The Calm Before The Storm
The first thing I noticed last time was how noisy they are. I'd forgotten that. After months of working at home in the kitchen, followed by the long summer break, the unending wall of sound that more than four thousand teenagers makes had almost become a thing of the past. It was a rude awakening.
Tomorrow I'm going to go through the same experience again as England takes its first steps back to business as usual. It's almost three months since my path last crossed those of the students and I'm not entirely sure I'm prepared for the resumption of duties beyond the four walls of home. Apart from anything I'm not certain where my deodorant is. At least an uncharacteristic burst of energy earlier today means that five freshly ironed shirts are ready and waiting upstairs in the bedroom wardrobe for the week ahead. It's just their occupant who seems to be having a problem with the situation. By this time tomorrow I will already be pious, moaning and defeated - in fact I've already started the moaning as you can tell.
So in view of the approaching sensory overload I'm thinking calm thoughts and reminding myself that on the plus side I can enjoy "recreation" outside from tomorrow. My loose interpretation of this is that I can go and stand here and put the camera on the tripod until long into the blue hour once more. Soon the clocks will go forward and it will even be possible to make it to the coast after work in the evenings.
I'd forgotten I'd taken this picture until a couple of days ago when I was plodding through my SSD drive. There's a certain joy in digging about through old images and finding memories. It was the Sunday of a weekend when I'd ended up in this exact same spot for the second consecutive day and my usual immediate employment of my ND filters was brought to a temporary halt by the presence of a small cruiser making its way across St Ives Bay in the direction of Portreath. Those of you who know this place will be aware that calm seas such as this aren't the norm here, the reason why I'd seized upon the opportunity for ultra long exposures the previous day to lose the ripples completely. The scene was completed by a celestial motorway of cloud, which spread itself right across the heavens in front of me, and below the cliff I was standing on a group of seals were providing additional entertainment for anyone who cared to stand here a while. It was an hour of perfect serenity, something I am confidently predicting will not be the case tomorrow morning. At least it's only four weeks until Easter I suppose.
So wish my luck folks. I'm off to dig out the shoe polish and the red wine. Hopefully I won't get them mixed up.
The Calm Before The Storm
The first thing I noticed last time was how noisy they are. I'd forgotten that. After months of working at home in the kitchen, followed by the long summer break, the unending wall of sound that more than four thousand teenagers makes had almost become a thing of the past. It was a rude awakening.
Tomorrow I'm going to go through the same experience again as England takes its first steps back to business as usual. It's almost three months since my path last crossed those of the students and I'm not entirely sure I'm prepared for the resumption of duties beyond the four walls of home. Apart from anything I'm not certain where my deodorant is. At least an uncharacteristic burst of energy earlier today means that five freshly ironed shirts are ready and waiting upstairs in the bedroom wardrobe for the week ahead. It's just their occupant who seems to be having a problem with the situation. By this time tomorrow I will already be pious, moaning and defeated - in fact I've already started the moaning as you can tell.
So in view of the approaching sensory overload I'm thinking calm thoughts and reminding myself that on the plus side I can enjoy "recreation" outside from tomorrow. My loose interpretation of this is that I can go and stand here and put the camera on the tripod until long into the blue hour once more. Soon the clocks will go forward and it will even be possible to make it to the coast after work in the evenings.
I'd forgotten I'd taken this picture until a couple of days ago when I was plodding through my SSD drive. There's a certain joy in digging about through old images and finding memories. It was the Sunday of a weekend when I'd ended up in this exact same spot for the second consecutive day and my usual immediate employment of my ND filters was brought to a temporary halt by the presence of a small cruiser making its way across St Ives Bay in the direction of Portreath. Those of you who know this place will be aware that calm seas such as this aren't the norm here, the reason why I'd seized upon the opportunity for ultra long exposures the previous day to lose the ripples completely. The scene was completed by a celestial motorway of cloud, which spread itself right across the heavens in front of me, and below the cliff I was standing on a group of seals were providing additional entertainment for anyone who cared to stand here a while. It was an hour of perfect serenity, something I am confidently predicting will not be the case tomorrow morning. At least it's only four weeks until Easter I suppose.
So wish my luck folks. I'm off to dig out the shoe polish and the red wine. Hopefully I won't get them mixed up.