Caption:

PoTM 2009 Jan: Secret Garden - Paul Reeve giving it rice on Middle Man (Font 7c) at Secret Garden in the Peak District under ‘full’ winter conditions

 

Commentary:

Going rock climbing at night-time in winter when there’s a foot of snow on the deck isn’t everyone idea of a great time – but we seem to like it! Leaving Sheffield late afternoon Paul and I caught the dregs of the daylight; not that we were bothered for we were out for the evening with the lamps. Temps in the car-park were around minus 2 with a slight breeze; cool you might say! Secret Garden was in awesome condition when we arrived, dry and sheltered; perfect!

 

By mid evening the scene was surreal; it was just begging to be captured. Although I’d been climbing all evening my fingers were frozen solid after seconds of handling the tripod, the camera and flashgun. The lighting arrangement was complex; a remote SB800 fired wirelessly from the D300 in commander mode with additional lighting from a lantern and a head-touch! The snow on the ground bounced light about as well and in the back ground an ethereal glow (light pollution) emanated from Sheffield. Not a standard lighting arrangement – certainly not one that you’d see in any text book.

 

With the ISO cranked up to 800 and with the manual focus set camera-side of Paul, I fired off shots when Paul’s movement was at a minimum. The featured image has just the hint of motion blur in Paul’s foot which I figure adds another angle to the shot. The lighting though makes the shot more than a bit different though especially with the mix of ambient light with that from the strobe and the torch light.

 

Capture Notes:

Nikon D300, 12-24mmAFS f4G, 1/2.5sec @ f4, ISO 800, manual focus, slow sync flash, 1 remote SB800 in Group A @ +1EV triggered from D300 in Commander and with additional lighting from a lantern and a head-touch!

 

Keywords:

Night-time bouldering, Peak District, Secret Garden, Middle Man (Font 7c), rock climbing

 

Stop Press:

This particular shot went to a DPS in Climber Apl|09 as part of an illustrated piece on night-time bouldering - click here (http://blog.keithsharplesphotography.co.uk/blog/_archives/2009/3/9/4187568.html)