Monday, August 14, 2006

Gotta Love Photography

Taken with Nokia N80 Phone Camera

Right, let’s get this back on track. After spending a number of days in the company of others, the risk of social integration was a real one. The solution was simple, bugger off for a few days solitary confinement in a car, with only a camera and laptop for company.


The further you travel, the better your photography. It is a fact – written in stone. Everyone knows it, no-one disputes it. Some say it is due to putting yourself in unfamiliar surroundings allowing you to see more clearly the natural beauty of your surroundings, which, in your usual habitat go unnoticed by your disregardful oblivion. “Bollocks”, I say. It is clearly due to the fact that after travelling for a full day with the express purpose of taking photographs, then spending 48 hours alone in a car with your equipment, with nothing else to think about other than taking photos, you are in a pretty good shape to do so – and you are going to be pretty sick upon failure.

Sadly failure in this case is almost a certainty. Old Murphy was probably munching on a cheese and pickle sandwich, chuckling over the dreadful outcome of some works he had previously been sticking his oh so broad spanner into, when he noticed me on the M1 motorway. Him with the all seeing eye of disruption was instantly aware that I was on a mission. It was as plainly obvious to him as a coal miner in a Tipp-Ex factory. He spotted the gas stove, the camera, the tripod, the sleeping bag, the look of anticipation on my brow, my general happy-go-lucky – whistling to the radio – this is what life’s all about demeanour. For old Murphy, it was like a red rag to a bull, I had to be knobbled. The only question was how?

Meanwhile, there I was the unknowing focus of Murphy’s wicked attentions and joyfully heading towards some dramatic landscapes. The radio reminded me that this was officially the hottest July on record shortly after I had stocked up with water. The food supplies were sorted, the water was sorted and the agenda was open – I had no reason to return to civilisation for days.

I reached my first potential location late afternoon, and it was looking good. The sun would rise and once clear of the surrounding hills would light my chosen scene perfectly. Hell, I might even get a bit of ground mist for good measure. This was it; I was going to be rewarded for my effort. There were a good few hours left of sunlight so I continued the location hunt. Finally with the sun saying its farewell for the evening and having my location for the AM set I decided to set-up for a potential sun-rise shot. You know the kind of thing, lots of colour in the sky, partially silhouetted, really over done cliché stuff. Still why not – it was there and I had nothing better to do. With that in the bag, it was time to eat and get some rest.

Driving back to the location I had decided to sleep, due to its close proximity to my early morning shoot location, I couldn’t help notice how different it looked when the light was gone, and so too were all the people. In fact as I approached the sleep location I realised that there probably wasn’t another single person within a 5 mile radius. It looked different alright. Once parked up I generally sorted out the living quarters, which involved moving all the camera equipment to one side to allow enough room for the sleeping bag. Next on the agenda was some food. When all you have on your mind is getting photos, food ranks down there with breathing. Yep you need it but as long as you get it, who cares? So the supplies taken were 10 MRE packets of baked beans with processed sausages. This didn’t make the choice of what to eat a problem. The stove was quickly assembled in the pitch black, with the assistance of a Maglite (surely there should include some sort of teeth handle with these?), and the MRE thrown into the pot. It was just at that point that I realised again that I was miles from anywhere, in the middle of a forest, and I couldn’t see further than my hand. I probably spent as much time looking over my shoulder as I did at staring at the pot of water – which of course appeared to take the sort of time to boil that new species take to evolve. I was mighty glad to get back inside with my tepid MRE, throw the food down my throat and get in the sleeping bag. I feel asleep, sometime around 12AM, wondering what the strange scratching noises were.

The alarm went off at 3.45AM, and I couldn’t believe it but I actually felt comfortable. The Spork stuck to the side of my face was barely noticeable. I remembered falling asleep to the sound of scratching, but now there was another sound - a sort of dripping sound. No! I couldn’t be! Sure enough, Murphy, spurred on by the fact that we were in the middle of a heat wave, had decided to drop some rain on me. How could the weather change so much in 4 hours, when it hadn’t changed at all in the previous 4 weeks? I immediately jumped out of the sleeping bag, threw on some clothes (the clothes) and crawled from the car to asses the situation. Yep, it was bad. No stormy clouds, just a heavy blanket of off white grey. Surely it would clear? I made my way down to the shoot location and set-up, hoping that there might be some breaks in the cloud – hell it might even work out good. It was getting lighter, as one would expect, but the thick clouds were just getting brighter grey. I knocked up another MRE of beans and sausages, cup of tea to go with it, all piping hot this time with the comfort of light. Still no breaks in the clouds. I guess I waited there 2 hours, certainly enough time for two more cups of tea and even enough time to ponder about another helping of beans and sausages. It wasn’t looking good. I shot off a few frames (well I was there anyway) and eventually decided it wasn’t going to get any better.

Still optimistic I decided to pack up and drive around looking for other locations. The more I drove the worse the weather got. At one point I actually drove up into the clouds. I was feeling the onset of slight disappointment. The only thing for it was to head north to a completely different location and hope the weather cleared on the way – maybe even get some evening shots and certainly get ready for morning shots the following day. So, with hopes in hand I headed for the Lake District.

By the time I reached Windemere the weather was showing a better side. In fact it was almost perfect, nice fluffy cumulous. The routine began again, scouting for locations. I was a little quicker to get parked up, and although I had spent all my time scouting and didn’t capture any shots, I was ready for the morning. Another MRE and lights out at 11PM.

I decided to not open my eyes when the alarm went off, instead just listened. Nope, not a sound of rain. So I had a little pear out. Hmmm. Difficult to tell, only the barest hint of light. The gas stove cringed when I stuck another pot of water containing a baked beans and sausage MRE on it, then I walked down to the shoot location. What light there was confirmed that the cloud was back. It wasn’t quite as business-like as the previous day, so maybe it would offer opportunities. The MRE was consumed, the tea was brewed and decanted into an insulated bottle and the camera gear was picked up. Back at the shoot location I set-up and tucked into the tea – and waited. I waited some more, and finally, for about 10 seconds there was the barest break in the clouds. I shot off two frames and it was gone.

I decided that I was not really going to be rewarded for my efforts and patience, so I packed up and decided to take a scenic route on the way home. The weather never really did break, although through continued patience I did manage to grab a couple of shots in the brief moments when the sun penetrated the clouds.

Murphy 3278 : Me 0

(Some shots from this trip are on my main site)

1 Comments:

Blogger NIMBY said...

With my history of photo taking and weather, I was fully expecting something to go wrong.

I still live in the hope that with continued perseverance and effort I will one day be rewarded - and on that day, if and when it comes, I am sure I will still be expecting something to go wrong.

Meal Ready to Eat. It's an Americanism, a military acronym of which they excel. Of course Ready to Eat Meal might be better English, but then they would be confused whether they were being offered food or a state of sleep.

Wednesday, August 16, 2006 9:20:00 AM  

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