A Bridge Too Far

Last night, I was particularly intrigued by the Lion's Gate Bridge, so despite some trials and tribulations from last night's shoot, I went back again this evening.


The area around the Lighthouse was crawling with people -- perhaps more on that later -- so I parked another half mile further down the road.


While I was setting up the D700 on the tripod I heard a noise and turned around to see two raccoons absolutely fascinated by my camera bag.  They crept up on me and took me completely by surprise. I nearly jumped out of my skin. They sauntered right up to the camera bag, as casual as you please, two pudgy little grey ghosts, and one, the smaller of the two, actually started picking over the lenses in my bag, a teleconverter or two (which were small enough for them to make off with!) and the D90.  It was pitch black, so I could only really see them dimly, and it was far too dark to grab a photo of them in the gloom.  I gently pulled my 14-24mm wide-angle zoom off the tripod, cranked the ISO to 6400 and tried to capture them at 1/20 of a second at f/2.8.  STILL too dark!  Wishing I had my D3s and 1.4 prime on.  Fortunately, nothing smelled edible - I guess - and the raccoons wandered off to find better pickings.  At one point the raccoon who was deep into my camera bag was actually standing on my foot.  I thought about using the Nikon D700's on-camera flash, but somehow that would have spoiled the mood.


About a half an hour later, as I was shooting in the dark on the Sea Wall, a harbour seal swam up to within thirty or forty feet of me.  Camera was again on the tripod, pointed at the bridge, for a twenty-five second exposure.  Again, no proof of wildlife!


Can't say I was wild about the shots I got this evening.  I used the Nikon D700 and the Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8, my Nikon 70-180mm zoom and the Lensbaby Composer.  Nearly two hundred shots over two hours, and other than all the wildlife sightings, not much excitement.  Remember to check your white balance next time Vince....


Was good to get outside, regardless of the outcome and I expect that there will be many more nights this coming year where I show up with my camera but my muse does not.  


Still, you can't get hit by lightning or by inspiration unless you go out into the storm.


- Vince Hemingson