Shooting in the rain is simply an awful experience. It can be summed up as follows: I’m cold and wet and I hope my camera’s not damaged. Shooting immediately after the rain has stopped, however, is a simply glorious experience. Colors pop, the wet ground reflects copious amounts of light and, if you’re lucky enough to find a black sidewalk with puddles of water on it, the puddles will act as mirrors. I cannot speak highly enough about shooting immediately after a rain storm.

I lucked out here because I happened to be near Alexander Calder’s Flamingo when a thunderstorm passed through. As soon as the rain stopped, I set up my tripod and began shooting. I didn’t have long to shoot though because Federal Plaza has some extremely diligent workers. At roughly the same time I started shooting, they brought out their squeegees and started getting rid of the very puddles I wanted to shoot. Fortunately, in the few minutes I had with the puddles, I got this image. In a sign of just how perfectly the puddles worked as mirrors, I will occasionally try to hang this photo upside down before then noticing my error.