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December 2007
The causeway across to Holy Island was passable from midday until well after dark, making it a perfect choice for a sunset location. It was an hour before
sunset as I drove across to the island. The sky had only a few clouds in it and the light was beautiful and golden. The sand on either side of the causeway
was glowing orange with the shapes of the ripples being accentuated by the low angled sun. In between the ripples there were pools of water in the sand
reflecting the blue from the sky above. If it were possible, I would have stopped the car there and taken out my camera. But there was no place to stop and
I also knew that my planned location of Lindisfarne castle would be just as glorious.
I pulled into the car park and could see that the sun was illuminating the castle like a beacon. It shone with golden reflected light against the dark blue,
shadowed harbour. I knew from my earlier recce that I wanted to make my composition from the opposite side of the harbour so that I had the low tide, the
beach and the boats moored between where I stood and the castle, adding some interest to the middle distance.
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Lindisfarne Castle, Holy Island, Northumberand. |
I was all set up and had my composition sorted, so I turned around to get a roll of film from my backpack that was sitting in the sand behind me. I had my
back turned for only a couple of seconds, but when I turned back, the castle was completely in shade. Not a single sunlit brick or stone. Damn. I turned back
to look at the sun, to see if it was only temporarily hidden by some clouds but I couldn’t tell because the harbour wall was in the way. It was probably gone
for good. OK. Rethink. Does the composition need changing? Is the picture still balanced? Overall, it was fine, and the sky behind the castle was beginning to
turn a delicate shade of pink, complementing the blueness that now overwhelmed the scene.
It was getting very dark now, and the exposures would be of several seconds. I knew that Velvia 50 (original flavour – I haven’t yet made any test comparisons
with the new Velvia 50 film) was very good at recording the subtle colours in a scene as more intense than they had seemed to be to human eyes over long
exposures, so I hoped that there was a small amount of overall pinkness in the reflections that would be transferred to the film, so I decided not to give
up now.
The temperature was plummeting as night time was quickly drawing in and I successfully made a series of images in the rapidly changing light.
As I packed up my camera and headed back across to the mainland, I couldn’t help but feel pleased with the effort I made, even if I wasn’t guaranteed any
photographic results this time. I would have to wait until the pictures came back from the lab to know that I had made some good images. However I can’t
help wishing that I had managed to photograph the castle in all its golden glory.
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