Adventures of an Idiot - occasional ramblings of a photography freak

Here we are then. End of day. Me and mate. In The Bear. His shift about to end. An hour or so to kill.

“So”, sez I, “we up for some photos then?” What with him not having done anything at all photowise during the day and me only having grabbed a mere couple of shots since my arrival there he naturally acquiesces.
So we spend a few idle moments mulling over where to go. The river! The town side of the river. “Haven’t taken any photos there with my new camera” sez he.

However, its now winter. And its early evening. Which means its dark outside. And there’s not much artificial lighting down by the river, either the town side or the Embankment side. Should really use a tripod.
But of course neither of us bothered to bring one. However, I do have the monopod in the backpack.

I have to confess, I’ve not had a great deal of success with the monopod in the past. Not that I’ve used it too much. Mainly because on the few occasions I have used it I’ve not had a great deal of success with it.
And the coupla times mate’s tried using it he’s not had much success with it either.

“Oh, it’ll be all right”, I declare optimistically. “We’ll manage”.

So with his shift ended off we trot, down to the town side of the river.

Both of us manage to take loads of pics. Of traffic crossing the town bridge. Of the bridge itself, beautifully illuminated by the blue spotlights. Of canoes on the river, manned by stalwarts from the local rowing club. Riverside lights and lights from the college towerblock reflected in the water. Darkening clouds. The eerily-lit pathway alongside the river. The moon rising over the Swan Hotel. Illuminated shop-fronts and building facades along the High Street,

Wonderful shots! Really beautiful captures!

Admittedly, reviewing them on our cameras’ LCDs it was quite obvious that some were a bit naff. But the majority of them looked really good.

Well, having satisfactorily filled the spare hour or so we hooked up with mate’s girlfriend and wandered over to the local supermarket for our weekly shopping expedition.
En route to which, and for the second week running, our eyes are drawn to the superbly illuminated “Big Top” and other tents of the circus that happens to be in town.
Its just gotta be done… after all, we may not get the chance again. So out come the cameras and click, click, click. Another batch of lovely night-time shots on the memory cards.

Once back home I’m eager to offload all the pics to the infernal machine and start developing.

Here we go then…

Yep. Some nice shots from the first part of the day, the Kempston session.
Yep. Some more nice shots from the second part of the day, the walk along the riverside.
Hmm. Nice shots from the third part of the day, in The Bear. Problem is, not enough of them.
Then there’s the fourth part of the day, the town side of the river at night etc. Probably the less said about those the better. But I just can’t restrain myself.

They’re ‘orrible. Crap. Sheer unadulterated rubbish! We really shoulda used a tripod.
Some useful additional things were discovered though. Or rather, things previously discovered that have now been confirmed.
First, that camera LCDs are not to be relied upon!
Second, that monopods are probably the most useless bit of photo kit that I’ve yet encountered! Maybe they’re not intended for use in the evening or at night. Maybe they’re meant simply for poor daytime lighting use. But far as I’m concerned they’re a complete waste of time.

But the real lesson, that I seem totally incapable of learning, is that this sort of night-time session absolutely demands a tripod. And no amount of optimism will change that.

So, as the nice men in white coats finally take me away to a place of safety where I can no longer beat mate around the head with a load of useless JPEGs, if you listen carefully you may hear the mad mumbling of “Shoulda used the tripod… shoulda used the tripod… shoulda used the tri…” [fading into distance]

As it happens I did end up with a couple of shots from that last evening part… which I may post to Flickr… if ever I recover from the insanity that seems to afflict me whenever I confront the “night-time + camera” equation.