Terrorists plot surprise attack on… um… fields!

Well, actually, no.

It happened like this…

Quite a nice day and, having just about had enough of documenting protests and demos for the time being, thought I’d venture a bit further afield than my normal stomping grounds to do one of my “scenic” photo sorties.
So, getting into the town centre I jump into a taxi (working on the basis that I’ll probably be walking back into town, so best conserve my energy whilst I can) to take me to the village of Ravensden, on the north-eastern edge of Bedford (more of this anon).

So there am I, at the top of this hill (possibly the highest in the immediate vicinity), expecting some marvellous panoramic views of the surrounding landscape. Expectations not to be fulfilled unfortunately.
But, never despairing, out come the cameras and start clicking away.

A few long-distance shots (which reminds me, I really must remember the lesson of using a tripod/monopod when doing these… fortunately I just about got away with it this time cos it was a fairly bright day), coupla trees, the road, a gate, a ditch… oh, and plenty of fields… hmm… subject-matter’s not terribly inspiring, I have to confess.

Ah, there’s an interesting-looking farm building, and hey, a little pond tucked behind a wall.
There’s some quite interesting houses around here too but I don’t really like shooting peoples’ private dwellings… feels somewhat intrusive if done without their permission.

Well, you’ve just about got the idea by now. I’ve nearly wandered down to an area known as Ravensden Crossroads then (not being too ambitious cos I’m conscious of having a time-limit, albeit loose, on my venture) back up the hill, with the intention of slowly making my way into town (a couple or three miles away).

And who should I spy walking toward me but a coupla gents, dressed casually (slacks, fleece) but in lookalike clothes, dark. From their general appearance and demeanour I peg them as maybe security-types or something, but don’t really take much notice of them. Particularly as they pass me by quite casually with just a nod.

Carry on walking and stopping periodically to take the odd shot here and there and these gents pass me again, walking in my direction this time.
Still don’t take much notice; still carry on doing my thing; still slowly moving down the hill in the direction of the town.
Now about half-way down the hill (where, on one side of the road, the path gives way to a simple grass verge) there’s these two gents just standing there, doing nothing much at all.

Being on the same side I pass them (with another nod), then cross over the road, and suddenly spot something that’s simply crying out to be photographed… a beaten-up old bus stop in an advanced state of ruination.
Gleefully capturing it for posterity, on turning I notice that my two shadows have dragged out a crappy point & shoot and are vaguely pointing it in my general direction!

Well, suddenly it all clicks into place!

So, in very friendly fashion I call across the road to them “Hey, wanna borrow my camera?” with which they come over to join me, and we get to chatting, initially about the merits of our respective photo kit.
They’re intrigued to know why I took a pic of the bus stop (a dead giveaway that they weren’t really into photography) which naturally opened the way for me to query their presence.

Ah… seems they’re cops (what a surprise!), and they spin some yarn about being on a training exercise for “contingency planning” in the event of some emergency occurring. Not sure if they were making it up as they went along, or if it was a pre-arranged tale for just such an encounter (if the latter it was a pretty poor one, with obviously not much thought given to it beforehand. But far be it from me to point out the loopholes here… after all, don’t wanna given them any clues on how to improve their inventiveness, do I?).

Just so there’s no misunderstanding, these guys were perfectly pleasant with no hint of being (in the customary cop fashion) arrogantly inquisitive, and we actually had quite a good chat, them clearly being satisfied that I was just an ordinary guy taking photos cos I “do” photography.

But its the subscript that’s truly disturbing. Clearly some paranoid local resident or busybody passer-by had made a quick call to the cops about someone “acting suspiciously” (i.e., taking photographs!) and out they’d come in double-quick time to see what’s what.

And there’s no doubt that their reason for being was to monitor my movements, for even after having exchanged pleasantries with them and gone on my way, shambling quite slowly along with an occasional stop here and there to snap something else that caught my attention, I spotted them at least a coupla times in an unmarked white van, clearly marking my progress.

If proof were needed that we’re now living in a society that’s scared of its own shadow, then surely this was it. And if we really have reached that point, thanks to all the nonsensical government-sponsored hype about “terrorism”, then the terrorists truly have won!

Ok, I’d snapped some shots of a cellnet mast, and a couple of some power lines (the shooting of which had, I’m fairly certain, not been observed), but the one that certainly was observed – a beaten-up old bus stop – come on, I ask you!
And the truth of the matter is that if I truly were a terrorist on a photo-recce I can instantly think up at least half-a-dozen different ways to get pics quite discreetly and without attracting attention. One thing I certainly wouldn’t do is wander around quite un-selfconsciously carrying a bloody great photo-backpack, with a dSLR slung around my neck and another with a damn long lens draped over my shoulder. And the good old “double bluff” argument of “well, no-one would suspect an obvious photographer of being up to no good” just doesn’t work simply because the would-be terrorist or ne’er-do-well will instinctively not want to draw attention to themselves and have their presence recorded.

But then again, I don’t wholly buy into this “terrorism” scam in the first place. The more I see of it the more convinced I become its just one more manifestation of the “Reichstag fire” syndrome… and if you don’t know what that is then you deserve all the Establishment can dump on you!
In fact, my take on terrorism has remained pretty much unchanged since I wrote this.

And anyway, let’s face it, the alleged “terrorism” of which we’re supposedly a target, if indeed we are, is really only a direct consequence of the misdeeds perpetrated in the past by our so-called “civilised” nations. So what the f**k have we got to complain about? Reap what ye shall sow and all that!

However, enough of the rant. A bit about the actual location of this present batch of pics…

The “village” of Ravensden is really a bit of an anomaly as far as I understand by the term “village”… as indeed are so many of the villages hereabouts.
It should perhaps more accurately be described as a “postal area”, for it actually comprises a number of distinct locales, each separate from the other by a coupla miles at least.
First, the official “boundary” of Ravensden is marked at the western-most point at the start of Bedford’s Cleat Hill, which is where most of this present batch were shot (this includes an area known as Mowsbury Park… renowned locally for its golf course).
Walking on a bit (a mile or mile-and-a-half) one then reaches what is generally known as Ravensden Crossroads, then a further trek brings one to Ravensden Church End (I didn’t venture that far… another day maybe).

The current photo batch comprises 47 pics but I won’t provide a link to the set as additional photos from other parts of Ravensden may well be added at a future date.

So to see them all simply click one of the above thumbnails and then browse the photostream from that general position… if you feel so inclined, that is.

[Edit 11 April '08: Hmm... its real irritating to find that photos that look OK in Lightroom after processing look completely rubbish when uploaded to Flickr. Maybe its something to do with Flickr's default white background compared to Lightroom's neutral grey; maybe its to do with the conversion from AdobeRGB colourspace to sRGB; maybe its simply over-enthusiasm on my part now I've freed myself from the blinkers and inflexibility of the "no post-processing" rule. Whatever. Consequence is, I've had to reprocess/reupload about a half-dozen or so pics to Flickr, deleted a couple of really naff ones, and uploaded one hitherto not seen one... so the batch now comprises 46.]