I finally got a rainbow

I’ve had several goals as an amateur photographer.  The first goal is to become a better photographer, and I realize that no matter how much I do learn about photography, I will never learn it all.

However, one of the subjects I always wanted to capture was a rainbow.  Understand that rainbows are elusive creatures to photograph.  There has to be the perfect combination of moisture in the air, the sun has to be at just the right angle, and you have to have your camera in your hand.

Monday night, October 5.  I had just finished up a photo shoot with a couple of friends of mine, getting some late afternoon photos out at Washington Park.  As we were wrapping up, I felt the start of raindrops from the sky.  Not wanting to get my very expensive Nikon D700 wet (and fearing the consequences of that occurring), my friends and I said goodbye, we got in our cars and went home.

I drove through the winding roadway that borders the lake at Washington Park, and picked up South Lake Avenue, heading north toward Central Avenue.  The rain, which fell quickly, started to taper off.  Just as I approached the bend of South Lake, between the Western and Washington cross streets, I saw it.

Big as life.

A rainbow.  Rising out of Holy Family Parish, on the corner of Central and North Lake Avenues.

I quickly pulled my car over and started assembling my D700.  Lens, lens, which lens to go with – I grabbed my F/1.4 manual focus.  Snapped everything together.  I had to move fast – rainbows are elusive and can last for a few minutes – or a few seconds.

Traffic was coming, and I had to wait for the cars to pass – lest I open my car door and turn my Pontiac 6000 into a 3-door sedan.

When it was safe to get out of the car, I did so. It was still there.  I had to move fast.

First shots were overexposed.  Quick adjustment on the barrel.

Second blast of shots.  Moved the exposure level to 1/1250, 500 ISO and F/2.8.

And I just crossed #17 off the photography list.

There it is, big as day and just as beautiful.  And if you look carefully to the left, you can see the last remnants of the “double rainbow” that runs parallel to the brighter multicolored skyscape.

I realize I wasn’t in the perfect position to get the rainbow – in the picture, Holy Family Parish looks as if it was part of an N-gauge train layout.  And there’s some vignetting in the corners of the photo, most likely because of my vintage lens competing with the D700’s huge FX sensor.

But I can truly say that I actually captured a rainbow – and how cool is it that the base of the rainbow, where one might find the mythological pot of gold, is attached to a house of worship, in the words of Genesis, Chapter 9, verses 12 and 13:

And God said, “This is the token of the covenant which I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations.  I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth.”

Absolutely sweet.