Photographer Goes Underwater To Film the Rain — And What He Captured Is Surreal

French oceanographer Jacques Cousteau famously said, "The best way to observe a fish is to become a fish." On a recent summer day, Florida-based photographer Elston Webster (@elston.webster) became a fish. Submerged underwater, he looked upwards from his binoculars-like camera, and a whole new world unlocked before his eyes, the world of a fish. Stars were falling from the skies and crashing into the water, erupting a dazzling dance show of diamonds and crystalline gemstones. The ceiling above his head turned into a shimmering galaxy pulsating and twinkling with an otherworldly sparkle. Drops of glitter toppled down to perform a ballet of glowing ripples. All this made it look like it was a celestial concert, but all it was was just rain. 

“There’s nothing quite like swimming in the rain,” he exclaimed in the caption of the video, which has been viewed more than 10 million times in less than four days. The meditative footage triggered the feeling of coziness and lo-fi in most people. Others felt it was a “moment of Zen” that allowed them to relive the bliss of their childhood days. The gentle, dreamlike rain even made some people shed tears of healing.

The video begins with Webster standing on a boardwalk beside a small lagoon-like location, bordered by trees and clusters of grass, during summer rain. He jumps into the lagoon, and his camera starts filming a whole new world, seemingly from the perspective of someone who lives underwater. The video was captured from a variety of standpoints, including one from the bed of seagrasses and underwater plants, with the water surface acting as a ceiling. While recording, then, Webster glided through the waters filming the plip-plopping crystals of rain falling on the surface.

At times, he likely climbed out of the water to show the multi-dimensional view, including both the surface and the water underneath. From the top, the surface resembled a dense cluster of stars flying through turquoise space in slow motion. With all these enchanting visuals, it is unsurprising to find the comments section teeming with poetry. “Reminds me of my childhood,” commented @iam.mollymay. For @nita_silk, the scene was a “perspective I never knew I needed.” Many viewers started a discussion on whether the real fish swimming down below stopped to look up and enjoy the rain. “Nemo would,” replied @ooo_glitter. One Instagrammer, @incomprehensibleexistence, got jolted into the spiritual realm after watching the rain from this atypical lens. “You are a raindrop, I am a raindrop, we are raindrops. Once we hit the ocean of consciousness, we become one,” they wrote in the comment.

This isn’t the first video of its kind. On July 8, Webster shared a similar video of himself swimming in the rain and “reliving his childhood.” The video, according to a comment, was filmed in the waters of Florida Springs. It showed the surface turning into a halo of shimmery white light as the raindrops plopped into the turquoise waters. Once they came in contact with the spring’s water, they started radiating and spreading into a luminous circle of light, as if someone had suddenly spilled a bucket of stars in the water. A viewer called @lukavdw said, “This is one of the most beautiful things I’ve seen on here.”

You can follow Elston Webster (@elston.webster) on Instagram for more photos and videos of nature.

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