Flickr a Day 27: London Rain

Can’t you just feel the chill? Duncan Harris shot this photo, in front of Harrods in Knightsbridge, on Dec. 19, 2011. For those people obsessed with the fanciest camera, the photographer matters more. He used the Nikon Coolpix S2500 to capture this atmospheric moment. Duncan says the 12-megapixel compact “is almost as good as a dSLR”. Perhaps in the right hands, as his are.

The image captivates for so many reasons: Motion of the pedestrians set against the crisp still cars; raindrops on the vehicles and reflections from fallen water; shimmering lights escaping the wet mist. I found this photo around Flick a Day 8 and reluctantly waited to post, as this isn’t the first wet street pic featured. See days 7 and 13

Duncan, who is a college lecturer, joined Flickr in July 2008 and now regularly shoots with the Nikon D5100. “I’m no professional, and I don’t pretend to be an expert on photographic equipment, but I’ve managed to get (IMO) some pretty decent results over the years from various Nikon cameras”. I gotta agree looking at his photos.

Vitals for this pic: f/3.2, ISO 800, 1/5 sec, 4.9mm. What a steady hand he has! The pixels don’t look pretty when the full-size photo is viewed—noise is everywhere, and that’s not surprising given a turn-of-the-decade compact. But I see art, in what someone else might consider a photographic shortcoming adds ambience and atmosphere. Love it!

Photo Credit: Duncan Harris