One walk (or two) over and over; any camera, or lens

Richard G

Richard G

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When I realised I was going to work in the dark and coming home in the dark for quite a bit of the year I started taking a walk at lunchtime with a camera, around the dense network of small streets near my office. I would vary the route a little but always within a few hundred square meter block. On a Sunday evening after about 4:30 I was taking a regular walk from home, usually the same route, week after week. It was amazing what I saw and what disappeared and what appeared for the first time on those many walks. I learnt more about the weather. So often in that late afternoon, overcast, around 5:15pm a silvery light suddenly would blast from under the clouds about 45 minutes before sunset, and illuminate the ordinary in the most beautiful way. I've taken film and digital cameras and lenses from 21 to 50mm focal length. It didn't seem to matter what. Conversely on the same track by the ocean each January I saw so many things differently when I first carried the Hasselblad over my shoulder on a tripod, things I'd walked past at least twice a day for two weeks every year for ten years or more.



Hawthorn West by Richard, on Flickr



L9005064.jpg by Richard, on Flickr



Likely Ektar 100, M6 and 35 Summicron. by Richard, on Flickr
 
Lovely light and results Richard. Going around the same patch at different times of the day and year as you do is rewarding, as you have demonstrated - over time one notices small things, and sometimes there are nice surprises. Love the tones in the Hawthorn West image.
 
Thanks Dave and Lynn. It is also a lesson in having the camera, and getting the shot that first tine. The cloud cover, or worse, rain, will spoil the next time, or the light is again magic but someone’s left a supermarket plastic bag on the chair.
 
One of the benefits of carrying a camera is that it always compels me to pay attention! Even if I don 't make a single shot, I feel much more present and engaged with my surroundings, simply because I'm looking more intensely. Of course, ideally, I should do that regardless, but having a camera along encourages that greater attentiveness. I'm seldom without one for that reason, to the frequent consternation and puzzlement of my companions.
 
They say golf is a good walk ruined. But I agree with you 100%: a camera in hand is a good walk enhanced, no shot required. I was amazed to discover that consistent late afternoon gift of the low sunlight under the clouds. Must have been there for decades totally unobserved by me.
 
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