2118 - I Cover The Waterfront IV

2012-08-08

Oh how time goes by! It’s already Wednesday and I have just sat down to write Sunday’s post.

These are images taken shortly before sundown.

I have already shown some images of the place where I swim in summer, but most of them were taken standing at the shore or in shallow water, looking out on the lake.

This time it’s different, this time I wanted to show the shore and the wonderful reflections of the setting sun on the leaves.

Ideally one would have an air mattress or at least an inflatable pillow to rest the camera upon and to make sure it does not get wet. Lacking such an instrument, I had to find an alternative.

What I ended up with was just swimming on my back, head laid low into the water, holding the camera in my hands, using the LCD for composing the shots. And it works marvelously. Not for a single second was there any danger for the camera.

The Song of the Day is “I Cover The Waterfront”, this time in the moody rendition of Terence Blanchard on his album “The Billie Holiday Songbook”. Hear it on YouTube.

There are 6 comments

Juha Haataja   (2012-08-09)

I got the shudders while reading this: "What I ended up with was just swimming on my back, head laid low into the water, holding the camera in my hands, using the LCD for composing the shots." --- Well, I'm not a good swimmer. Fine captures of the leaves. I'm already eagerly expecting the fall colors, and fearing the dark time afterwards.

💬 Reply 💬

andreas   (2012-08-09)

As long as the water is calm, it's no matter of swimming, merely of lying on your back, back of head flat in the water and keeping your lungs filled. You sink slowly and slightly when breathing out, but that's it. Just breath in and hold your breath as long as it's comfortable. Repeat 🙂 As to fall colors, well, for a perpetual summer I could easily live without them 😄

💬 Reply 💬

Juha Haataja   (2012-08-09)

Just the other day I was discussing swimming technique with a colleague at work, who is 60+ and started swimming rather late. He has been taking courses and said that it will take half a year of practice to learn freestyle swimming basics properly. And he is still keen on learning, taking advanced courses now. While researching the topic of swimming on the net I ran into a couple of heated exchanges on discussion forums, where the basic question was always the same: "I try to float in water but I always sink below the surface, am I doing something wrong?" And then two answers were given: 1) "Just relax and you will find the right posture and then you will float." 2) "It is not a matter of relaxation but basic physic: are you heavier than water or not?" At this point the discussion heated up and the original question was forgotten. Well, I do float (enough fat in the body...), but my style of swimming is very ugly. Well, maybe some day I'll take a course or two to learn the proper way.

💬 Reply 💬

andreas   (2012-08-09)

Fat? Me too. And as long as the camera is comfortable, I'm as well, ugly style or not 😄

💬 Reply 💬

Cedric Canard   (2012-08-10)

I like that you took your camera out on the water. The photos look beautiful. I have done the same on occasion. Once I even took my camera in the surf after placing my camera in a plastic bag with a rubber band around the lens. I kept the camera above the waves (which were not overly big) and shot in auto while guessing at the composition because I could not use the viewfinder. I found it fun though my shots did not turn out as well as yours.

💬 Reply 💬

andreas   (2012-08-10)

Well, the articulated back LCD helps enormously. I find myself using it pretty often and here it was necessary.

💬 Reply 💬