Ship Passing In The Night
Last night, I had the audacious pleasure of participating in an unique and prestigious ‘Rite of Summer’ that, on occasion, is held in these parts: the Bando de Kvar’s Dark Of The Moon (DOM) Festival and by golly, it was an event I will not forget any time soon, nor reframe from trembling with self-doubt when beseeched by my grandkids to regale them with all the pertinent details of what went on and how, by god, I survived such an ordeal.
It was with hesitation and a forbidding dread that I accepted the offer to join this motley gang on such a dubious venture but, soaking up my fears with a soggy piece of toast and battling back the stragglers of same said fears with a claymore, I tossed the camera bag, tripod and bug repel…umm, well actually, I meant to include some bug repel…ugh! I shudder just thinking about the gravity of my faux pas!
Upon my arrival in the distant outpost of the St. Lawrence Seaway known as Port Colborne, memories started flooding back from many years ago, when the band I was in played a hotel here and were forced to alternate sets with a stripper but, I digress. Anyway, meeting up with the three other members of BdK, just as “blue hour” was fading into night, we began with shooting the old, hulking Robin Hood Flour building; bugs and small flying things that might have also been bugs but, seemed to possess simultaneously the identical characteristics of dragons and sharks, ate at our brains and any other exposed flesh dino-burger not protected by bug repel (I just can't bring myself to utter the full word)…grr!
All seemed fine until ‘Crusher’ suggested I smile in a most awkward manner. Just at that moment, some fireworks for Canada Day (Tuesday actually) were set off in the distance and I glanced away, only to turn back again and lo! And behold! Barrington suggested we abscond away yonder and witness the bridge that reportedly was in the process of raising. I asked, “By itself?” They all laughed and off we proceeded…flashlights being used as visual aids in the murkiness. I knew though, what transpired could only mean one thing: I was now photowalking with aliens!
After a brief police chase, we arrived just in time to see the bridge rise, due to the impending arrival of a Ship in the Night. As the music played, we watched in wonder as, sure enough, the damned thing seemed to elevate seemingly on its own accord! The music comes out of some little tin speakers and has been doing so since World War I. It was said to buck up the civilians. Again, each member produced his weapon consisting of three metal sticks, some in varying thickness (and it has been said, in direct proportional contrast to his insecurity), joined at one end by a primitive mounting device and proceeded to capture images clouded in shadows and spectral lights emerging with a swarthy, ghostly ambiance that sent the hairs on the back of my neck straight up to the principal’s office…jiminy-crickets, it was frightening! These spectres of seafaring men seemed to get pulled into our very Zeisses, Pentax smc DA’s and Nikkor’s, as if sucked through the very existence of time!
After the ship passed into the darkness, I was pretty tired but, I managed to drive Barry home, subsequently arriving at my own home some twenty-eight minutes later. I had a beer but, headed off to bed shortly thereafter.
Oh, and they really weren’t aliens! Ha! I just made that part up but, the rest is true! I swear!
Ship Passing In The Night
Last night, I had the audacious pleasure of participating in an unique and prestigious ‘Rite of Summer’ that, on occasion, is held in these parts: the Bando de Kvar’s Dark Of The Moon (DOM) Festival and by golly, it was an event I will not forget any time soon, nor reframe from trembling with self-doubt when beseeched by my grandkids to regale them with all the pertinent details of what went on and how, by god, I survived such an ordeal.
It was with hesitation and a forbidding dread that I accepted the offer to join this motley gang on such a dubious venture but, soaking up my fears with a soggy piece of toast and battling back the stragglers of same said fears with a claymore, I tossed the camera bag, tripod and bug repel…umm, well actually, I meant to include some bug repel…ugh! I shudder just thinking about the gravity of my faux pas!
Upon my arrival in the distant outpost of the St. Lawrence Seaway known as Port Colborne, memories started flooding back from many years ago, when the band I was in played a hotel here and were forced to alternate sets with a stripper but, I digress. Anyway, meeting up with the three other members of BdK, just as “blue hour” was fading into night, we began with shooting the old, hulking Robin Hood Flour building; bugs and small flying things that might have also been bugs but, seemed to possess simultaneously the identical characteristics of dragons and sharks, ate at our brains and any other exposed flesh dino-burger not protected by bug repel (I just can't bring myself to utter the full word)…grr!
All seemed fine until ‘Crusher’ suggested I smile in a most awkward manner. Just at that moment, some fireworks for Canada Day (Tuesday actually) were set off in the distance and I glanced away, only to turn back again and lo! And behold! Barrington suggested we abscond away yonder and witness the bridge that reportedly was in the process of raising. I asked, “By itself?” They all laughed and off we proceeded…flashlights being used as visual aids in the murkiness. I knew though, what transpired could only mean one thing: I was now photowalking with aliens!
After a brief police chase, we arrived just in time to see the bridge rise, due to the impending arrival of a Ship in the Night. As the music played, we watched in wonder as, sure enough, the damned thing seemed to elevate seemingly on its own accord! The music comes out of some little tin speakers and has been doing so since World War I. It was said to buck up the civilians. Again, each member produced his weapon consisting of three metal sticks, some in varying thickness (and it has been said, in direct proportional contrast to his insecurity), joined at one end by a primitive mounting device and proceeded to capture images clouded in shadows and spectral lights emerging with a swarthy, ghostly ambiance that sent the hairs on the back of my neck straight up to the principal’s office…jiminy-crickets, it was frightening! These spectres of seafaring men seemed to get pulled into our very Zeisses, Pentax smc DA’s and Nikkor’s, as if sucked through the very existence of time!
After the ship passed into the darkness, I was pretty tired but, I managed to drive Barry home, subsequently arriving at my own home some twenty-eight minutes later. I had a beer but, headed off to bed shortly thereafter.
Oh, and they really weren’t aliens! Ha! I just made that part up but, the rest is true! I swear!