A foot in the door.

It's been an interesting week. Monday found me in the beautiful town of Murten. It's a one and a half hour drive from where I live. I was there to photograph a shop interior.

After living fifteen years in Switzerland I'm surprised that I'd never been there before. It is a gorgeously preserved old town complete with castle and paved streets. My shoot in the shop went well and I used the Canon 5d coupled with my 17-40 zoom lens to give an impression of space in the somewhat narrow room.

I discovered that there was also a cellar underneath the shop and ventured down there to see what other photo opportunities there were (and to escape the somewhat oppressive heat
outside).

There was a very good lighting system down there and I photographed it showing the various effects available. I took one wide shot with the lens at 17mm and discovered that the door (which had to be open to show what was inside) would automatically close. This meant that I had to use the self timer, press the shutter, run to the door, open it and hold it open from behind! (Picture 1)

I am standing behind the door holding it open

The next shot was a close-up but I wanted to remain behind the camera so I looked for something with which to wedge the door open. I could have gone back upstairs and asked in the shop but I could hear lots of voices and didn't want to disturb anyone.

A brief search around the cellar showed that there was nothing that I could use even to rest against the door to prevent it closing. The solution came as my feet were aching. I'd just bought a new pair of Summertime shoes the week previously and they still feel a little bit too tight. I removed one of them and wedged it under the door (see picture 2). This kept the door open (see picture 3). I removed the other one (it's a weird feeling to walk around with only one shoe on) and completed the rest of the job walking on the smooth cool concrete floor.

As I mentioned at the beginning of this piece, Murten is beautiful. Very photogenic. I'll definitely be going back to take some pictures at a later date.

Here's a picture (Picture 4) I took on the drive home, with my Canon Powershot G9, after getting a little lost (and yes, I DO have a GPS installed  :o) )