longexposure.net

Sven July 1st, 2010

Natural reverb!  I got some pretty good sound happening this giant corrugated tunnel.

I’d found what looked like the main infall to this system some time back when I was scouting it on bike, but I’d only ever ventured in through the bottom end.  Well, until this evening.  My companion and I parked near the infall, and clambered down a low wall to access it, passing down tripods, camera bags, and, well, a guitar.  After all, what self-respecting night photographer leaves home without a musical instrument?

Now, I had not had the foresight to think closely about footwear.  A few metres into the infall, I was faced with cold, shin-deep water.  There was no sensible option other than to just slosh my way in, however, and so I did, much to the amusement of the wellie-clad fellow with me.  After a length of concrete and metal, the tunnel opened up to something of a gully, thick with overgrowth, and I was suddenly wading through a creek, rather than a drain, with spiderwebs criss-crossing my path and tangling on my tripod.  It didn’t last, though, and before long, it was back to the underground, and the large, corrugated tunnel with which I was familiar.

So, the guitar was mainly a photographic prop, but I did butcher a few tunes to see how things fared down there.  Good reverb, interesting echo.  A few shots and terrible sound recordings later, we packed up, and headed downstream towards the outfall.

Skip ahead a few nights.  Still with guitar in hand, but alone this time, I set out for a road tunnel I’ve been eyeing off for years.  Clouds were sweeping rapidly across the sky, dumping rain periodically.  My guitar wasn’t entirely pleased about that.  The most interesting part of the tunnels was the view from atop and in-between them – a great vantage point from which to sit and watch the traffic, and the world, pass by.  Not entirely convenient to access, especially with a strap-free guitar, but there are always ways to achieve such things.

I wonder what I was playing in those shots?  Thanks to my slowness in posting these things, I’m not entirely sure.  I’m going to go with “What a Year” for the drain shot, and “The Keepa” for the road tunnel.  Was I playing them well?  Chances are not good. :)

• Excursions
• Comments(1)