A few months ago, I got out early in the morning to shoot, a minimalistic shot of the Grand Harbour Lighthouse in Valletta. It was a cold and cloudy November morning, when I checked the weather report the night before, the chances of rain were slim, but as most of the time happens in Malta, it is easier guessing the lottery than the weather. The sky was perfect, with fluffy clouds and patches of blue sky. After I managed to secure the shot, I thought it would be a good idea to walk towards the natural rock arch below the monument of the Great Siege Bell. I set the exposure at four minutes, the light was perfect, the blues of the sky reflecting on the surface of the sea with soft light on the natural arch, so I pressed start on the intervalometer. After three minutes had passed the rain started coming down, and I thought it would be better to stop the exposure and call it a day, besides, I thought it would be useless having to wipe the drops from the filters all the time. When the image displayed on my LCD screen, I noticed that the raindrops did not ‘hit’ the central part of the image and the rock arch did not have any droplets on it. I thought it was an interesting shot, so I packed and left home with one single exposure. I am always overly excited to upload my RAW files on the computer, and I was looking forward to checking the result. When I saw the image on my monitor, the more I looked at it, the more I loved it. It was not just interesting, but this image was like an entry in my journal, but this time, instead of a written thought it was recorded as an image. Some people might call this a happy accident, but I prefer to call this an Inspired Revelation, I did love the concept, the story it tells. I think that the droplets add drama to the image, usually, I would create a monochrome image, but this had to be saved in color. It is my first image in my portfolio which was partly planned and partly made by accident, it may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but to me, I feel it is mysterious and narrates a beautiful story. Sometimes we think too much, and sometimes we tend to pack our gear and leave when something like this happens, I think it was more than a “happy accident” as I had initially called it, but for me, it is a form of Serendipity, I often notice that good things come in clusters, one good thing happens, and another will follow. That morning I left home with three good images. Leaving the scene with more than one good image happens rarely, this was an overall good shoot.

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