The Narrative Image

It rained Sunday. It rained all day. I was East of Salem, trying to hike the Opal Creek trail. Here, you can see rain clouds settling into the North Santiam River watershed. I tried the rubber band and plastic sack rain shield that I used last February in the Columbia Gorge ( http://thenarrativeimage.blogspot.com/2007/02/rain-water-and-digital-cameras.html ), but for best results, you need to at least start with dry equipment. It was raining so hard that I was reluctant to take the camera out, and I didn’t until I reached the Opal Pool. By that time, my rain jacket had proved that it wasn’t very water resistant anymore. I was essentially soaked to the skin, and when I opened up my backpack, I discovered it wasn’t that water resistant either. Every dry cloth I brought to wipe off the camera and lens wasn’t dry anymore. The best I could do was smear water drops around on the lens and create an uneven diffusion effect which only became more pronounced as condensation set in. Since it is...