Grimacing through a westerly gale, we witness the extremes a photographer will go
to get the ‘money shot’
to get the ‘money shot’
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| Reproduced by kind permission of The Dominion Post |
When will I learn to stop tempting fate by mentioning the weather? It was especially a topic of concern today because a Dominion Post photo-shoot had been arranged, to accompany an article I’d written for the Your Weekend magazine supplement in this coming Saturday’s paper.
The Your Weekend Editor, Joanna Rix, approached me a little while ago with a suggestion that I could contribute a series of semi-regular articles about our house build, and living in ‘the crate’. Desperate features-writer-wannabe and shameless media tart that I am, I gave it a few seconds thought and promptly delivered a couple of thousand words by way of an intro article.
Last week the space to publish it finally became available, and Jo had arranged a photo-shoot of Rose and I outside our temporary home. The photographer and former work-mate, Loren, was due to arrive at 1.00pm and miraculously the ever-present gales were not accompanied by rain today. In fact, huge swathes of blue sky and periodic bursts of sunshine were making our slightly swampy outlook appear as beautiful as we desperately wanted it to.
I spent the morning in a state of agitation, frowning at the endless parade of dark, westerly-blown clouds, and then relaxing a little as the gales tore them to shreds and let the sunlight through. Loren called at noon for a weather update and by this stage I was confident enough to promise her good, if windy, conditions.
Big mistake. After shining all day, the sun suddenly disappeared about 20 minutes before Loren and her husband Clint arrived, to be replaced with the familiar driving rain which had us all scuttling into the container for shelter.
I was mortified and Loren was anxious about getting her assignment done, but Clint’s easy-going manner and Rose’s domestic Goddess-hood soon had us all relaxing with a hot drink while we waited for the rain to stop.
Incredibly, it lessened, and stray beams of sunlight saw us all charging outside on two separate occasions. Loren crouched on a saw horse, one arm out-stretched and holding a flash unit while she operated her camera with her other hand – all in a howling gale. Even disregarding the impossible conditions which she had to work under, we were thrilled with the images she took, all of them making our beloved Little Bush look far more inviting than it was at the time.
The following day was Monday, and I was looking forward to an impromptu day off to help our builder put in the house piles. Surely the weather will have sorted itself out by then?
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| Loren the Photographer prepares for her saw-horse gymnastics |
The finished Your weekend article appears here:
All in preparation for the book, right?
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