It has been a raining off and on this week. Instead of last year’s endless parade of severe thunderstorms, this week has mostly featured quiet, steady, intermittent showers.

I have already made three walks in the rain, one with our summer intern Sara Mearns to get to a house fire, and two with my Chihuahua. Walking in the rain this time of year, assuming there’s no lightning, is kind of fun. It turns out that reporters, photographer, cameras and Chihuahuas are all mostly waterproof.

Rainwater reflects and refracts light, creating shadows and highlights we don’t always get to see.

Rainy weather often mutes the light, making it flatter and less saturated. One possible idea for that is to switch to black-and-white, maybe in your camera, or maybe just with your intentions to make your images black-and-white later when you are editing.

I am also inclined to photograph odd or unique water patterns in the kitchen sink.

Finally, if you are like me, you wash your cars by hand in the driveway, and that can also be a great photo opportunity. Not only is water doing the dance for you, it’s fun to photograph your car when you’re done.

In the end, photographing water is a really good way to shake the cobwebs off of your creative spirit.