I might have just accidentally inspired a new game: Hunt The Viewpoint.
Paul Balmer of Waterway Routes is having the mother of all electric-powered narrowboats built, and a couple of weeks back his son Andrew took a photo of the new shell being craned into the water at Cropredy.
Andrew told me that he'd seen my photo of Granny at Cropredy, with the Bridge Store sign at top right and asked himself "how did he [me] do that?". Normally, wherever you stand on Cropredy Bridge the signboard is nowhere near visible in the picture.
Well, no particular secret: I climbed onto the parapet and precariously held my camera as high as I could. The passers-by laughed nervously as I teetered on the edge, and I nicely asked them if they would ignore me and just look out over the scene, so as not to give the game away that I was standing in an unusual place, and they nicely agreed.
(I took several photos and waited patiently for the precious moment when all the elements were in place, particularly the canoeists who were about to get in the water. I wanted them to be paddling past Granny, to the left of the picture. But when they saw this odd figure standing high up on the bridge parapet with his camera they must have decided that I wanted a picture of them standing out of the water, so they waited patiently too.)
Andrew Balmer just managed to replicate the viewpoint, but was still wondering if it was a trick on my part. No, I said; just foolish enterprise that needed steady knees and nerves.
Yesterday Sue of No Problem duplicated it too, but not without some effort (and help from Ann of Moore2Life). Now that you know what I go through to get my photos perhaps I will try to find other odd camera positions to duplicate.
But remember, children, don't try this at home. It requires a special talent for foolishness.
Actually there is one part you can try at home: On the computer I 'stretched' the signboard a little to ensure the edges were square with the picture's edge, and I brought out the clouds (a little unrealistically, but I rather like that cotton-wool and turquoise effect).
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