The Diary of an Out of Practice Tog (2019-11-09)
The Night Before
19.00: Checked weather forecast. Hoar frost and patches of freezing fog predicted. Poured glass of wine.
19.00-20.00: Enjoyed another splash or two of the old vino while spending a frustrating hour of indecision determining a location for the best sunrise while maximizing the likely atmospheric conditions.
20.01: Tried to remember the exact physical mechanism that could explain how a bottle of wine could simply evaporate in the space of 60 mins. Thinking a Nobel prize may be coming my way if I ever crack it.
20.30: Discovered a smidge of brandy at the end of the bottle. In a fit of OCD housekeeping decided the bottle was littering the place up, so the only decent thing to do was finish off the contents and place in recycle.
20.31: Felt smug for doing my bit for the environment and household chores.
20.45: Finally decided on spot for tomorrow’s shoot. Plugged in camera battery to recharge. Excited to get back behind the viewfinder. Having done a good job of planning, it was time for a celebratory tot (or two) before setting the Casio for a ridiculous early start. Can’t remember going to bed.
The Day
05.30: Alarm went off. Hit snooze in a soporific haze. Repeated cycle. Repeatedly.
06.15: Woke up household has I stumbled around trying to simultaneously pack camera bag (last night I seemed to forget to gather lenses, sd cards, etc. can’t imagine why), get dressed, have a cup of tea (somethings are sacrosanct, no matter how late you are running), and work out why my head was feeling like a freshly washed pillow. Some swearing may have been involved.
06.45: Finally got in the car and headed off. Later than planned.
06.46: Released a tirade of Anglo-Saxon colloquialisms as I realised I would miss the exact moment of sunrise. More Tourette-esque outbursts as I looked out of the windscreen and saw the hoar frost had not materialised and the promised glorious misty morning was not looking very, well, misty.
07.25: Finally parked up in Normanton, Rutland. Rapidly donned wellies (note to self – check the auto spellchecker has not changed “wellies” to “willies”, like it did last time. The resulting confusion and threatened legal action took a long time to resolve) and hiked off to the edge of the reservoir.
07.40: Air temp: -1 deg C, all surfaces covered in a thin veneer of ice, courtesy of the night’s frozen fog (which had mysteriously disappeared)
07.41: Found a good location to set up… a sloping wall running down into the water that I could use as a base for my tripod.
07.42: Put camera and filters on wall as I placed tripod in position.
07.42 + 30 seconds: Heard a thud as camera slowly slid off ice-covered wall and fell onto the gravel.
07.42 + 35 seconds: Frightened local joggers and dogwalkers as I shook my fist at the heavens and (very) loudly berated the gods for my misfortune and noting, with extreme-prejudice, that gods have no fathers.
07.50: Attached ND filter on freshly cleaned up camera and placed on tripod.
07.51: Pressed button on IR remote release. Nothing.
07.52: Pressed button repeatedly while promising to have some severe words with any random deity that may come wandering in this general direction. Still nothing.
08.00: Finally worked out the battery was flat and long-exposure shots were going to be limited to 30 seconds.
08.01: Noticed that my foot was getting very wet and very, very cold. Bloody wellies had leaked. Badly.
08.02: Started taking 30-second snaps as a most glorious mist rolled in across the lake and the church was cast in a beautiful dawn light.
08.05: Soggy foot had gone completely numb. Mind started wandering to vague memories of a first aid course that described the signs and symptoms of frostbite.
09.30: Finally departed Rutland with a smile on my face because I had finally got out to take some photos.
Equipment: Nikon D7000, Nikkor 10-24mm @10mm. ISO 400, F3.5, 30 sec. 7-stop Hitech Firecrest ND filter. Manfrotto tripod
Post-production: 5-shot pano merged in Photoshop. Curve layers to control local exposure. Image warped to remove barrel/spherical distortion. Partially desaturated.
The Diary of an Out of Practice Tog (2019-11-09)
The Night Before
19.00: Checked weather forecast. Hoar frost and patches of freezing fog predicted. Poured glass of wine.
19.00-20.00: Enjoyed another splash or two of the old vino while spending a frustrating hour of indecision determining a location for the best sunrise while maximizing the likely atmospheric conditions.
20.01: Tried to remember the exact physical mechanism that could explain how a bottle of wine could simply evaporate in the space of 60 mins. Thinking a Nobel prize may be coming my way if I ever crack it.
20.30: Discovered a smidge of brandy at the end of the bottle. In a fit of OCD housekeeping decided the bottle was littering the place up, so the only decent thing to do was finish off the contents and place in recycle.
20.31: Felt smug for doing my bit for the environment and household chores.
20.45: Finally decided on spot for tomorrow’s shoot. Plugged in camera battery to recharge. Excited to get back behind the viewfinder. Having done a good job of planning, it was time for a celebratory tot (or two) before setting the Casio for a ridiculous early start. Can’t remember going to bed.
The Day
05.30: Alarm went off. Hit snooze in a soporific haze. Repeated cycle. Repeatedly.
06.15: Woke up household has I stumbled around trying to simultaneously pack camera bag (last night I seemed to forget to gather lenses, sd cards, etc. can’t imagine why), get dressed, have a cup of tea (somethings are sacrosanct, no matter how late you are running), and work out why my head was feeling like a freshly washed pillow. Some swearing may have been involved.
06.45: Finally got in the car and headed off. Later than planned.
06.46: Released a tirade of Anglo-Saxon colloquialisms as I realised I would miss the exact moment of sunrise. More Tourette-esque outbursts as I looked out of the windscreen and saw the hoar frost had not materialised and the promised glorious misty morning was not looking very, well, misty.
07.25: Finally parked up in Normanton, Rutland. Rapidly donned wellies (note to self – check the auto spellchecker has not changed “wellies” to “willies”, like it did last time. The resulting confusion and threatened legal action took a long time to resolve) and hiked off to the edge of the reservoir.
07.40: Air temp: -1 deg C, all surfaces covered in a thin veneer of ice, courtesy of the night’s frozen fog (which had mysteriously disappeared)
07.41: Found a good location to set up… a sloping wall running down into the water that I could use as a base for my tripod.
07.42: Put camera and filters on wall as I placed tripod in position.
07.42 + 30 seconds: Heard a thud as camera slowly slid off ice-covered wall and fell onto the gravel.
07.42 + 35 seconds: Frightened local joggers and dogwalkers as I shook my fist at the heavens and (very) loudly berated the gods for my misfortune and noting, with extreme-prejudice, that gods have no fathers.
07.50: Attached ND filter on freshly cleaned up camera and placed on tripod.
07.51: Pressed button on IR remote release. Nothing.
07.52: Pressed button repeatedly while promising to have some severe words with any random deity that may come wandering in this general direction. Still nothing.
08.00: Finally worked out the battery was flat and long-exposure shots were going to be limited to 30 seconds.
08.01: Noticed that my foot was getting very wet and very, very cold. Bloody wellies had leaked. Badly.
08.02: Started taking 30-second snaps as a most glorious mist rolled in across the lake and the church was cast in a beautiful dawn light.
08.05: Soggy foot had gone completely numb. Mind started wandering to vague memories of a first aid course that described the signs and symptoms of frostbite.
09.30: Finally departed Rutland with a smile on my face because I had finally got out to take some photos.
Equipment: Nikon D7000, Nikkor 10-24mm @10mm. ISO 400, F3.5, 30 sec. 7-stop Hitech Firecrest ND filter. Manfrotto tripod
Post-production: 5-shot pano merged in Photoshop. Curve layers to control local exposure. Image warped to remove barrel/spherical distortion. Partially desaturated.