A very rainy week brought to mind a class I took through Improve Photography which included a lesson on photographing water drops. I enjoyed the lesson as it taught me a lot about macro shooting, flash, and bouncing light. As I was stuck inside because of the rain I thought it appropriate to try it again along with reflections of other abstract objects.

It was a timely setup as soon after I was given a sample of a new coating from BASF that is designed to resist water droplet erosion when used on giant wind turbines. It was a great way to use the water drops to tell a story about the coating for BASF.

While it was still raining I came up with the idea to take some photographs inside the Stumphouse Tunnel in Walhalla South Carolina where I would be protected from the rain. The tunnel was originally started as a pre-Civil War railway tunnel before Clemson purchased it in 1951 to produce the state's first blue cheese but now it is part of a nice park which includes the Issaqueena Falls. It was quite creepy being the only person there on a dreary Tuesday morning but I was quickly too engrossed in taking photos to think about things sneaking up behind me in the dark...

I was happy I had just put in the water drop work before visiting the tunnel. Between the rain outside and condensation in the tunnel there were several slow drips from the ceiling that were contributing to the eerie atmosphere. I knew that I had to try and capture one of those large drops hitting the pools of water along the side of the tunnel before I left.