Watching the photographer

A bit of a surprise this day. Ian was away and as I clocked on and was gathering the keys, a man carrying a professional looking camera was looking a little lost on entering the shop. Being the courteous ranger that I am, I asked him if I could help him. He had turned up, I gathered, to take some photographs around the parkland and was merely wanting to report to someone to say he was on site.Once this formality was dealt with, he said that he was wanting to photograph the monuments to support a publication by Barnsley MBC regarding activities in the borough. The parkland itself has recently done work to promote the various walks through the land. I was more than pleased to be his guide I told him, and we set off.

A quick tour really, taking in the Serpentine bridge, the Rotunda and the Argyll column. Of Queen Anne, he had plenty of shots from previous occasions, and so, as often happens, the old Queen was left to herself in her quiet corner below Ivas Wood.

John, his name, was very familiar with the gardens from his wedding work, but of the parkland he knew little. I was pleased to act as guide. After the almost sprint around, we had a coffee in the shop. He said he was grateful, as I had saved him time and, and in addition, taken him quickly to the better viewpoints around the parkland. Even the fallow deer posed about for him too, although to claim any credit for that would be a joke. John even photographed me going through a gate. I tried to look competent and professional as I did this posed operation.

The publication which John was working on is to cease, as part of other local authority service cuts. For John, it means a loss of a source of possible future income, as cuts do have their domino effect. But he was pleased with his morning. He had been up at 6am that day to get the morning light on an assignment in Barnsley and had another job to go to. The early bird and all that. I tend to think that, like bird spotting, there is a need to make the effort to be in the right place at the right time to get a special result. I think therefore that I am a bird snapper.

On an altogether unrelated matter, we have also been issued with new radios, which appear and sound very good. The ariel tends to stick in the mid-riff if it is not carried on the belt above the hip.