The section of the Roanoke River at Roanoke Rapids was known as Moratuc or “river of death” to the Native Americans living in the area. The canal was constructed in 1823 as a way to bypass the treacherous rapids, including construction of a stone aqueduct over Chockoyotte Creek.
The canal was later sold and renovated for hydro-electric power, adding an additional four feet in depth.
I was really interested in using light-painting to photograph the aqueduct. So on one of my first days in Roanoke Rapids I scouted the location to see if I could actually pull it off.
(The aqueduct during the day)
To get to what I thought would be the best place to set up my camera and tripod involved navigating my way down a steep bank of what appeared to be leftover rocks used to build the aqueduct.
(No big deal I thought, except when it came time to climb back up in the dark.)
One of the coolest apps I have on my iPhone is a program called PhotoCalc. It gives a wealth of information about exposures, depth of field and even guide numbers for your flash. One of the features that I find handy is the Solar Calculator. This feature gives you times for sunrise and sunset, along with telling you when twilight begins and ends, all customized to your exact location.
With this info I was able to plan my shot.
I got to the aqueduct about an hour before sunset and climbed down to the creek below, getting ready for nightfall.
To light-paint the aqueduct, I had planned to use a mixture of flashes and a spot light I had bought at Walmart.
Rule number one for planning a shoot with a rechargeable spot light: make sure it is fully charged. Rule number two: bring a backup.
Not long into my light-painting, the battery died and I didn’t have a backup.
I was now stuck at the bottom of the aqueduct in the dark and quickly trying to come up with a Plan B.
My plans were rapidly falling apart.
The spot light had died and the flashes I had distributed around the aqueduct to give me accent lights were creating more problems than solutions.
I really didn’t want to call it a night though.
My really only other option was to do the light-painting with one of my flashes.
By now the sun had set and twilight was long since over. If I didn’t start making pictures soon, I was going to be out of luck.
To cheat a little bit, I set my camera to balance for tungsten light, put a double CTO gel on flash and went to work. This gave me a blue cast to the sky but pretty much negated the warming effects of the gel.
(The aqueduct light-painted with a flash and the camera balanced for tungsten)
At this point I wasn’t picky.
My results were decent but could be better.
After leaving the aqueduct, I drove straight to Walmart and bought another spot light. As soon as I got back to my bed and breakfast, I put both of them on a charger.
Not one to give up, or perhaps because I’m a glutton for punishment, the next night I made another trip to the aqueduct; this time with two spot lights and a clearer idea of how I was going to do this.
What a way to spend the night.
(The aqueduct light-painted with the spot light and the camera balanced for daylight)
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