Blogg

August 2009

I’m a weather forecast fanatic. I can tell you what time the sun rises and when it sets, also what kind of cloud cover will be present. In which quarter the moon is and also it’s time of rise and set. I know the time of low and high tide when I’m shooting seascapes. I will know weeks ahead when the next front will hit the Overberg, whether it will bring rain and also the estimated percentage it will bring. Weather wise, I’m well prepared for my shoots. Any other factors are either seen as a bonus or a shoot write-off.
These photos were planned well ahead, and yet I can only laugh at myself for, in spite of all my planning, I still got it wrong. The photo that I envisioned for the shoot never happened. It should have shown a tree on a mountain top, backlit or side lit by the glorious red light of the setting sun , with a sweep of landscape at the bottom and a panoramic Overberg at the back.
I’ve located the tree on the mountain (actually a small hill next to a field of barley) and asked permission to enter private land. I set out that afternoon with my eyes on the sun and at about 4:15pm started the climb to the top where my promised tree were watching my efforts. Very soon I was gasping for breath, the hill had turned into a mountain. My legs ached as I watched worriedly as the sun started to sink deeper and deeper into a haze of smoke or mist, promising to swallow the red sunlight of the setting sun.
By 5:30pm, still climbing, I watched with growing panic as the sun started to set, not on the horizon at 6:05 as planned, but behind the Swartberg mountain range. My heart was trying it’s best to keep up with this sudden physical effort I was putting on it to win the battle of a setting sun. I stopped briefly to capture the photo’s above before scrambling on, my tripod and camera slung over my shoulder for a quicker set-up at the top. I have rid myself of all my top clothing and cursed myself for not bringing a water bottle. By now I was scaling rocks in an effort to catch up with the rising shadow line of the setting sun. I turned a corner and saw my promised tree, just in time to see the sun shed it’s last rays over the mountain top. It was 5:40pm. I turned around and started the long climb down to my Jeep.
I will need to return again....