The Assistant Photographer Saves The Day

This morning I posted https://derrickjknight.com/2022/02/24/a-knights-tale-107-instow-part-1/

After a heavy fall of sleet at lunchtime the darkly brooding clouds slunk away and the sun shone for the rest of the chilly afternoon. We did not receive the expect snowfall.

Jackie drove me to Lymington where I collected a large print for Jan and Bob Beekman; a flash gun for my camera, and two printing inks.

We continued across the forest to Bramshaw where I photographed the gravestones of the 12th Century St Peter’s Church.

From there we continued to Nomansland where I photographed ponies cropping the cricket outfield on the village green.

When I loaded these photographs onto my computer screen every single one was out of focus. How could this be, I wondered. I then checked the settings on my 35 mm lens which I had used for these shots, and found that that it was set for manual focus, which I never use. When the shop assistant who had set up my new flash gun to be fixed on automatic he had said “you could do it on automatic, too”. I had replied “please don’t confuse me with that. I never go off automatic”.

The only shot we have of that earlier trip is this one Jackie took of a footpath sign beside a stile leading into the church.

Even that would have saved the day, but Jackie went one further by suggesting we drove on to Barton on Sea to watch the sun going down. For this I had changed to the

70/300 mm lens which had been left alone.

89 comments

  6. YAY! Hip Hip Hooray! to Jackie for saving the day! Beautiful photo, AP! 🙂
    Sorry to hear about your camera/lens troubles. 🙁
    Your sunset photos are gorgeous, Derrick! The gulls, dogs, and people just add to the wonderfulness of the sun and clouds spectacular performance! 🙂
    (((HUGS))) 🙂

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  11. Lately when using my Sony DSLR my images have turned out dark. I am assuming I have inadvertently touched/clicked something I shouldn’t, but I haven’t a clue what it could be!

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      1. I’ve just finished a poem “The Final Sunset” and I’ll be using one of your sunset photos from your today’s article … I’ll post it later on

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  15. Take that lady out to dinner! I’d be tempted to send the shop assistant a link to this post, or at least let him know he needs to work on his listening skills. Ah, but we all make mistakes. The sunset photos have a soft, comforting beauty and interesting clouds

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  16. Those are very beautiful pictures. Jackie’s picture has very pleasing skies. The 70/300 has held on extremely well against the setting sun without causing any flares or chromatic aberration at various lengths.

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  19. Surprisingly, the best sunset photos were especially late in the day when the land and the big cloud were at their darkest and the sun and the cloud’s gleaming golden lining looked their brightest. Beautiful!

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  29. Hi Derrick, the camera story would have annoyed me. People are never clear with what they say. Your sunset shots are great. I’ve come to realise that good sunsets require cloud cover.

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  32. Pingback: The Final Sunset – Ivor.Plumber/Poet

  33. Those are beautiful sunset photos, Derrick. There is something about the sun beaming out from behind dark clouds that grants closure, a fiery end to the day and all that happened.

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  37. Ah, wonderful. I do love Jackie’s shot at the top, though, and I agree, that would have been enough to save the day. Still, what a sunset. I like how you caught the dog in mid air!

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