Accidental Portraits, July 12, 2008

I was sick with a really bad flu. The night before, a terrific windstorm shook the trees and the house all night. That morning the heavy rain started to come down in sheets blown almost horizontally by the wind.

We put on waterproof rain gear and headed up a gravel and dirt road to take some photographs to document an agricultural land survey. The heavy rain and the strong wind seemed to mock our waterproof garments and proceeded to drench us in the cold, winter rain (July is winter in the southern hemisphere where these photographs were taken). As I hurriedly shot a couple of 360 degree panoramas, I trembled with fever and exhaustion from the climb, and my lens was sprayed with the rain that blew against it.

I had insisted on this particular venture, and, as you can see from the hasty portraits that I took of my companions, they thoroughly enjoyed every wet minute of it. I call these "accidental portraits" because, quite honestly, my fevered brain does not remember how I captured these brooding moments. I thank my brother, who knows much more about photography than I do, for the confidence to post these images. He liked the emotions on the faces combined with the sullen weather.

Radzfoto