A Shot in the Dark

This week I took the new camera to the woods, wanting to test out just how good at low light photography it was.

So far the camera has done superbly well in lighting where other lesser things have failed miserably.

Our night walks however are dark. Really dark. Darker than dark. Which sounds crazy, until you realise that you are walking under a thick canopy and the little light there might be from the stars or reflected from a cloud base is just about entirely shut out.

Nevertheless I took half a dozen shots with a long exposure malarkey. 30 seconds to be precise - so not a great speed to be shooting the mutts with, all you would get is the faint hint of a blur.

Apart from a shot where some stars were in the field of view the rest of the pictures were... dark. Inky black. Apparently it really is that dark. I did however take a shot with poor light from a torch - and despite the dubious light quality, the camera took a pretty good picture.

Ah well, no moody night shots. I might look into getting a proper tripod - I have a baby one - and taking even longer exposure shots, but I suspect it won't help for the woods, but would be nice for other night time shots that aren't in quite so dark and challenging places.

The weather turned briefly warm again - and during a midnight walk with a clear sky I gave up traipsing around to lie down on a patch of grass and watch the stars above. I never get bored of looking at the stars - it's a real shame there is so much light pollution around that filters out a lot of the detail. A few clouds scudded overhead to give the weird sensation that the stars were wheeling around at breakneck speed. I think I lay there for 20 minutes or so enjoying the sensation of rushing through space.

Of course, every 5 minutes or so was interspersed by one of the mutts checking up that I was A OK via a wet nose in my face, and suitable licks to ears, nose and anything else they could reach.

After one particularly thorough slobbering from the boy I decided to call my star gazing to an end, called him a punk, and we stalked off through the darkness to make our happy way home - and reached our door by 2AM.

The Seasons Turn

Last week the first touch of Autumn made itself felt, the nights suddenly had a nip in the air, the chill causing the dogs to steam from their exertions.

Despite being short haired the mutts prefer the cold - they can run around expending crazy amounts of energy and not overheat. When conditions get to barely mild they huff, puff and pant - unwillingly to rein in their exertions, but paying the price of getting too hot.

The nights too have suddenly drawn close, over the course of a couple of weeks darkness has begun to settle much earlier. We are now leaving for walks at anything from 8pm onwards, either in the twilight or a little later it being fully dark.

Today however was another midnight walk with stars and moon both bright in the sky, the night mild and dry. The dogs for once were not crazy energetic and settled for some running around but mostly a good deal of sniffery. Perhaps their activity levels reflect myself - I ventured out suffering under a late summer cold and was not in any mood for foolishness or over exertion. I even debated not bothering with a walk for the day I felt that bad, but I always feel a responsibility to my goof balls that rain or shine, good or bad, we get out for at least one walk. I have only skipped a single day in a years worth of walks - not a bad record I think.

Hitting the woods with a stuffy head I let the dogs roam free and after a short walk found a clearing with a patch of grass to sit upon. Flicking my hood up I dozed in the night shrouded woods whilst the dogs explored around me. Occasionally one or the other would trot over and check up on me, a cold nose or a wet tongue investigating that I was still there and still ok whilst I for my part ignored my surroundings entirely, trusting to the mutts to keep one eye open and half an ear perked.

Sounds of the wild things rustled around us - a snapped twig, a shifting of undergrowth, but I barely noticed and instead thought feverishly on matters of work. A cool breeze spiralled over the grass and with it a faint whistle. Strange. Perhaps it had caught on the wind from somewhere else, sometimes the night does that.

A few minutes later an odd note of a whistle floated through the woods again. Someone was out there ? Whistling . . almost nervously. I pulled myself from my doze and called the mutts to me. I didn't want them hassling someone if they had a dog. Doing a good impression of extremely well trained dogs the pair instantly dropped what they were doing and trotted over to me.

Oddly the forest was quiet. No foot steps, no whistles, nada. Not a person then. After a few minutes I let the mutts wander again and returned to my doze and thought nothing more of the whistles. Just the usual odd night goings on.