Moderate Oven
Sven January 11th, 2010
Daytime holds its own perils for the unwary photographer. Sure you get all that high-wattage light for free, but you get slowly fried, too. A summer afternoon trip, here, to a slowly-disintegrating metal monster.
My sunglasses elsewhere, a blazing late-afternoon sun pounded at my skull as though my eyeballs weren’t there at all. I hit the motorway, windows down and music up, glad to see roadwork had progressed, and decent speeds were available once again. Sweating in my seat, sun burning my arms, I turned up the volume, and You Am I accompanied me through the northbound traffic.
The sun sank gradually, but the heat remained, and I drained my water bottle shortly after leaving the car behind. The walk seemed interminable as I aimed for the oasis of shade in the distance, wishing I’d thought to bring some sunscreen. Eventually, I arrived, and my aching eyes had some respite from the scorching. Inside was cool and fresh. No, I lie, it was an oven, but at least I was out of the direct sun.
So, I had some vague expectations about the way the light would affect this place, and figured late afternoon would work well. In hindsight, I wonder if perhaps a higher sun would have worked out better, as the light through the western-facing windows left few shadows to work with. Still, the diffusion through the old, dirty windows was excellent.
My hopes for sunset shots from a vantage point nearby were sadly dashed, so I retraced my steps to where I’d parked, and raced off to catch the sunset somewhere else instead. Didn’t really turn out, though, fickle as sunsets tend to be.
It was all kind of backwards, really – the moment the sun finally dropped from sight, I was back in the car, heading home, to the strains Tim Rogers singing about six-dollar haircuts.
- Excursions
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