THE CLAPP COLUMN
Brentor Church, Dartmoor, West Devon. 21:25pm. 23 June 2014
My first kit loan was a Canon EF 600mm which I balanced on my car roof to take a summer silhouette of Brentor Church
Sometimes you have to do a few oddball things to try to get the shot. Back in 2014, a potential shot I witnessed (without my camera) started to burn a hole in my head, after I saw an unexpected long distance spectacle unfold. Standing in a car park on Dartmoor, the distant Devon church of Brentor became a beautiful silhouette, as the sun set to its left. I began imagining a perfect Brentor church eclipse. I had to have this shot!
The church is so far away, I am going to need the biggest gun I can get my hands on – a Canon EF 600mm f/4L IS II USM super-telephoto prime, and I know just the people that make them. My first equipment loan since I started my association with Canon UK seems somewhat excessive, but I can't believe I will have a magical 600mm to play with. I have my own Canon EF 2x III extender, which will give me a whopping 1200mm focal length at f/8 of firepower.
Just hang on a minute… I start to think this through. So I saw the sun go down to the left of Brentor – this is going to take some perfect positioning and it could be a long way from the car park. I can't just guess this. I also can't start running across the rocky moors with a £10,000 lens over my shoulder. What if it's windy? A 1200mm focal length flagpole is going to be impossible to keep perfectly still, especially if I have to run to get in position. How can I get around this? Then it dawned on me. I need a road on a hillside, that runs north to south – I know just the place! I then need to climb onto the roof of my Skoda estate, put my tripod on the roof… what am I thinking?
There has to be an easier way. I have got it – wildlife photographers use beanbags on their car window sills. I just need a proper beanbag. I will drive along the road, jump out, put the beanbag on the roof, lie on top of the beanbag on the car roof with the long lens, and shoot. The beanbag and Skoda will become the tripod. One thing is wrong with my plan, though; I don't have a big beanbag.
While hanging out the washing, I see my neighbour's kids are playing in the garden. Kids have beanbags. I ask them to get their mum, as trying to explain this special equipment loan to a five-year-old will surely get confusing.
A quick chat with my helpful-yetbemused neighbour, and I have a beanbag. The final piece of the puzzle. All I need now is a co-driver and some good weather. Rachel is reluctantly involved in yet another harebrained scheme of mine.
It’s towards the end of June when the big day comes. The weath
