This weekend's offered us the brightest and best full moon for ages. So, although I was really snug and warm on Granny on Saturday night at Stone, I forced myself out at midnight to try and catch some of that light.
Although the snow and ice had largely melted last week, it started to freeze and sleet again on Saturday night as soon as I stepped off the boat.
I forced myself to freeze in the name of art. Actually it's not that hard when the snow is fresh on the ground and there are no footsteps to spoil the view.
It's very frustrating for me, though. I know a bad workman blames his tools, but I could do so much more with a more advanced camera than the basic Nikon D60 and flimsy tripod that are all I can afford.
(Elephantine memories might remember that four weeks ago I slipped in the snow at Harecastle Tunnel and broke a lens. In fact I dug out an older lens I was using for another camera, and while it isn't in alignment and the results aren't sharp, it does the job.)
The biggest hurdle to good moonlit photography is modern street lighting. The moon itself is a neutral grey, and casts a subdued and reflected sunlight that is low enough to allow local lighting to have its own effect on a landscape.
However, modern monochromatic yellow sodium streetlight muscles in on townscapes and not only stamps its own dreary vivid colour on scenes, but drowns out more characterful lights nearby.
For example, capturing the old horse tunnel at Newcastle Road Lock (left) was a great challenge, with two streetlamps, left and right, flooding the brick walls with their bright yellow.
I managed to recover some of the detail in the shadowed parts by 'painting' the scene with my torch. You can see the faint, remaining effect of the full moon in a bluish square on the ground on the bottom right of the picture.
Down by the boatyard lock, I was captivated by the fresh powdering of snow, which gave a simplified cleanliness to the scene. But that infernal sodium glow was everywhere down there.
On the way back to the boat, close to 3am, I slipped on snow, and fell once again on my tripod and camera (as I did earlier this month. Damn! At least the camera and backup lens didn't break this time, and the tripod seemed unbent, although I'm sure the lens is now even more out of alignment.
But it makes me realise that even if I could afford the £2,500 camera and lens I wanted, I couldn't really afford to take them out on midnight prowls. I must learn to consider my equipment as disposable.
Before you do yourself any damage try these.
http://www.algeos.com/acatalog/Yaktrax_Pro.html
Posted by: Dave Winter | Monday, 01 February 2010 at 09:22 PM
Time to invest in a pair of snowshoes?
Posted by: anne 'n olly | Monday, 01 February 2010 at 11:28 AM