Chasing rainbows

For quite some time I have been on the hunt for a suitable rainbow shot to include in my annual Barwon River calendar which I hand around to the rellies at Christmas, and until recently, I had met with very little success.
Aside from the obviously ephemeral nature of rainbows, there just hadn't been that many around. However with the onset of a somewhat wetter winter than usual, the odd opportunity has arisen to get some rainbow photos.

Rainbow on the Barwon

My first chance came during the opening of the Troop Loop couple of weeks back. As we know, if Lee organises something there will be rain. So right on cue, Lee arrived and so did the rain, just as the formalities were winding up. And with it came a fairly substantial rainbow which arched its way towards the river.

According to my calculations, the pot of gold should be somewhere in the
middle of the river...

This gave the photographer from the Geelong Advertiser and myself (suffering a severe case of lens envy) an opportunity to snap a few scenic shots of river and rainbow, which was great - in theory.

Close up...

...and at a distance



The practise is somewhat more difficult. The main problem with rainbows is that they involve...well...rain and rain and cameras can be a pain as I quickly discovered. Not only does the rain make it difficult to get a clear, focused shot, but keeping it off the camera lens is also tricky. So, in between wipes and whilst trying not to get too comprehensively drowned, I took what I could.
This afternoon as I was out for a ride, I came across another rainbow, however as I rode in the rain, my camera was sitting comfortable and dry at home...I did make an attempt at some shots with the phone, however the results were less than impressive:

A pale imitation

And so the quest continues. With a little luck I will eventually find the right rainbow on a suitably picturesque part of the river...