Spudooli

The noise, the smell and the fear

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NIKON D70 - 3403/10 sec, f3.5 at 18mm

I look forward to night shoots for days. Once I've found a good location, I can't wait to get there and see what the LCD screen on the back of the camera reveals after a 5 or 10 minute exposure.

Except, invariably, my location involves parking the car in a really undesirable spot. Normally in a place that I'd think twice about leaving it in the day, let alone at night, all on it's own. I'd sooner leave the family in some of those spots. The family all know I love my cars more than them.

Then I have to walk somewhere, there is always bush. Spooky, spooky bush.

I'm there 10 minutes, get one shot off, and start to convince myself this isn't as much fun as I'd imagined it'd be. After 2 shots, I'm now having to force myself to stand there and wait for the noise reduction cycle. By the end of the 3rd capture, I don't even wait for the noise reduction to complete. I'm packed up and heading back to the car.

The problem is, by the time I'm back in the car, I feel real stupid. Especially that I've driven for an hour to get to this spot and 3 photos was all I got. But there is no way in hell I'm going back to stand in the bush on my own. No freakin way at all.

The Photo

Tonight I was back at Muriwai Gannet Colony (check the map link below to see where the hell it is). It was a perfectly still night. The smell from the thousands of roosting gannets was something to believe. And the noise from the waves was deafening. So noisy that I couldn't hear the spooks sneaking up on me.

Map of the photo location
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Posted: Tuesday, 24 April, 2007 23:43

Captured: 2007:04:24 22:10:00

Add your own comment

  • Wow, fantastic result for this very long exposure time. A very nice location.
    Frank - Wednesday, 25 April, 2007 0:30
  • great picture ! the fog and the sky looks really good. i'd like to take pictures like that :p
    samuel dumont - Wednesday, 25 April, 2007 2:00
  • So....very....coool. Great story too you. Been there, done that and know the feeling.
    seriocomic - Wednesday, 25 April, 2007 7:11
  • Pretty amazing shot, god dammit im in awe
    James - Wednesday, 25 April, 2007 8:38
  • Thanks everyone for your comments. @samuel, that "fog" is actually the waves. They were huge and crashing into shore from a long way out.
    Dave - Wednesday, 25 April, 2007 8:56
  • Great picture! yeah samuel it does look fog did you notice that theres a little mound on the rock and the king gannet was sitting on it ; >
    sarah - Wednesday, 25 April, 2007 9:14
  • woops, i didn't notice this : "And the noise from the waves was deafening". but this definitely looks like fog :p
    samuel dumont - Wednesday, 25 April, 2007 18:55
  • Wow Dave, thats a very cool pic. The back lighting on the foreground rocks gives a great effect. One hell of a location. G/
    Glen - Thursday, 26 April, 2007 11:29
  • I'm off the beaten track I know. In regards to the question on the previous page about enlarging print,I posted what might be of help. In case no one saw it I'm posting it again. In Firefox, just hit [Ctrl] and [+] keys together, that will pump up the text - as many times as you need to get a good sized print. [Ctrl] and [-] will shrink it. Nova @ Wednesday, April 25, 2007, 4:51 pm
    Nova - Saturday, 28 April, 2007 17:15
  • Thanks Nova
    Dave - Monday, 30 April, 2007 19:19
  • thanks to everyone who replied about increasing the print. It worked and us oldies are really pleased to be able to read the screen without our noses 2 cm off the screen.
    Ma - Tuesday, 1 May, 2007 11:46
  • Really striking, and soothing. Wandering if you experienced any major noise/banding issues with such a long exposure? If not, could you tell us how and if so, how did you overcome them?
    Robert - Tuesday, 1 May, 2007 12:29
  • The more I looked at the photo,it seemed to me as if part of the Arizona desert had moved to the edge of the sea.
    Nova - Tuesday, 1 May, 2007 17:58
  • Nice perspective.
    alexandru savu - Monday, 7 May, 2007 8:13
  • Dave that's a fantastic shot! And it make me very homesick... for Muriwai not the Gannet Colony!
    brig - Monday, 7 May, 2007 20:39

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