Shooting Beautiful Pictures When it's Raining | Oahu Family and Maternity Photographer

There’s a special and crazy thing that happens here in Hawaii some years: it rains a lot!

It doesn’t rain all year long of course, but the Winters can get especially wet, and 2019/2020 has proved to be one of those years.

Rain is awesome. Rain makes our mountains more green and lush, it makes the ground a deeper red color and the palm trees stand tall and beautiful with all their fronds in place.

But from a photography point of view rain can be a big worry. In fact it is one of the biggest worries according to my recent clients. I work mostly with families and pregnant couples that are coming to Hawaii on vacation and/or babymoon, so our window of time is limited.

Here is some useful information I give to my clients and some things I do in order to minimize the worry factor so that my clients can enjoy their time in Hawaii and not obsess about the fact that the weather might not be favorable when we shoot.

1) Rain in Hawaii blows away fast.

This is a fact that you might only know if you live in Hawaii or have visited before. It can be pouring one minute and then sunny the next. If there’s a slight chance of rain on the forecast, I still go and shoot because if that rain shows up, I know it’ll probably go away as fast as it came.

2) Wonderful things come with rain!

We are not called the Rainbow State in vain, and you only get rainbows with rain. Rainbows are magical and hold so much significance in so many cultures and countries. We love our rainbows here and I embrace the rain because I know that rainbow might show up and make a shoot extra special.

3) Storms happen and we can always adjust.

Island wide storms are not super common, but something that we can know in advance thanks to modern day technology and weather tracking systems. If I see there’s a crazy storm coming and I have shoots scheduled, I try my best to predict which days have the best chances and we shoot on those days.

4) Wind is poetic, let’s embrace it.

If the forecast is predicting really strong winds, I try to pick locations that have some protection so we can have a quiet corner to get some shots, especially for my pregnant clients, but then we will definitely step into the beach or mountain and embrace that wind. I love flowing hair shots and flowing dresses and think these things make for some poetic and intimate shots if we let go of a perceived level of perfection.

5) If it rains, we can still shoot.

If we do all the things and it still rains during a shoot, we either wait it out, move locations or we go and shoot in it. I know shots in the rain are not your typical shots, but sometimes we need to embrace our reality with open arms and wet hair. I’ve had some amazing results shooting in the rain with families and couples who said “you know what? let’s keep shooting”. It’s not for everyone, but it can work (and backlit rain is magic!).