As I write this the first cold snap is heralding the start of winter making me realise that as I grow older I am becoming more and more a fair weather photographer. Having spent a lot of my life working, often outside, all hours of the day and night in all weathers now that I’m retired I prefer to sit out the winter months in the comfort of home. Not for me snow covered landscapes, mist enshrouded vistas or hoar frost glistening on berries. Cameras get put into hibernation while neglected indoor pursuits are attended to.
However, once February is out of the way my photographic sap begins to rise forestalling the onset of cabin fever. Lenses are cleaned, cameras checked and chemical and film supplies replenished. Then with a trusted favourite loaded I’m ready to sally forth to familiar local haunts and test for the onset of Spring.
The above image is the result of one of those first sorties. It’s one of two contre-jours I took one afternoon back in March. Although the two complemented each other and made a natural pair which had an airing over on RPF this is the more extreme of them. While it has its faults it sticks in my mind more than what may be considered any ‘better’ shots achieved during the course of the year.
Leaning the balustrade of the stairs leading to the Painted Hall I shot into the low afternoon light straight along the main thoroughfare of the Old Naval Collage in Greenwich. With the camera set for aperture priority I let the meter do its own thing in selecting the shutter speed. The result was just what I wished it to be. Reduced to silhouettes and shadows the people may be but they’re all individuals. Someone in shirt sleeves, a couple engaged in earnest conversation and that guy in the middle distance with arms and legs akimbo. What was he doing I wonder? Was he, like me, worshipping the appearance of the early Spring sunshine?
It’s a moment in time pure and simple. The juxtaposition of the scene’s elements will never be repeated and for me it’s the capturing of those elusive moments which is photography at its best.
Minolta XD7 / Rokkor 45mm f2 / Tri-X / Rodinal 1:50
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