Fire at Midnight...

With yet another dull day forecasted for Thursday, I was suddenly enthused to get a night shot, whilst the sky was fresh, bright and crisp.

My thermals were still drying after their wash, so without them I traipsed to a location that I've occasionally snapped, a quite special place as I've never known or seen other photographs from it. AS it looks east, it is great for sunrises.

It was flipping freezing! As I stumbled down the pitch black track, I could make out this earthly glow. It is farmland, on the Bourne watermeadows but has public access, so I went through the stile and with trepidation, went to see if Salisbury's homeless had all gathered to this lonely spot and that I should be very careful.... very careful indeed!

It seems that a farmer had used a tractor to push up all sorts of rubbish - looking at the remnants, there's ironwork, big lumps of wood and hedge trimmings. This bonfire was going to be my foreground.

As I waited for the LONG exposures to do their stuff, I realised that I was not alone in the field. An occasional, quiet sound. I immediately thought that if it were a bear (!) or lynx (in the UK??) that fire would be my friend and that I'd be safe, if I stuck close to the embers.

I use a keyfob LED light that is fine for seeing what's in front of you, but further than six feet, forget it! I MUST buy a proper bright torch today... and then, was that rustling behind me a creature of merely more leaves falling...?

Anyhow, this is the last of the three taken and the fire was at its best in this one. The other two were horizontal. Exposure time is 3.5 mins and lens is Nikkor 10-24mm. It looks a whole lot brighter in the pic than it did in real life. Check out those fiery details and stars in LARGE

I was really quite glad to leave that field. A cow's moo told me what species my 'colleague' was. I smelt gas. 50 yards from this bonfire, British Gas barriers were around a big pile of rubble. I was REALLY glad to get going then. I slept well.