Hi folks!
Rosie and I joined some of the other camera club members on a night shoot in The City last night. Wish you were there!
To begin with it was one of those beautiful spring evenings that we sometimes get in Melbourne. We even saw a meteor shower over the Yarra!!. It wasn’t warm, although to look at Steve sauntering around in his shorts you wouldn’t believe it; but it wasnt cold either. Still a clear, cloudless, inky black sky provided us with a beautiful back drop to colourful, crisp, pin-sharp images. Did I say crisp and pin-sharp? I wish! Mine were all blacked out, underexposed, shaken, stirred and indeed a wonderful kaleidoscope of mixed colours – in a word they were stuffed! So please dear president will you organise another night shoot at the same venue, as soon as the whether is a little bit warmer? Like Friday, next week!
But seriously folk having experienced and expert shooters like Pete D, Dave S, Lief, Steve and John M there with us, Rosie and I the only “freshers”, it was a remarkable experience. We walked from 7.00pm, when we arrived to join the group on the steps of Parliament House, closely watched over by a policeman on the beat, to 11.09pm when we caught our train back home from Parliament Railway Station chaperoned all the way by Steve who very kindly watched over us when Dave pulled out and headed home. Truthfully, by the end of a long evening, patiently coached by Dave, Pete and Steve in turn, I did get a few decent images. But I got more than that; I learned that taking pictures in the dark was not simply a matter of setting your camera at 15 secs and f22 and pressing the buton to make the shot, but of making sure of all the other little things – “Is your tripod sturdy?” “No don’t lean on the legs!” “Where is your remote cable release?” “Have you taken off the steady shot switch?” “Oh bugger, there goes another tram he whole bridge is shaking!” “Is the ISO rating at the lower scale (100-) not the higher (200+)?” and lastly “Did you not bring along a wide angle lens Andy?”
Thanks gentlemen, and you too Mrs Mallett it was great to have you along too. Will you do that again – please Pete?
Cheers Andy