Today, finally, I got outside with my camera. The holidays have been busy and I haven’t had much time for R ‘n R, which for me means, getting outside with my camera. The plan was to go for a short drive, maybe an hour. Just around the back roads here. Looking for hawks and owls that are often perched on fence posts this time of year. Or maybe some nice snowy landscapes.
Well, in the end, I did manage to shoot a few snowy landscapes and make some interesting images. But there was considerable adventure had in getting them. The short story is that shortly after taking off, it started to snow. No big deal. It wasn’t bad. I had 4 WD if needed. I was going to be gone long. Drove around and found some nice scenes. Made a few images. But then the blizzard really started. Visibility really low, which actually makes for great photography!
I decided to head back home as I didn’t want my hubby to worry. But I had my cell phone in the car, as I always do. Coming back home, I took one of the really small back roads that leads to the road we live on. This road is winds its way through a forest. There are not many houses on the road, which I think is great. It’s secluded and pretty.
I came to a beaver pond with grey, dead tree trunks poking out from amongst the the brown cattails. Ooh, photo possibilities here. I pulled over to the side of the road, but decided to keep the car running since this was going to be a quick snap and I’d be off again. At this point the snow was coming down in big, fluffy flakes, but the wind was driving it diagonally. Nice!
I got out of the car, closed the door behind me. The car was still running. Normally I don’t do this. I usually turn off the ignition and bring the keys with me. Not this time. Doesn’t matter anyway since if the keys are in the ignition, the doors can’t auto-lock.
Well, I discovered today that electrical glitches mean that your doors can auto-lock while the car is still running. And that’s exactly what happened! So here I was, locked outside my car, in a blizzard, on a quiet, little-travelled road, with few houses on it. My first thought was to grab a rock and break a window. But the cost of the repair bill would mean no money for photography equipment, so I nixed that idea! Option 2 was to start walking and find a house where I could phone my hubby and have him bring the spare car keys. Luckily, home was only about 5 km away. A long walk in a blizzard, but do-able if needed. But there were houses along the way so I could stop and phone.
Ten minutes into my walk, I was fortunate to have a car approaching. So I flagged it down. A nice lady drive. She drove me to my car and we used her cell phone to phone my hubby. He was on his way. In the meantime, we waited in her car, where is was toasty warm. In that 10 minutes, we introduced ourselves, shared stories and ended up becoming friends! Turns out we grew up not far from each other in Ottawa. Turns out she loves nature and the outdoors. Turns out she worked at the Queens University Biology Station (QUBS), not far from here. I spent time there and knew a lot of the folks that did research there over the years. So it turns out we knew people in common.
It’s a small world. I set out for a photography adventure, had a bit of a mis-adventure. But in the end, made a new friend. Helen, my rescuer, and I have agreed to get together soon for coffee.
44th Parallel Photography 