Twenty Twenty was strange enough but 2021 is throwing up some strange stuff too and its only just beginning !
I went for my lockdown walk on 8th January , just like I do most days . I was running a bit late due to unforeseen circumstances but I really needed to clear the cobwebs of my mind , was it Thursday or Friday ?
I was feeling a bit fuzzy ?
You know how it is in lockdown each day is like the next , very few folk walking about , nowhere to go , nothing to do …
Anyway I decided to walk across the fields which is part of the Gloucestershire Way and cut back behind the old hall before it got dark , dark is pitch black around here once you get out of the village .
I know my way around , what could possibly go wrong ?
A quick shot from a local lockdown walk .
I kept to the well worn path as the mists and the cold rolled in , I could see my breath as I exhaled into the dusky landscape and admired the view that was evolving in front of me , I had photographed this very well rehearsed natural performance before , a quick snap would have to do today !
I pushed on aware that it would be dark within the hour ,
I climbed the stile into the next field and could see what I thought was a lone figure in the distance , as I got closer I could see a person hiding under a dark cloth using a large camera on a large wooden tripod , I couldn’t believe my eyes !
I had never seen anyone during my walks up here but today a fellow photographer was here too ?
I didn’t speak , I just stopped and watched him work , only the cattle in a distant field broke the silence, the figure remained under the focusing cloth for what seemed to be an eternity !
He obviously knew his way around that camera !
I thought about speaking but didn’t want to distract the very well equipped large format photographer , nothing worse than being distracted just as nature is about to deliver the prize , best not interrupt I thought …
I have to admit the view was looking great from his chosen viewpoint , the light was absolutely perfect !
The camera looked like a Gandolfi, judging from what I could see sticking out of the dark cloth , a beautiful old thing made of mahogany and brass , I used to have one , should never of sold it !
I maintained my silence and he maintained his position under the dark cloth , he is going to miss the shot if he doesn’t get a move on , the lens board was moving slowly backwards and forwards, forwards and backwards searching for the focus in the diminishing low light , this went on for ever !
Focus on infinity, focus on infinity, I thought but I kept my thoughts to myself …
I know you should never focus on infinity with landscapes but this was a emergency , he was going to miss the shot !
“That’s it” , said the voice from under the cloth , followed by a unusual question as he popped out from under the cloth !
“Do you like this new Ektachrome X , do you like it ?
“ I’m sure the cold effects the exposure , no two sheets are the same , its rubbish, its rubbish” he protested !
Ektachrome X !!! What is he talking about , that’s a film from the E4 process era ?
“Thirty seconds at f22 ought to do the trick” he declared while checking his Weston meter !
“It will do for starters anyway ! “
He followed this up with longer exposures as the blueness of the dusk faded . “ I love this view “ he said “love it” .
I was familiar with the view as I had admired a similar view on the wall of the local pub , I knew it was a local view but never knew exactly where it had been taken from . This was that spot !
I remained silent , this upmarket , well healed young guy seemed familiar but I couldn’t place him , he made a total of four exposures before squeezing the bellows back into their beautiful Gandolfi box , closing the baseboard and shrinking the tripod .
“Give me a hand with this lot back to the hall and I’ll buy you a pint in The George Hotel tonight “he said with a smile , so I did ….
Hang on , The pubs are closed due to lockdown, I thought , not to worry, I’ll give the stranger a hand anyway ?
Where is the George Hotel ?
It was completely dark as we approached the back gates of the old hall ,” I’ll take it from here” he said ,” Thanks for your help David “ …
“No worries” , see you later I said …
How did he know my name ?
I realised who the guy was once I got home, a voicemail informed me of a friends passing due to Covid , he had been in the local Infirmary for the last three weeks .
John was 84 when he died and looked well when I last met him in January last year , bloody hell !
He looked so much younger today , mid twenties perhaps ?
I thought the young photographer must have been visiting John at the Old Hall , you forget that old folk were young folk once !
He looked like someone else , I couldn’t , wouldn’t tell anyone about my experience today, no one would believe it anyway !
I don’t understand what happened here …
Time travel ?
Spooky stuff ?
I never knew he had been a high profile local photographer back in the day , I knew he ran a advertising agency in the 1980’s but the photography was a well kept secret ?
We always got on well , kindred spirits .
I wish I had talked with him more , wish I had got drunk with him one last time in our local pub , that’s the same pub that was once known as The George , apparently ?
When I sold him the Gandolfi he said he wanted it for his study as a ornament , he never let me know that the very same camera had once been his , made for him originally in the swinging sixties by the legendary brothers !
Thanks to the family I have inherited both the camera and the original purchase receipt , dated 1969 !
I also have dark slides loaded with Ektachrome X , not sure I want to process them , even if I could !
The original receipt was not supplied with the camera when I first bought it in London back in 1981 ?
This story brings a different meaning to “latent image” ? .
One last shot, just one more …
Obviously this is a work of fiction if anyone asks …
Stay safe…
David Barrett shot the pandemic crisis during 2020, The Testing Times project can be seen by clicking above .
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He is based in the South West of England .
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