These photos were taken weeks ago, when the first week of Vivid in Sydney was on. We went that weekend despite the wet weather forecast because Nikon AU had a couple of events that day. They ran several classes we could sign online for free, and they also allowed us to borrow equipments for free (or really little money) during the event.

I signed up for a Low Light class, which consisted of half hour talk and a chance to walk around the harbour to capture the beautiful lights from illuminated buildings that was Vivid, with a borrowed lens from Nikon. I missed out 24-70mm by a minute and had to ‘settle’ for the 12-24mm, 2.8 instead. They swiped my credit card to charge a dollar for it, and I was free to run around with the lens for an hour and a half. Sweet.

The whole thing was a great idea. Except for one thing. The rain. Yes, it was raining the whole night. And I tell you one thing. You can have a kick ass camera or lens all you want, it would all gone down hill when water relentlessly poured down on you and made visibility really poor. It was hard to keep the lens free from droplets, even with a nice big umbrella on top of you. Not only it was hard to keep dry, it was hard to locate where the droplet landed, because it was night time. Many times I thought I had the shot when I checked in my tiny view finder and saw a big fat ass circle (which was the stupid droplet) in my photo. Everything seemed wet that night, I couldn’t find anything dry to wipe the lens clear.

So, as the drama caused by a simple rain persisted, I decided NOT to take anything Vivid related, well, except for ONE okay-ish shot of the Opera House, that night. With a big crowd of visitors with or without cameras (and their space-hungry tripods), it was very challenging to get a good spot. Oh, did I mention the rain?

The good thing came out of the rain was it actually made other things more interesting. The glistening wet ground was reflecting colourful lights from the surface made quite a beautiful and dramatic effect. Colours turned darker and shinier. That night I learned not to focus on the not-so-ideal elements so much, and turned my attention on something I did not normally see on drier conditions. Hope you enjoy the photos.