Just add water

Saturday was rainy, so I spent a good part of my Sunday morning taking pictures of raindrops.

Raindrops are difficult to photograph with a point-and-shoot camera, as the shiny reflective surfaces that make drops of water so interesting to look at often stymie a digicam’s auto-focus. This is part of the reason, I think, I like to take pictures of raindrops: I appreciate a good challenge.

I also like the way that simply adding water to something makes it look different and even strange, as if this most common of substances is actually a kind of elixir, transforming yesterday’s plain old leaves into this morning’s bejeweled beauties. It’s good every now and again to look at the same old world through different eyes, and if you can’t find new eyes, the distorting lens of an ordinary raindrop will serve a similar purpose.

This morning was sunny and clear, so yesterday’s raindrops have long since evaporated, leaving nothing to commemorate this weekend’s rain except Monday morning mushrooms.