Story Behind the Shot

[pressld2]

I just posted this in the "Fungus of the Day" thread and FungiJus suggested a new thread for the "Story Behind the Shot". I think that's a great idea so I'm copying it here.

I'm sure lots of you will have photos with interesting or amusing stories about how or why they were taken so please share them here.

Anyway, to start the ball rolling, here's mine...

My fungus of the day is this one:



Not just because it's beautiful and still one of my favourite fungi, but also because of the story of how I came to be where it was and what happened when I photographed it. It's a fairly long story so make yourself comfy...

It starts on August the 19th. As I've mentioned before, and am not in the least ashamed to mention again, my wife, Angie, won the Havant Literary Festival's playwriting competition and part of the prize for this was to have her play performed at the Bench Theatre during the festival in September. So we were making numerous trips down to Havant during August for auditions, rehearsals, etc. I got involved with taking rehearsal and publicity photos but wasn't always needed. So on this particular night I dropped Angie at the theatre and headed into Portsmouth to take some sunset and night-time shots of the Spinnaker Tower.

The plan was that I would be back at the theatre to pick Angie up at 10pm but she phoned me at about 9:30 to say that they'd finished early and she was ready to go. I was still in Portsmouth a good twenty minutes away and wasn't too happy about her waiting outside in the dark - the theatre had been locked up for the night by then. I turns out I needn't have worried as one of the cast members - a true gent - stayed with her until I got there. But I didn't know that at the time so was rushing to get back and got flashed by a "safety camera" while doing 38 mph on a dual carriageway that I thought was a 40mph limit. The notion that firing a high-powered flash into oncoming traffic at night can be done in the name of "safety" is still not one I can get my head around but that's another story.

The upshot was that two weeks later I had a choice to make: a £60 fine and three penalty points or £70 for a half-day "Driver Awareness" course. Knowing that 3 points could add a bit more than £10 to my insurance premium I opted for the latter. So that's how I came to be at the Holiday Inn, Basingstoke today.

The course was due to start at 1:30 and there were dire warnings about what would happen to people arriving late. As my journey to basingstoke involves a considerable stretch of the M25 I set off much earlier than was necessary and packed my camera on the assumption that there was bound to be something worth photographing. I arrived about midday, parked up and went for a recce round the hotel.

There was a small copse of trees, mainly birch but one beech and one yew, with a few magpies hopping about beneath them. As I approached the magpies flew off but I could see that there were several different species of fungus growing there including quite a lot of fly agaric. As is usually the case most were quite beaten up but there was one freshly emerged one that looked the business. It was also in quite a good position at the top of a gentle slope so I could get a nice low angle on it. They don't call me "Horizontal Dave" for nothing so down I went!

After a number of shots at different apertures, varying exposure compensation, some with fill-flash and so on, I get up again. This is when I discovered why the magpies had been there. The evidence is all over my jeans and liberally spread across the front and arms of my jacket.

And that, your honour, is how I came to be locked in a disabled toilet, in my underwear, with my trousers on the baby-change table, trying to scrub magpie poo out of them with a damp towel pilfered from the chamber-maid's laundry basket.

All things considered, this is not a photograph that I'm going to forget in a hurry.

Was it worth it?

Oh yes!

Dave P.

[Wild-Woman]

I'd have gone for the points Dave!

I can't the the vision out of my head.

[Ukwildlifeo]

Haha - so the moral of the story is if you speed your get 'it' all over your trousers (but a nice photo of a fly agaric).

great story 'speedy' horizontal Dave

[pressld2]

Originally Posted by Wild-Woman

I can't the the vision out of my head.

Could lead to some interesting counselling sessions...

"Und tell me, Zhools, ven did zese nightmares first start?"

Dave P.

[cutecoot]

Great idea for a thread

Nothing to contribute for the mo, so just bookmarking it

[Vincent86]

Yeah, it's pretty much worth it mate Nice shot by the way.

[cutecoot]

Just made myself a cuppa and sat down to read the story behind your photo, Dave .. blimey, what a palaver!

[acherontia]

Smashing shot!
In a similar situation I appealed as we were dashing home for a much needed inhaler for OH. It was late and the road was empty.
I also escalated it (all over the show) because the option for the course (in my case) was twice as much as the fine and I quite rightly stated that it was favouring those who are in a position to afford such things and it was tantamount to greasing palms..........quite right too.
When I get on one I really get on one.
They dropped me like a hot brick and the manager of the office dealing with it told me (very quietly) that he agreed with me and admired my tenacity.

I might have missed a good shot by being too penurious and also too pig headed though

Acher

[Jim Ford]

Originally Posted by pressld2

The upshot was that two weeks later I had a choice to make: a £60 fine and three penalty points or £70 for a half-day "Driver Awareness" course. Knowing that 3 points could add a bit more than £10 to my insurance premium I opted for the latter. So that's how I came to be at the Holiday Inn, Basingstoke today.

The course was due to start at 1:30 and there were dire warnings about what would happen to people arriving late. As my journey to basingstoke involves a considerable stretch of the M25 I set off much earlier than was necessary and packed my camera on the assumption that there was bound to be something worth photographing. I arrived about midday, parked up and went for a recce round the hotel.

I did the same course on the 26th Oct., also at the Holiday Inn in Basingstoke!

I was going to say to the people running the course "I cut it a bit fine - had to really welly it down the M3 to get here on time!", but decided against it. I didn't know what sense of humour they had!

IIRC the cost was something like £74 in all. I decide to go for it as I was just about to clear the 6 points I already had on my licence. I'm now clear - for the time being!

I was surprised when they stated that in all Hampshire and the I.O.W. there's only twenty-something speed cameras. I was caught by the police hiding with radar guns on the Bashford Road East(West?). Never even saw them!

I've also mentioned this on another thread, and said that if the Hampshire Police want slow in the New Forest, I'll give 'em slow. At the height of the holiday season I'll crawl around their roads at 10MPH and have the traffic backed up to the M3!

Jim

[matt_xyz]

Originally Posted by pressld2

And that, your honour, is how I came to be locked in a disabled toilet, in my underwear, with my trousers on the baby-change table, trying to scrub magpie poo out of them with a damp towel pilfered from the chamber-maid's laundry basket.

great story Dave, the above particularly tickled me. What a shame there's no photographic record of you cleaning your trousers

I've also had the pleasure of a driver awareness course In my case the price was identical to the fine - £60.

Matt