Photo walk No.3 during Lockdown

Could it happen three times in a row? Could we have a lovely, calm, still evening to go out walking and photographing here on the West Coast during Lockdown? You betcha we could!

Wednesday and Thursday evenings had been beautiful, with wonderful light and not a breath of wind (see my last two posts). When it looked like Friday would be the same, I was delighted. And also a little anxious. I wanted to honour the conditions of the Level 3 Lockdown here in New Zealand at the moment (no travelling outside your local area), which meant sticking to the same locations that I had shot the previous two nights. Would I come up with anything new to photograph? Or would I wander around bored and come away with nothing?

Oh well, at least I would get some exercise I guess? I really wasn't 'feeling' it in terms of photographic inspiration. But, the sky looked like it might cloud-up and get some interesting colour (the last two evenings had been absolutely cloudless), so I grabbed my E-M1, both my lenses this time, and headed out the door. With no great expectations.

Greymouth Wharf. OM-D E-M1 with Lumix 12-35mm f/2.8. f/8 @ 1/1600th, ISO 1600 

Perhaps I should go out shooting with no expectations more often? Because the images I came home with from the third night's outing are, in my estimation, the best of the three nights. And, one or two of them may be some of the best photos I've taken this year! And all because I pushed myself to explore an area that I've somehow never been to before.

My normal walk takes me down to the Cobden lagoon and estuary, overlooking the Greymouth wharf across the Grey River. I have captured several images of this area over the last few nights, taken from the roadside that I walk along. The estuary is situated next to the Greenstone Park Speedway - a heavily fenced-off area that, to be honest, I don't ever pay much attention to. But on my third trip out in as many days, I was desperate for a different viewpoint. So I had a closer look at the speedway area.

Estuary looking back towards Cobden. E-M1 with Lumix 12-35mm. f/8 @ 1/800th, ISO 1600

On closer inspection, I noticed a gravel road leading down alongside the speedway and estuary. I'm sure I must have seen it before, but I can't say that I've ever ventured down it? It just seemed like an innocuous dirt road leading off to nowhere much. Why I didn't put two and two together I'll never know. But I'm very glad that I was - a.) desperate enough to look for new locations, and - b.) curious enough to take a chance and walk down a gravel road.

Turns out the gravel road does actually lead to somewhere 😂 Whooda thunk it! It leads, not surprisingly, to around behind the estuary and speedway, to a small beach area. For someone who has lived in this area for over twenty years, but who had never gone down this road, it was like walking through the closet and into Narnia! My excitement at finding somewhere completely new to explore, in an environment that I had assumed I knew intimately, was almost overwhelming. Especially on a night where I thought that I couldn't possibly come up with any new photographs.

Blaketown Tiphead Golden Sunset. E-M1 with Lumix 45-150mm. f/5.6 @ 1/250th, ISO 200

Getting around in-behind the estuary not only gave me an unobstructed view of the Greymouth wharf, it also offered a different viewpoint of the Blaketown Tiphead. For the last few nights I had photographed looking across to Blaketown, with the setting sun at a 45 degree angle. But from this vantage, I was able to have the sun setting directly behind the tiphead, allowing the opprtunity for more of a silhouette.

And before you cry 'foul' and tell me to lay off the saturation slider in Lightroom, that's exactly what it looked like! It really was that intense and that spectacular. Honest!

Speedway commentary booth. OM-D E-M1 with Lumix 45-150mm. f/5.6 @ 1/500th, ISO 200

When I first arrived at the beach area behind the speedway, I immediately noticed the commentary booth sitting up above the foliage, with clouds gathering behind it. I knew that if the sky coloured up, and the clouds caught the light, I would get some fantastic images of the booth silhouetted against a wonderful sunset sky. I had to wait for about an hour for it to happen, but when it did, I wasn't disappointed.

Catching the light. OM-D E-M1 with Lumix 45-150mm. f/5.6 @ 1/100th, ISO 400

I love the colour, the drama, and the simplicity of these last images of the commentary booth against the sunset. I was very excited while I was taking them, and I'm still very excited now as I look at them. I pre-visualized the images, waited for the right conditions, and then executed the images in exactly the way I had planned. I spent about 30 minutes, and took around 60 photos of this one subject - observing the light as it changed, the clouds as they moved, and the composition as I refined it. It was a thoroughly enjoyable and totally reinvigorating evenings shooting. And to think, it came from an initial feeling of apathy and disinterest.

Three nights, walking around the same location during Lockdown, produced three very different sets of images (mostly). Now the rain has come for the week (not surprisingly), and I probably won't get out to shoot again for a while. But when I do, I will have a new location to go back to and re-explore - together with familiar locations that never seem to disappoint.

BTW - just a quick update on the E-M1. Now that the rear control dial has been fixed, it functions perfectly. Very responsive, and very accurate. Exactly how I remember it to be. Happy, happy, joy, joy 😁