rainy day

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Taken at the same time as this image, these two scenes were taking place just a few steps away from each. Luckily, I was across the street and I didn’t have to take those steps. All I had to do was shift my body a little bit and I saw these lovely ladies getting their hair done. Obviously, hair appointments don’t stop when it’s raining out.

I think my favorite part about this image are all the tones that are going on. It’s such an everyday scene (at least for women) but everything seems to be matching. For example the blues. The overall image is very blue, but blues can be found in the woman’s shirt that’s closest to the left, then in the hair towel and apron on the women in the center and then the apron on the woman on the very right. Those blue tones match the neon lights that you see reflecting in the mirror along with some orange tones. The orange tones go along the woman who has her hair in a bun, then the orange apron, and a little bit of orange in the store sign to the very left. Oh and I forgot to mention there’s even a little orange in the sign hanging on the wall on the very right. To be honest, I didn’t notice how everything matched so well when I captured the image, but now that I see the scene, I just like it so much more.

My camera settings for this image are F4 at 1/200th sec and ISO 1000 with my Sony A7II and 70-200mm.

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Another rainy, moody image from our trip to New York.

This image was taken after we finished our meal. Andrew and I started walking back to our car when we ducked into this little alleyway because the wind had really started to pick up and blowing the rain everywhere. We were getting soaked. So we stood under a doorway of a closed store to wait it out a little bit. Luckily, there were some other people hanging out in this alley because they were all in line for Sunday morning Dim Sum.

Rain or shine, Dim Sum is always a great Sunday morning treat! What caught my attention about this person and his umbrella was the puddle that was building up on the umbrella. I don’t know, I keep on looking at that and decided that I needed to capture it. The added bonus was all the reflections from where he was standing. The rain made everything glow.

Now I sort of wish that it will rain every time I go on a trip. LOL.

My camera settings for this image are F4 at 1/100th sec and ISO 1000 with my Sony A7II and 70-200mm.

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So for the most part, we had beautiful weather on our trip to New York. It was pleasantly Autumn while we were there with cool weather temps but not cold enough for heavy jackets. Andrew and I couldn’t stop talking about how ideal it was because every other time we’re there it’s FREEZING.

But the day we left the city was POURING rain. As soon as I woke up in the morning, I could hear the rain pounding on our hotel room window. Good thing I was prepared with a long, heavy-ish jacket that kept me warm. Don’t get me wrong, I still got wet but it was better than having nothing at all.

So for our last meal in New York, Andrew and I went down to Chinatown for some soup dumplings. What’s better on a cold, rainy day? We made the decision that I would drive and I’d drop Andrew off in front of the restaurant so that he could put our name down in case there was a wait. That allowed me to drive around, find parking and along the way, I could stop and take some super moody images of the city with the rain. Turns out, Chinatown is PERFECT for rainy shots. I loved the mood this part of city created and it seemed like there were still so many people out with umbrellas. As soon as I saw a whole bunch of umbrellas lined up in a corner of the street waiting to cross, I knew we were in the right place.

This is probably my favorite image I captured the whole weekend we were in New York. I just love the bright red punch buggy with all the red in the signs plus the out of focus pedestrians. I don’t know it definitely brings me back to that rainy, windy Sunday.

My camera settings for this image are F4 at 1/250th sec and ISO 1000 with my Sony A7II and 70-200mm zoom lens.

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If you’re bored at home with nothing to do on a rainy day, try one of these:

  1. bake chocolate chip cookies for your husband
  2. research potential travel locations
  3. watch old episodes of the Amazing Race
  4. organize your closet
  5. shop for a new fall wardrobe because you now have space
  6. have your friends come over to your house so you don’t have to go anywhere
  7. go to your favorite photo location and wait inside your car so you know exactly when the rain stops so you can maximize your time outside
  8. eat an acai bowl with your friend for a “coffee” date

What a coincidence! That is exactly what I did this past weekend while it was pouring rain outside. LOL. I also did other things but you get the point because this past weekend and even yesterday was pouring rain! It’s been kinda crazy.

So we’ll be getting a few more days of rain this week but I just felt like going through some of my older images to find the happiness that comes from the rain, a rainbow! I remember being so excited when I saw this one. I saw it from pretty far and immediately screamed, “Rainbow!” I mean doesn’t everyone do that when they see a one? No matter how old you are, you always have a smile on your face when you’re looking at one.

Let me know what are some of your favorite rainy day activities are.

My camera settings for this image is F10 at 1/100th of a second at ISO 200 with my Sony A7II and 16-35mm wide angle lens.

PS If you’re planning your next trip to Washington DC, be sure to check out Snap DC. Its a fun read and I’ve even named some of my personal favorite rainbow locations to photograph around the city.