Kenwick Pioneer Cemetary

July 16, 2008 | Filed Under B&W, Night, Photography, Places 

I drove myself aimlessly and ended up at Kenwick Pioneer Cemetary for an impromptu photoshoot tonight. It has been quite a while since the last time I had gone out for a photoshoot, and even though I haven’t been feeling well today, I just could not resist to go out and take some shots around Perth.

I was driving along in my 1990 Supra around 8pm, aimlessly, turning around corners and changing my mind twice because the two locations in my mind were a little too far from home (I haven’t got the money for fuel). But I still ended up driving about 15km away from home to this place called Kenwick, a suburb nearby mine.

Pardon the blur, I was driving

I drove past the Kenwick Pioneer Cemetary sign, and decided to make a U-turn since I couldn’t seem to find the right spot for my mini-photoshoot. So I drove into the parking area. It was pitch black. The road was muddy. The carpark was small.

I was terrified. I started off shooting in my car for the first 5 minutes, using my 55-200mm VR tele lens, but the results were unappealing due to the underexposure. Even at ISO of 1600, the shots were still (very) underexposed. So I changed to the wide-angle 18-55mm VR, hoping to use the wide aperture and slower shutter speed, but still to no avail. I decided to bump up my ISO to Hi1, which is equivalent of 3200 in my Nikon D60.

Any photographer will know that by using ISO from 800 onwards means you are compensating the exposure with lower image quality, but that was the only choice I had because I still haven’t managed to get myself a tripod, and I failed using the top of my car as support, too.

Kenwick Pioneer Cemetary 1

Tonight was the first time I had encountered such a tricky lighting situation - there were two spotlights that lights up on the tombs every 30 seconds or so, and both lights would be lit for a mere 10 seconds or so before fading off and repeating the process again. So in every 1 minute, I would have only two chances of getting the right shots.

Kenwick Pioneer Cemetary 2

I didn’t quite get the shots that I had intended to take, but I managed to test out the Hi1 ISO of my D60, which is quite satisfactory for the fact that it is only an entry level camera. The shots can’t speak for its level of spookiness and the darkness of the area, but I would still love to go back and have a proper shoot again with a tripod. Perhaps next time I wouldn’t be scared to walk near the tombs for closer shots.

Supra Camwhore

Oh, I was only there for about 30 minutes because I had a sudden urge to go to the toilet, but didn’t want to smear the soil of the cemetary with ammonia, so I sped home after that few shots.

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