Monday August 8, 2011

Spent this last weekend at the cottage. It's located on beautiful North Sand lake near Webster, Wisconsin. Got out early on both Friday and Saturday morning, did a lot of driving but not a lot of shooting. Came across a cow pasture off of Blackbrook road on Friday morning with an old Chevrolet car sitting on it's side. The field was enclosed with barbed wire and considering my track record with photo shoot injuries I decided to bypass the opportunity. Not happy about the decision because I really wanted to have a look at the car. Got a nice shot of the sunrise overlooking the Yellow river but not much else......other than finding out that there is a strip club called Misty's on hwy 70.....who knew???
Could not get that car photo opp out of my head on Friday so I brainstormed on how to get over the barbed wire fence without having to make an emergency visit to Spooner General Hospital. Friday night I took the ladder out of the garage and placed it in a spot where I would see it when I headed out on Saturday morning. Figured that I would use the ladder to climb up and jump over the fence, then haul the ladder to the other side to exit out when I was done shooting.
Brilliant idea except that I forgot to grab the ladder as I was leaving on Saturday....somebody must have moved it??? Got to the fence before sunrise and found a corner where the top was made out of  weather beaten wood so I climbed up the barbed wire with plans to catapult myself over by stepping on the wood and pushing off. Note to self....weather beaten wood is not stable.
As I stepped off the wood the fence piece broke but by then I was in mid jump and landed safely......a 9.5 on effort but a 2.5 on form. Grabbed my tripod and camera from under the fence and took off for the old Chevy. Spent 20 minutes shooting HDR shots and even found the license plate dated 1961. I attached it to the car, took a few more shots, wondered if the howling hunting dogs that I heard in the distance were heading my way and decided to go. The return trip over the fence was a little trickier as I had to climb the fence and straddle  the barbed wire so as to not....well you get the picture. Success......feeling a little like a cat, 3 lives down, 6 to go.