Federal rain

"Hood up and head down, a passerby contests the rain with his dog at Federal Hill Park, which overlooks downtown Baltimore City, Sunday afternoon. Thunderstorms entered downtown Baltimore late Saturday night and are expected to clear out by Monday."

I had planned to occupy this post with some horses, wild shenanigans and big hats. Well, as you may have guessed no Preakness for me this year. Missed a great opportunity to do some assisting, but missed the call while in class. Life goes on.

In replacement, I never used to like the rain, but I love it now.

There is so much going on that people never see because we've been trained to be miserable and stay indoors when it rains.

Now that I've somewhat overcome the dreadful habit of staying indoors, I've been venturing out on foot when it does rain.

I don't look forward to rain, because that would be ridiculous, but a slight drizzle doesn't seem to bother me anymore.

On Sunday, my second assignment was scheduled for 2:30 p.m. on top of Federal Hill. For those that have never been to Baltimore, Federal Hill Park is a small area that overlooks the inner harbor and downtown area.

After my first assignment, I drove across the harbor. Yep. My car is also a boat. I should have said, I drove around the harbor. On any other day, I would have walked.

Ah, you got me. "I thought you said you didn't mind the wet weather?"

Well, I don't. But I am not about to get all my gear drenched as I walked alongside tourists and boats, and then up Federal Hill.

Being early, since I was already downtown, I decided to grab some lunch and work on my first assignment in Cross Street Market.

Must have lost track of the days, because when I tried to open the door it was locked. I had totally forgotten it was Sunday. NOT Saturday. Bummer.

Instead, I opted for Subway. Not as delicious as any number of things from the market.

Around 2:15 p.m., pouring rain at this point, I called one of my subjects who was getting a portrait with some others on Federal Hill.

I let them know that the deadline for this particular assignment was on Wednesday afternoon and asked if they'd like to meet somewhere else, shoot in the rain or reschedule.

Typically I wouldn't call a subject (unless confirming), but since the deadline was not urgent and the soggy conditions lingered, I figured I'd see what their input on the weather was. I didn't mind the rain, was totally fine shooting in it, but they may hate it.

The main subject agreed that the weather would make things complicated and not very pleasant. So since there were four people being shot together, he needed to call me back.

While I wasn't wasting my phone minutes, I shot a couple passerbies in the park along the cityscape. As I tried to keep my camera dry with my Subway bag, I was hoping for someone with an umbrella to silhouette them on the city backdrop.

All I got was a man walking his dog with his hood up. I wasn't able to chase him down to talk to him either.

This goes to show people do go out when it rains. Conversely, he was one of three people that walked by when I was waiting for the return call.

Three minutes later my phone rang, it was my subject.

Since it was a total downpour, they thought it would make more sense to meet Tuesday morning. Works for me, hopefully, for their sake, and my deadline's sake too, it won't be dumping the cold water pellets.