A rainy day in Fort Worth

Just a fun day when it's rainy. What else is a cameraman to do but film his world around him? Is it worth getting all the gear out just to have a poor lowly assistant  hold an umbrella to cover camera and gear?

What is your favorite subject to shoot in the rain?

Myself and several other dp's I know have spent many many hours slushing through rain, snow, ice and ice cold rivers. We took a crew of four dps and all the support up to Prince of Wales in

Alaska to film. Coming from Texas you get a real sense of how far "out" there you really are. There are more places there that no human has ever stepped foot. We were warned by our guides to not step in the clear water puddles.... Why you ask? Cause some of them could be 30 or 40 feet deep. It was one of the most surreal moments, made you feel like your back on a battle field and there is land mines and traps everywhere.

Anyway, don't really know how I got off the subject of filming in the rain. I remember once during the feature "No Turning Back" we got caught in a blizzard

on the side of the mountains in Colo. Learned horses don't like noise, slick footing and actors on their back. Had one covered wagon almost careen off the side and into the abyss. So moving the whole company back to Texas (no snow), we found a location on the banks of a lake and it was so perfect. Over the second weekend while we gave the crew two days off a rain storm came through. Yep you guessed it, flooded the whole set. We had built cabins, general store, teepees outside of the village. All flooded in two feet of water. So much for location shooting in Texas. We had the art department take everything apart numbered bit by bit and rebuild in a local sound stage.

It just makes you think to always have a back up plan when your back up plan goes array. Thanks for reading my rainy thoughts.