A long time ago I was much tougher than I am now. When I was fifteen years younger, and using Olympus cameras, rain used to be an opportunity to get out when all the other photographers went away. I even owned a bright yellow rain slicker for the purpose.

Last Saturday I was booked to take a Miksang photography workshop. The forecast was for rain,  and the course assignment was for colour, which actually works out quite nicely. Despite what Paul Simon thinks, bright colours don't work best on sunny days.

Given the weather forecast I had spent the night before the class preparing. Abundant waterproofing wax went on both my jacket and boots, and I set up my XH1 with the grip so that the notoriously power-hungry beast wouldn't need to have batteries swapped in the field. 

Sure enough, it drizzled the first time when I was out with my XF16/1.4, and rained fairly hard for the hour or so that I was out after lunch with the XF80/2.8. Fortunately everything worked out fine – although it took a long time for my hat to dry out afterwards.

I'm still not likely to grab the camera and head outside when I see the rain slanting down. But I'll be better at remembering that it doesn't mean that I have to cancel my plans when it happens, and that I can be comfortable and engaged even in uncomfortable conditions.

For an hour or two, at least. As long as it isn't windy.