The First Rain
A record in 35mm film of the first drenching rain on Los Angeles after the devastation of the wildfires.
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A swimming pool black with ash. A staircase to nowhere. A Batchelder tile hearth forever extinguished.
This celluloid record of the first rainfall on Jan. 26, 2025, which continued through Jan. 27, after the Los Angeles fires — painfully too little, too late — is meant as a quiet bed to rest a grieving heart, or for those abroad, a chance to begin to take in what those in Altadena and the Palisades have been through. And while the rain reminds us of tears, it also reminds us of nature’s infinite cycles that persist with or without us.
As we begin to rebuild, and years turn these fresh images into archival ones, perhaps their meaning will transform, too. Perhaps they will begin to feel less like the end of the story and more like the beginning. Like a wreath, we lay this film down for those who lost their lives and livelihoods, and the first responders who risked their safety for ours. We do so in our home city’s universal language: 24 frames per second.
This celluloid record of the first rainfall on Jan. 26, 2025, which continued through Jan. 27, after the Los Angeles fires — painfully too little, too late — is meant as a quiet bed to rest a grieving heart, or for those abroad, a chance to begin to take in what those in Altadena and the Palisades have been through. And while the rain reminds us of tears, it also reminds us of nature’s infinite cycles that persist with or without us.
As we begin to rebuild, and years turn these fresh images into archival ones, perhaps their meaning will transform, too. Perhaps they will begin to feel less like the end of the story and more like the beginning. Like a wreath, we lay this film down for those who lost their lives and livelihoods, and the first responders who risked their safety for ours. We do so in our home city’s universal language: 24 frames per second.