Photographing An Old Friend By Bike
Fun With Cameras XXXVI
I wrote about my wish to see an old friend in the last Fun With Cameras. You know I made it if you read yesterday’s cycling post.
I was pressed for time (and am happy my body allowed me to complete the nearly 70 km (43 mi) cycling tour I needed to make it happen) because construction work on the campus of my old university in Bochum is set to take down one of the buildings I spent a lot of time in as a student.
In today’s post, I’ll share observations from a not-so-dry test run, the hilly surprise to my alma mater, and morning surprises after the longest bike ride I have done so far.
A Rainy Trial
I am relieved I didn’t try to carry a DSLR without any protection the day before I cycled to Bochum.
Overnight rain caused spray from the start. The 40-minute shower that stopped when I reached the photography destination didn’t help either. You can read more on the riding experience in yesterday’s post.
What’s bad for cycling, however, resulted in photographic opportunities.
A small waste tip on the banks of the river Rhine offers various vistas worth spending time with.
To one side, the summit opens up to the flat open land on the other side of the river and, turning around, to industrial facilities.
On the other end of the summit, a live production site on the Thyssen steelworks grounds added fire and smoke to the foggy atmosphere.
I’m a little sad that the cycling and being soaking wet rushed me through the photography faster than I wanted. But it’s all a compromise, and I had picked this location as a backpack trial because I’d been there twice before.
A Hilly Ordeal Of The Delightful Sort
I started an hour before sunrise, the streets quiet and calm. I had adjusted the route slightly the day before, reacting to the heavy rain during the week. I knew from previous experiences that a gravel path in the last third of the loop would probably turn the ride into a mud fest, so I redirected my path to cleaner surfaces.
On the rare occasion I commuted to university by car, the motorway A 40 was one of the two options. It’s usually a busy road with dense traffic, not on that morning.
The early light transformed the urban cityscape that includes a motorway, a subway line, and the city center in the background into a scene of tranquility.
I needed to stop.
My first mind-soothing photography moment, and I hadn’t even expected it.
I cycled on for another half an hour. The sun had risen. It was time to get the sunglasses out. Luckily, I noticed a stretch of open land on the border between Essen and Bochum to my left.
There was a narrow traffic island between me and the view. But the early hour and resulting non-existent traffic made it safe to get off the bike and cross the street on foot.
As a technical side-note: I used my head unit to remember where this picture (and the motorway picture) was made by marking the exact location, GPS coordinates, and pin on a map included. I find that such a useful feature that I could see bringing the little device along for non-cycling photography spots.
The G-buildings were my home at RUB, the abbreviated name people use to describe Ruhr-University Bochum.
I spent time in all three of them — GA, GB, GC. However, the social science department was headquartered in GC. I remember spending more than one seminar in a room on the ground floor like the one pictured above.
The pictures here are as close as I could get to that part of the building. The university is demolishing the old buildings and replacing them with, I believe, lookalikes. Harmful substances in the buildings seem to be one reason for the campus-wide modernization. Good to know… this site also includes a decent aerial picture.
I wish I had a picture of the brand-new GD building that now sits proudly to the left of GC. I still can’t picture how they made room for that. In my memories, there was no room. But it’s been a few years.
The water intake problem I mentioned yesterday pushed me through the photography aspect because I really wanted to make sure I got home all right.
So, I spent less time with my old friend than I had hoped. And the signs of construction made it difficult to work. There was always something in the way I didn’t want to be in the frame.
Switching to the 105 mm lens helped a bit. After I took care of some details, I tried the corner to the left of GC and found that a bit easier.
That’s where I wish I would have had more patience. I could have included the new building, the rural panorama that opens up facing away from the campus, and maybe take a look at the other end of the campus.
I also included GA and GB; I expect they will fall eventually.
While it’s not been the pure photography experience I wanted, I enjoyed the chance and am happy I managed to get it done.
Sky Surprises
As I wrote yesterday, I don’t know what the next few weeks and months of cycling and photography have in store.
But the days after my Bochum ride gifted me visual boosts worth the headaches they caused.
While it’s not hard to notice the limitations of a small and aging point-and-shoot camera, I’m glad I rekindled the relationship with my small Coolpix because the best camera is the one you have access to. And here, that motto enabled me to capture two beautiful summer morning views.
I hope you found some interest in today’s Fun With Cameras. I will share a What I’m Reading post with stories about the climate, the opioid crisis in Mexico, and criticism in journalism on Tuesday. And on Thursday, I plan to show you my first travel experience in Ghana.
