Watered down

It’s 5:00 pm, it’s raining, the light is fading fast and I ‘m stuck looking for a weather photo.

I had cut an assignment short in Manteca so I would have enough time and daylight to wander about town but am I just getting more frustrated. Nobody is out in the steady rain, the light is getting dimmer by the minute and I am still looking for a picture.

I turned down Central Avenue hoping for someone with an umbrella when I caught the neon glow coming from a restaurant window. The glow lit the raindrops clinging to my passenger side window.

I parked, switched lenses to a 16-35 mm wide-angle lens and prayed for someone to walk down the sidewalk before it grew pitch dark. I felt like a stalker waiting quietly inside my car until a rain jacket clad man briskly walked by. I held the camera inches form the window to focus on the droplets and fired a motor drive sequence as he passed.

I expected a Tracy Police officer to approach my car at any second to find out why I was camped outside the restaurant photographing my window. With a quick shot I was headed back to the office to try and talk them into using the photo.

Imagine my surprise when I was told it was slated for the cover.