While more conventional photo blogs are posting subjects like “Best photo of 2008” (I assume, the only ones I look at never seem to get updated – you know who you are), here at simonbills.com we’re doing things a little differently. And by a little differently I mean just that, a little differently. My personal spin on the well worn topic is to bring the whole day into it, what was my best day in 2008, and what photos did I take that captured the essence of that day.
I’ll start by saying it’s impossible to narrow it down to just 1 day. In previous years I’ve had to have a good long think about my best day so this year I started the thought process early, some time in November, but even then I was well aware that some incredible adventures were yet to come so my list was far from finalised. Anyway, enough of the yip yap, I’ve managed to cull my list down to the point I can cull no further, so here we go, in chronological order, the top 4 days in 2008 for Simon Bills (of simonbills.com fame).
July 6 – Wimbledon Final
I’ve already spoken about this in a previous blog so I shant talk too much about it here, what I will do it show you a photo of how the day started…
how it ended…..
and a collection of 3 shots I put together to form 1 image, I’m thinking of blowing this up and pinning it on my wall somewhere.
August 24 – Sweden Kayaking Day 4
After 3 days of semi-gruelling kayaking through Sweden’s stunning St Anna archipelago we decided to enjoy a day of rest. The previous 2 days had started with an early breakfast before taking down tents and dismantling the camp, a necessary chore in the world of kayak camping, day 4 however did not require any such chores as we were spending that night in the same camp spot. There was a minor necessity to attend to, that of paddling over the sea for 20 minutes to drop our rubbish and collect fresh water, and Barny and I were up to the challenge. After loading up the kayak we leisurely eased our way to the other side, and while Barny was diligently sorting the rubbish for the recycling bins I went in search of fresh water. Like Burke and Wills my pursuit was relentless, but I soon realised we’d need to go for a walk, not a long walk but a walk none-the-less. It didn’t take us long to stumble upon a caravan park, and it also didn’t take us long to realise they sold ice cream in the kiosk. 5 minutes later, while we were basking in the sunshine on some park benches, Barny remarked “Man, this is great, I don’t think I’ve ever had ice cream before breakfast before”. I had to agree.
Ice creams devoured and tooth brushes purchased (my toiletries bag went missing on day 1 so the teeth for screamin’ for a cleanin’) we returned to camp with an ample supply of H20. Waiting for us was a warm campfire and some warm friends who had prepared a couple of egg of toast breakfasts for the hardy explorers, a nice little chaser to the ice cream enjoyed earlier. The rest of the day played out in a very relaxed manner, the sun was shining, the cliffs were beckoning and the mood was chilled.
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| From Sweden Long Weekend |
(the keen observer, ok, super-keen observer, will note that the arm at the top of this photo belongs to yours truly, and as I'm not quick enough to set up a tripod, run around some rocks and get the timing bang on you've probably guessed I didn't take this shot. Photo credit goes to my Old Street Photography business partner Danny Zada)
The afternoon involved some Olympic style kayaking events, we split up into teams of 2 and had time trials to see who could paddle the fastest round that rock over there. Josh and I were clearly the team to beat, with our vast River Murray canoe trip back catalogue under our belts, however this didn’t prepare us properly for working out which rock in particular we were paddling around and we ended up going the wrong way, the long way, and finished a shameful 3rd. Kudos to Barny and Zads for taking the prize. Dinner was tasty Swedish meatballs round the fire, the beer was flowing, as were the finest cask wines Sweden had to offer, and we were all enjoying some fantastic campfire camaraderie in the shadow of one of the worlds finest sunsets.
That night a few of us headed out for a midnight paddle. The water was glass and a single stroke would take you 25 metres. Lit only by the earth’s moon we paddled to the other side and listened to the conversations of those left round the campfire as their sound waves travelled unhindered through the still night. We decided to take a slow paddle round that rock of over there and returned to the fire after an almost spiritual experience of peace.
And then I went to bed, thus ending one of my top 4 days of the year.
November 22 – First full day in Bottlierskop private game reserve
I woke to the sounds of nature from the sanctity of my tent, a million crickets, birds and baboons acting as nature’s alarm clock. Man’s alarm clock came shortly after in the form of a wake up call from reception (oh, did I mention I was sleeping in a king sized 4 poster bed in a luxury tent equipped with 2 sinks, a massive bath, a glorious outdoor shower and, get this, air conditioning?). An open top jeep was waiting for Yvonne and I up the hill and the animals were waiting to have their photos taken. We enjoyed a cup of tea and a rusk out on the deck as I came to terms with being awake at 5:30am.
