David Askham - Walking on Water
22nd November 2023
In: Short Stories
The Story behind the Picture - No.1
‘Walking on Water’
Written & Illustrated
By
David Askham
‘Walking on Water’
Written & Illustrated
By
David Askham
A published picture which grabs our attention often begs a question. Why did that image intrigue us? Was it the title, or treatment; subject or presentation? Often there is a backstory, or reason why the photographer took the picture in the first place. This is the theme of a new series of short stories which will appear in the relaunched Leica Fellowship website. Here is the first one.
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‘Walking on Water’ was taken during a Leica Fellowship weekend spent in Lytham St Annes in Lancashire, UK in 2015. In our free time I wandered around to discover anything of interest in a seaside town, which was new to me. Unsurprisingly, there was much to discover, not least the pier and further along the promenade. It was along the latter that I discovered an active seaside attraction, which I call ‘Walking on Water’.
I watched as visitors were enticed into the clear inflatable plastic spheres and endeavoured to keep upright. The slightest movement caused the spheres to move, usually unsettling the passengers who fall down. The more adept riders succeeded in sweeping gracefully across the surface of the enclosed water pool. Surely there were picture opportunities here, right in front of me.
First, I checked the direction of sunlight and saw that the subjects looked best against the light. So I chose my viewpoint to capture this effect. Then it was a waiting game as the water walkers learned how to enter the spheres, stand upright and propel themselves across the surface of the sea-water. Tuition was beyond my hearing, so I could only imagine what instructions were given.
Picture-making was relatively easy from the promenade, but the challenge was to capture a successful ‘water walker’, preferably in conjunction with a pleasing arrangement of other floating ‘bubbles’. Most were in various stages of fallen crew members, regaining their feet and controlling their ‘vessels’. It was an entertaining spectacle, and this picture was one of my more successful ones. I cropped out a slender slice from the top, which I found rather distracting.
My Leica X Vario camera has a fixed zoom Vario-Elmar lens, ranging from 28 mm to 70 mm (equivalent in 35 mm terms). The picture was taken at the 70 mm focal length setting to obtain the framing I had in mind, concentrating on the action taking place. At the time of writing this retrospective account, the camera is now long obsolete, yet it is still a very capable camera, if you can find one.
In conclusion, had I not attended the Leica Fellowship weekend meeting that year, I would almost certainly have never taken this picture. A surprising bonus.
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Copyright © David Askham, 2023
Comments
By Ken Davis: Your story tells us about how you saw the possibilities in the subject and then worked out lighting and viewpoint. Then you had to wait for the right moment, which you caught. By David Askham: Thank you, Ken. I am convinced that members will find backstories interesting and useful. My hope is that members will contribute their own stories in the future. That is how websites maintain interest globally.