Rain on the roof

Winter has arrived in Spokane, and I have no clue how that happened so fast. Yet, making the transition from summertime photo shoots to winter, takes a little “doing.”

Electronic camera systems don’t do well with moisture, so reducing the exposure to rain or snow is at the top of my list of things to do. This past week, I was able to climb up on top of a historic downtown building after dark. A friend of mine (J.C.) had arranged all the permissions I needed, and we both got out on the roof. Initially it was cool and breezy, but not too difficult to shoot 60 or so image frames. Then the weather changed dramatically, and rain started to fall. I managed to get something less than 100 images (Canon RAW + JPEG), before the two of us had to withdraw from the roof. The wind had gotten to the point that even my stable platform tripod began to move, and the rain started hitting the lens too often for me to stay. Even so, I got one shot I really liked, and three others that were “okay.”

As I was on top of this downtown building, it seems that it was only yesterday I was responding to Spokane PD calls for service at almost all of the buildings and street corners below. Now I was looking at these same locations with a camera, from a great height. What had once been pretty intense situations at many of the locations below were now extremely pretty sights in the lens of the camera. Why I thought of all those calls or incidents, while on top of this roof, is beyond me. The one thing which hasn’t changed in the times since my SPD career is that the scenery of Spokane after dark is extraordinary. When you see it through the lens of the camera, there are very few “poor things to shoot.”

My thanks to John C. for arranging last week’s photo shoot downtown. I know it was only a quick 45 minutes on the rooftop, but I enjoyed getting above the levels of the streetlights, which can be a real battle from time to time. Sharing a few police war stories with someone else who has lived the experience was also a good time, and was not spoiled by some wind or rain.

JDM