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| From Vleesbaai and Bottlierskop |
The morning game drive was great, we saw a bunch of crazy creatures doing what they do, and I managed to get some nice happy snaps in the process, but as I’ve already talked about this in a previous blog I won’t go into it any further. Hot towels and a hot breakfast were waiting for us on our return to the lodge, and soon after I was enjoying a hot shower in the aforementioned outdoor facility. After a brief cruise on the river we settled in by the pool for the afternoon, and with drinks and snacks on command it was impossible not to relax and get through a few pages of Midnight’s Children (yeah, that’s right, I read classy books). A tasty bespoke lunch was followed by an afternoon nap, which in turn was followed by a game drive to go see the lions. Again, you’ve seen some lion shots in the previous blog, what I will say is that the lions were a lot more active than when we’d seen them the day before, and the light shining down on them was conducive to some lovely photos.
We were presented with a sherry on our return to the lodge and enjoyed a couple of sun downers on the deck pre-dinner. Dinner itself included some exotic game meats (including zebra, tastes just like horse) accompanied by an nice bottle of merlot, a perfect way to end a perfect day.
December 23 – Northern Lights in Norway
A trip to Norway to see the northern lights is like a trip to the casino, you can either strike it lucky and have the time of your life, or you can come up short and return home with your tail between your legs and your wallet significantly lighter (£6 or AU$15 beers will do that for you). We had 4 days booked in, and with the lights supposedly coming out 2 nights in 3 we were reasonably confident, but the forecast of clouds and rain and snow did not bode well for the clear skies which are required.
December 23 started early. By the time my alarm sounded at 5:30 my fractured sleep had already been interrupted by countless false alarms, brought on by the fear that I’d overslept and missed the train to the airport, the flight, the lights, the rest of my life. Despite climbing out of bed at the planned time my inablilty to manage time properly when I’m in the spell of a lovely warm shower resulted in my usual fast walk / jog / full blown sprint to Liverpool St Station to board the Stansted Express and make the flight.
It’s a surreal experience boarding a plane at 9am, when it’s light, then proceeding to fly into darkness. We touched down some time around 1pm local time and there wasn’t a lot of light in the sky; with Tromso being deep within the artic circle and the winter solstice having taken place only 2 days earlier we knew the sun would never rise above the horizon in our four days. After a quick taxi ride and a seemless check in we decided to explore the town while there was still a tiny amount of light remaining. There had been quite heavy snow soon before we arrived, but we were welcomed by clear skies so the magic of an pristine arctic town blanketed in Chistmas white with deep blue skies made the whole scene feel like a fairy tale. By 2:30 the sky was pitch black and I was spotting stars. Unreal.
While it’s possible to see the lights from town the best views are away from all the light pollution. We’d not planned on taking a trip on our first night, but with no guarantee of clear skies for future nights we decided to book something last minute, and I’m so glad we did. A 30 minute ride took us to the Tromso Wilderness Centre where 200 huskies were waiting for us, we’d planned on leaving a husky ride for later in the trip but rain the following day washed away the snow and out dream of dogs pulling us over it. We’d been patting, wrestling and generally immersing ourselves in dog for about half an hour when the guide pointed upwards and said “There’s the aurora, just starting”. It looked like a faint long white cloud, not quite what I was expecting, but I instantly lost all interest in the dogs and wanted to get further away from human lights to maximise the viewing experience.
I set up the camera and captured this white cloud on my digital sensor, when I reviewed the image I was thrilled to see the white long cloud was in fact green! I’d captured the lights!!
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| From Tromso and the Northern Lights |
But it was about to get a whole lot better. Over the next 20 minutes the aurora gained in size, the green become more prominent, and it started appearing in all parts of the sky. Looking east I was blown away by the swirling beams of light, then when I looked west another one was starting up that usurped the eastern aurora in every regard. Soon enough the whole sky was lit up by green fingers of light dancing slowly through the atmosphere and my eyes filled with tears, unable to register what they were seeing. In total the lights were out for close to 2 hours, with the peak time lasting for about 40 minutes.
A friend had advised me to not take photos when I saw the lights and to just watch them and take them in. Obviously this was impossible, there was no way I could have sat there peacefully and allowed such an incredible scene to go unphotographed. Fortunately when taking these shots I was using a 30 second exposure (at f/4.0 with ISO 400) so once I set up the tripod and pressed click I was able to bask in what I was witnessing for an uninterrupted 30 seconds. Once the exposure was done there was a frantic further 30 seconds or so setting up the new shot before being rewarded with another blissful 30 seconds of sweetness.
If I was going for the best hour of 2008 this one wins hands down, and would be well in the hunt for the best hour of my life. And to be honest I think perhaps this one is just a bee’s dick ahead of the other 3 days in the battle for day of 2008, but then again perhaps I’m only saying this because it’s still so fresh.
No matter which way you spin it I’ve been incredibly lucky this year to have seen the things I’ve seen, and the beauty of photography is that in 40 years time I’ll be able to look back at these photos and trigger something in the mind, a long forgotten memory, that hopefully puts me back there. As time goes on we tend to have a romanticised view of past events, so I’m looking forward to how my mind remembers these days, as they were as close to perfect as you could imagine without any mind romanticism required. Or have I romanticised them already?
