Wind, rain, and a camera

Usually those three things don't go too well together, but in this case it all worked out.  I was on Laguna Beach in Orange County, CA and a huge storm had just passed. The rain kept taunting me, dropping here and there and generally getting in my way.  The wind howled and nearly knocked me over a couple of times, usually when I was balanced precariously on wet rocks (not really a good idea by the way).  Nonetheless, being a true photographer sort, I stuck it out and managed to reel off a bunch of shots in a short amount of time.  I try not to hurry when taking photos, so as to spend time thinking about what I want to capture and in what way I want to capture it, but when the elements conspire against you, you just shoot.  So I did.

Truthfully, there are some things that could be done to improve this image.  For example, if you look closely you can see movement in the trees.  I decided to leave it in the photo though, primarily because it illustrates just how windy it was, and I think it helps communicate that.  

This is a 5 exposure HDR, taken at f/11.  The exposures range from +1 to -3 and were merged into an HDR in Photomatix.  I then made adjustments in PSE (Curves, Contrast) and made some final adjustments in Aperture (Cropping, Saturation).