, and I’d rather focus (pun intended) on other parts of getting the shot right. Auto focus in the rain doesn’t always focus on what you want it to, and so shots you thought would be sharp turn out to be not. That’s why you always take as many photos as you can on a day like that. In case you miss one, you still have another.

The thing that did fail me unfortunately, was my jacket. It was supposed to be water-resistant. It wasn’t. I returned it.