The three waterwishes

Last December, on our way back from a beautiful holiday vacation in New York City, my girlfriend Nicole suggested that we drive through Exit 16 on the Thruway, so she could show me where she once lived.  I agreed, and off we went through the scenic Hudson Valley.

As we drove along the winding roads, she noticed that buildings from her past were repurposed with new tenants and new businesses.  This was fascinating stuff.  It’s almost like when we visit a place for the first time in ten years, and we automatically remember what’s NOT there any more.  Our mental memories expect Item A, and we see Item B.

As we drove by a pond, I saw something out of the corner of my eye.  It was a waterfall – along with a water wheel – and a stone bridge.  And in that split second, my brain started assembling possibilities.  Photographic possibilities.

“I’m going to come back here some day and take a picture of this.”

“That would be awesome,” she smiled.  “I know you could take an awesome picture here.”

You betcha I could.  Let me rephrase that.  You betcha I will.

Fast forward to Saturday morning.  Last Saturday morning, to be more precise.  I woke up at 4:00 a.m., got dressed, grabbed my camera gear, left my apartment in the Town and Village – and immediately went back inside.

OH MY GOD IT’S SO FREAKIN’ COLD OUTSIDE!  I CAN SEE STEAM FROM THE MOISTURE OF MY EYELIDS!  I WANNA GO BACK TO BED AND …

And then I realized.  The Town and Village declared a snow emergency for today.  I can’t park in front of my apartment.  So if I can’t park in front of my apartment… I could instead park two hours south, and by the time I get back to the Capital District, my street will be plowed.

Then the motivational voice inside me started shouting.  Trust me, folks.  Motivational voices inside your head are not affected by cold weather.  Hey Chuck, you’re not driving in your Pontiac 6000, where the heater died about a year before the car did.  And you’re not driving in your old Saturn Ion Cardachrome, a car that completely flipped out in bad weather.  You’re driving in a 2006 Chevrolet Cobalt SS with all-weather tires, a fully-paid AAA membership, plenty of tunes on the XM satellite radio, and a couple of bottles of diet cola in the front cup holders.  In other words, Chuckie… if you don’t get in this car and start driving, someone else will get that photograph, they’ll enter that photo in competition, they’ll win the ribbon, and you’ll be like a sinking boat – you’ll be ship out of luck.

All right.  Let’s go.

The plan?  After two days of snow and ice, I thought that maybe the downstate water wheel would be offset with winter white.  If I don’t get this picture today, the snow might melt and I could lose that image.

And I know there are people who have vilified me in the past, saying that I would travel a thousand miles to take a picture, but that I wouldn’t go across the street to visit them.

Well… I only traveled a hundred miles.  But yeah, if I can take good pictures with this Nikon Df camera, then heck yeah I’ll travel a thousand miles to do so.

A couple of hours later, just as the skies brightened for morning, I arrived at the water wheel site.  And I can tell you – from my home to the water wheel site, the temperature outside barely rose above zero.  In fact, by the time I arrived at the site, it was still bone-chilling brutal cold outside.

I parked across the street from the water wheel.  Okay.  I’ve got everything.  The Df is loaded with a fully charged battery and a brand new 32gig SD card.  I slapped the 58mm f/1.8 lens on the camera, got out of the car and –

OH MY GOD IT’S SO FREAKIN’ COLD OUTSIDE!  I CAN FEEL ICICLES GROWING IN MY LUNGS EVERY TIME I BREATHE!! I WANNA GO BACK TO THE CAR AND …

Okay Chuck, knock it off.  You’re down here already.  No way are you driving two hours down and two hours up and not taking a single picture.  Let’s do this.

And the first shot I acquired was the stone water wheel itself.

And yes, it looks much colder in the picture.

I do want to say this about the Df.  It is extremely responsive and has a nice tactile feel to it.  Yeah, it’ll take me some time to get used to all the knobs and dials, but so long as I can work with the camera, it will work with me.  And if I can get pictures like this right out of the box… then I’m surely not complaining.

I rushed back to my car, though… After about ten minutes photographing the waterwheel, I needed some General Motors heat.

Another step outside.  And just as I’m crossing the street…

An SUV pulled up at an intersection.  The driver rolled his window down.  “Hey!” he shouted at me.

Oh crap.  With my luck, I’ve either parked on private property, or I’m taking pictures of private property…

“You photographing that water wheel there?”

“Yes sir.”

“You can get a better angle if you walk down to the stone dam.  Just watch your step.”  And with that, he drove off.

Okay, Chuck.  You’re down here.  Let’s get another shot.

I walked along the stone dam.  There were animal trails – maybe a fox or a dog, I’m not sure – but I figured that if a fox or a dog could walk through the snow, then so could I.

And as I got closer to the waterfalls… I cleared away some prickleburr plants, set the tripod into the snow, locked the Df onto the tripod mount…

I was able to get close enough to the waterfall – without slipping into the icy cold water myself – to get this shot. I had the camera locked on a tripod, so…

And once I got that shot, I just took several more. Because if you take enough shots together… and you stitch them together with an animated GIF program…

Okay… let’s see what happens when I turn these images of the ice-chilled waterfall into a cinemagraph.

Whoa.

Okay. Let’s go for the photographic hat trick. I’ve still got the camera attached to the tripod.  And I haven’t done a panorama shot in a long time… so today is a good day to put one together.  Let’s pan from the waterwheel to the waterfall… and then turn it into a panorama shot.

Yeah. Definitely yeah.

Okay.  Now it’s time to head home.  And as I drove back up the New York State Thruway, I thought about these photographs and what it meant to take them.  My girlfriend Nicole thought enough about my photography hobby to suggest that these might make good photography subjects.  Which is awesome in and of itself.

And I can tell you with certainty, I’ve got a good feeling about these little “waterwish” photos.  And with a little determination and some ingenuity…

I have a feeling, my blog readers, that these “waterwish” photos might eventually go from “wish” to “reality” some day.