Do you like to shoot in the rain?

[loccdor]

Whenever I see snow melt in a bucket, I'm always surprised by how it's like 90% air. I think the snow on that camera would amount to a handful of drops of liquid water.

 

[jlin]

umbrella and with an autofocus camera!

 

[warden]

Whenever I see snow melt in a bucket, I'm always surprised by how it's like 90% air. I think the snow on that camera would amount to a handful of drops of liquid water.

I got home and opened the camera completely and it air dried in no time. No problems at all. One from that roll - my kid was 10 years old and happy to make snow angels on a frozen stream that we were skipping rocks across just a few weeks prior. It’s good to be a kid.

 

[DREW WILEY]

locdor - I don't know where you live, but snow can be very wet. We get little "dry" powder snow in California, and only in the coldest months up high. Most of our snowfall actually comes in Spring, which, due to its high water content, turns into what skiers call "Sierra cement". That's also going to be the case in much of the Cascades, due to being close to the Pacific coast. A couple years ago we had a heavy snow year, with at least one of the ski slopes open until the second week of August. But on the higher peaks, snow can remain all year long, although actual glaciers are now less common.

That wet snow can get into everything, and leave awfully slippery conditions when it refreezes. I have no idea how this year will turn out, but there have already been several minor snowfalls, with more on the way. I hope the high passes will remain open a little longer, in case I want an autumn photo drive. When I was still slightly younger, I still would have been out backpacking in it; my last such autumn long high trek was the year I turned 70.

Monitoring the actual water content of snow in the high country is a crucial part of planning for seasonal water allotment down below among the many farms and cities competing for it.

 

[Pieter12]

There are many rain covers for cameras if you really need to shoot in a downpour.

 

[jeffreyg]

It has only snowed here once. January 19, 1977 but we do get our share of rain. So far this year 50 inches and more to come starting Sunday through Wednesday at over 50% chance. Usually showers rarely a misty drizzle. Although I don’t mind photographing in mist, fog and drizzle I have to do it elsewhere not in Miami.

 

[Craig]

Rain is my least favourite weather, I'm happy to stay inside when it rains. Snow is no problem, nor cold. I can brush off snow, not so much rain.

 

[loccdor]

I live in the Niagara Falls area. We've had one relatively mild snowfall so far this season. Thanksgiving is expected to be preceded by rain followed by a freeze, and the windy blowing snow on the day itself. Hopefully most of the people get there in one piece (if we like them).

@DREW WILEY here we usually only deal with wet snow in the brief border season to winter. The rest of the time it's too far below freezing to have much water content. That doesn't stop thaws and refreezes from wreaking havoc on the road conditions. Are you around Tahoe? I once got a car stuck in snow there in May. Lived in California for 3 years, but on the coast.

 

[DREW WILEY]

No. I'm on the coast where its relatively mild. But I grew up in the southern Sierra, and held property there for a long time, where the elevation differences go anywhere from about 500 ft above sea level to over 14'000 feet in a relatively short distance. Tahoe is much further north, and of course, the range isn't nearly as high there. The Mammoth Mtn area was once my patio view, but from the western side; and it's already in deep snow, with the ski slopes already opened. Rain/freeze/deep snow/then refreeze cycles are always dangerous in terms of winter avalanche hazard on steep slopes, so the ski runs are opened up only bit by bit, as deemed safe or not.

I lived lower down, and would let all the early traffic speed their way uphill to the ski resort, and help clear the road ice by sliding off the road and into the trees, with the Highway Patrolman doing the same thing next, going after them too fast. After that it was an easy drive for me up to the snow with my snowshoes and 8x10 camera pack. The fools always took the steep curves too fast and didn't notice that the road was still icy in the shade.

 

[TomR55]

When I lived in New England shooting in the rain/sleet/snow was common … unpleasant, but feasible if precautions were taken.

I’ve lived in SW Florida now for nearly eight years and you really DO NOT want to be out of doors in tropical rainstorms. Many people are struck by lightening, washed away in sudden inundations, struck by speeding cars, … you get the idea. Sometimes, I do shoot from indoors or protected areas—usually the work with how light interacts with rainfall, or surface effects … .

 

[DREW WILEY]

My only experience with the tropics has been numerous trips to the Hawaiian Islands. Lots of rain, but way more rainbows than lightning. Some steep slippery trails. I once slid down a hill on Kauai, and got my clothes permanently stained by the red clay (there they even sell clothes uniquely tinted by their clay). Fortunately, my Sinar camera didn't slide downhill with me. A few days later, someone got swept off a cliff foolishly trying to cross a stream on the coastal trail during a rainstorm.

I'm quite familiar with the risks of both lightning and swollen streams due to my many years exploring the high Sierra and similar high ranges. Every year, a number of people are killed by both, plus the added hazard of avalanches.