Bletherings

During a day of computer work I decided I needed to give myself a break and head out with my camera gear to seek more inspiration.

I do enjoy film editing but after a while it becomes mind numbing and an escape was certainly called for.

But I also knew that I had certain deadlines to meet so wouldn’t be able to get out ’til late. An evening shoot was called for and I got set to head to Scaleber Fall in the Yorkshire Dales to move my ailing Nightfalls project on a bit. To be honest I’ve become a bit disillusioned with this project and then initial enthusiasm has waned down to next to nothing.

It’s a tough gig that I’ve set myself. Shooting waterfalls in the dark! I first had the idea following a great dusky shoot at Gordale where the failing light had an unexpected and quite magical effect on the fall that gushed from the gorge. I was hooked and decided to see if I could shoot a series of waterfalls in this spellbinding light.

I do have a habit of making things tough for myself and I set myself the boundary of only shooting when it was too dark to actually see my camera, let alone the landscape in front of me. And as a result I’ve run into all kinds of problems, not least the hairy atmosphere that pervades the darkness when all sensory input falls away apart from the constant roar of the fall.

I hear voices, moans, laughter and yells all woven within the roar of the water (maybe) and to be honest it sends a shiver up my spine.

Especially when I look down at the timer and see I’ve another 40 minutes to wait, without using any light, while the hour long exposure completes.

And then there’s camera noise! But that’s a whole other story that I’m trying my best to solve. So there I was, stood in the dark with an hour to wait as the Canon steadily caught what few photons of light the land decided to throw it’s way.

I can’t tell you how happy I was to get back to Big Black Van at 9:30. However when I got home and checked the final shot once the hour long long exposure noise removal process had finished I must admit to being a tad disappointed. Back to the drawing board for me.