A Different Flavor Of Photography Freedom
Fun With Cameras XXXV
I promised an old friend for today’s Fun With Cameras, a plan my body was a tad cross with.
While you have to exercise patience to meet that friend, the adjustments I made to my plan yielded multiple rides with some photography in mind.
The results are different, but while I’m sad I couldn’t yet bring the big boy camera, I was surprised by the capabilities lurking inside my substitutes.
Below, I’ll share thoughts on the changing cycling photography plans and how the first week of trials reintroduced me to the freedom of exploring with the lens.
A failed plan requires adaptation
I wrote about my luxury problem last week: picking a carrying solution for photography equipment on a bike.
Editing time wasn’t the only problem that kept the pictures of that day (largely) out of that cycling post.
The route wasn’t as photogenic as I had pictured it. And the weather from the halfway point of the 54 Km loop washed out the last desire to stop and search for visual interest.
The bigger problem, however, for the future photo ride plans was my body.
I’m still tweaking my bike’s set-up to survive longer rides without too much punishment. And while my neck finally started responding well, the fun of throwing 5 Kg of photography gear on my back for 2 1/2 hours came too soon.
As a result, I tweaked my photo set-up alongside my bike set-up.
You Are Adaptable
Strapping a DSLR to my back is an adventure I have to build up to slowly (and that needs less temperamental weather). A photo bag has to wait till my neck is more resilient. I faced a problem.
The time I’m currently spending with my old Ghana writing has solved that puzzle. I still had the replacement of the little Coolpix point-and-shoot that I was separated from on a quiet ride in Accra collecting dust in family storage. It’s still in working condition, time to get reacquainted.
I paired the small silver box with a GoPro. Both fit neatly into back pockets or a hydration vest for even faster access.
After giving my body the rest it asked for after the ride with all that surplus weight on my shoulders and waiting out the worst of the constant summer rain, I had two shorter rides and a slightly longer loop on the schedule that I wanted to use to combine testing a few final (hopefully) bike set-up changes and seeing how I responded to the lighter photography set-up.
I didn’t set any expectations. I wanted to enjoy the rides and use fueling stops to make a few pictures.
Nothing special. Practice. First baby steps.
How does the old point-and-shoot feel, and what is it capable of?
Clawing Back
I shared a few samples from the loop to Velbert last week, and below are a few more.
The cycle path from Heiligenhaus to Velbert (and beyond) is beautiful, but it’s a 10 Km climb in that direction. It’s never steep, just ever so slightly, but it drags on. That’s probably why I look a bit grumpy in that one picture.
Another reason for that is that I had expected to find a few more spots that would lure me off the bike. There’s soothing greenery all around, but I never quite felt like a stop was worth the while.
Towards the end of my stint in this car-free zone, the path turns into a highline-style bridge through Velbert.
I noticed the city views.
But I also noticed the advent of heavy clouds. There was zero rain on any of the forecasts I had consulted.
Descending back toward the river Ruhr on a country road that runs north of the cycle path, those forecasts were proven very wrong.
Heavy winds and rain rushed me homeward. I still looked for two course markers I had set as reminders: a viewpoint down to the river and a spot at the river banks.
But the first was nothing but a row of houses and the gated entry to a clinic, and the latter looked too sketchy to access with a road bike.
Easy roads and peace of mind were what I wanted, what I needed for the first ride last Friday. I had a hectic day behind me when I started. It was warm-ish and humid, but rain was always an option.
I picked a loop I knew to be calm and stopped on a bridge across the river Emscher, just past the small inner harbor between Essen and Bottrop.
The picture features above. I had set the Coolpix to center metering and couldn’t figure out why the little thing didn’t want to meter properly in the high-contrast situation.
I rectified the issue in the morning and stopped at the same river. But this loop brought me to Oberhausen’s north, into Dinslaken, and back home.
The pictures are again above. But I am surprised how decent the files look, even though there’s little adjustability in-camera, and limited options in editing because the camera is jpg-only.
Instead of visiting that old friend, a loop of at least 65 Km, I chose a safer route for the final ride of the week. 50 Km hovering south of the Rhein-Herne canal before crossing the same near the lock Gelsenkirchen, looping back via the Nordsternpark.
It was a safer option because I didn’t trust my body to handle that bonus mileage just yet. It seems I soon can; fingers crossed.
I stopped briefly just before reaching the canal and when I crossed it, but the pictures weren’t all that interesting.
I wanted to make a food stop at the local soccer stadium. But the noisy cleaning crews from the match the night before pushed me a bit further along.
The first two pictures below originate on the footbridge that leads stadium visitors to the tram. The night’s activities had left a labyrinth of glass shards behind, which told me that pushing the bike was the wiser course of action. The street scenery was much more interesting than the stadium. So a thank you is in order (even though I would prefer not to have to lock my eyes on the ground to avoid a puncture that would be as annoying as it would be unnecessary).
The ride was relaxing (minus an encounter with a speeding car on a narrow and lonely side street at 5:30 on a Sunday morning five minutes into the ride…). My body seems to be more comfortable with cycling again, and the Coolpix surprises me more and more.
Though, if the trend continues, I’ll soon see how I bring a DSLR along and deepen the revitalizing feeling of cycling photography freedom. That will then hopefully enable me to talk more about that old friend of mine. I have to hurry for that. Stay tuned.
I hope you found some interest in today’s different Fun With Cameras episode. I will share a What I’m Reading post on Tuesday and the next Ghana chapter on Thursday.
