Doesn't matter which one.
Now imagine that it's 50 feet up made of rock, is sloping and covered with gravel.
Now think to yourself "If I could stand out there it would make a much better shot." Then imagine lifting up your camera on the tripod and walking slowly out. Put the tripod down, put your filter holder on upside down so that all the filters fall out on the ground. Bend down and gingerly pick them up. Swear (because they are now scratched). Slip. Shit yourself. Abandon the shot. A few minutes later after relocating and seeing the best of the sunset disappear (the clouds go blue and everything is over). I pack up. When everything is packed away and the tripod secured to the bag I stand up and see that the sky has exploded back into colour.
Bugger.
I already had some in the bag so it wasn't a disaster. We were in Cornwall on holiday. As unlikely as it seems it was glorious weather all week. The only issue, and I shouldn't really complain, was that the skies were completely cloudless - apart from one day which was completely overcast. Carol had chosen the location as it was near to St. Michael's mount. I had been inspired by David Noton (again) to shoot it at dawn.
We set the alarm for 4:00am. Neither of us could sleep anyway so I was already awake when the alarm went off. I couldn't believe how light it was already so hurriedly grabbed all the gear and jumped into the car. We then tried to leave the camp site as quietly as possible. Halfway to the mount I realised I had left the tripod in the tent. We drove back into the camp site as quietly as possible grabbed the tripod and then off again (as quietly as possible).
When we finally arrived we parked up and Carol set about shivering while I jumped about on the seaweed covered rocks trying to find the best shot. It was low tide so there were plenty of opportunities for a decent shot. Once again the clouds were in short supply but I think I made the best out of what I could see. This is 5:30 am (I have to keep reminding myself as it's such a rare sight for me. I thought sunrise was just a myth, but apparently it's true, it doesn't just appear sometime after 10)
I don't really wait for the light. I always think there's a better shot just over there. So I'll set up, shoot a few and then move to the better location, then move again and so on until the sun has come up (rare) or gone down - or more likely gone behind a cloud bank. Also I don't really have the time to wait for the light. I'm like most people I'm not a pro landscape photographer so I can't dedicate a week to getting the perfect shot. I can dedicate a day or a few hours to making the best I can.
One time where I did wait for the light - or rather waited for the cloud - was later in the week when we decided to shoot the mount at sunset. We parked up and wandered round looking for the ideal location. It started out fine with (unfortunately) cloudless skies but then a mist started rolling out and covered the mount. You couldn't see it at all. So I set up on the causeway and waited. People came past, went on to the mount, came back, I was still there waiting. I was asked if I was doing time lapse. I said "No just waiting for the cloud to disappear. I didn't know cloud magnets existed until tonight." I waited for an hour. Carol had long since gone back to the car. Every few minutes I had to wipe off the filters as they were covered in condensation, as was I. Eventually the cloud cleared and the top of the mount showed through. I shot a few, reconfigured, got the moon in and then retired to the car. Was it worth it? I think so.
On the last day we found a lighthouse. Scouted it out during the day and went back in the evening to shoot it. I thought I had found the perfect spot in the day. Once again had to traverse a steep slope (on which I slipped over on my arse in the day - no grip flip flops) but when we got there in the evening it wasn't working at all.
We didn't have long as the sun was going down so I ran up to where there were a few other photographers (I hate the word "tog") and set up near them. I got chatting to one guy who was shooting on film and had not brought along a tripod. I'm not sure why people feel superior shooting on film. I don't see why I should be limited by a medium I don't use. If there was a painter there, would he feel superior? or maybe some bloke hacking away at a rock. Would he feel superior still? I'm not suggesting he looked down on me. It didn't appear that way. But there are still plenty of people out there that think they are more worthy because they have a roll of film in their fully automatic electronic camera and to be honest I am sick of reading the letters page of Practical Photography and hearing them bang on about it. I have now cancelled my subscription. Rant over.
I got some nice shots. The guy with the film had no idea if he had nice shots as he wouldn't find out until they were developed. He explained that it was all experimental. He had a digital SLR but doesn't like computers. Hopefully his shots were great too.
This one was taken after he declared that the light had gone. It's something he couldn't take. Even though he had a top of the range pro EOS1 canon film camera. All my shots are bracketed (taken at different exposures) and then blended together in Photoshop to produce an image where everything has detail. Nothing is too dark or blown out. It's a way of producing an image that more approximates what the eye can see.
So with a cloudless week behind us we set off home under dramatic skies (typical). Never mind, if we had stayed another day we would have been packing up in the rain and that's never much fun.
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