The Solo Adventures
On the 27th and 28th of April, I was the only one of the WildThings film crew that could make it for the trips. So. I was also the only one who would be handling the cameras, lights, and what have you.
On the 27th, we joined by Collin from NParks on the beach at the Tanah Merah Ferry Terminal. It had nice sand. Lots and lots of lots and lots of very, very nice sand. But there was little else to see while it was still dark. In fact, we would see the tests (skeletons) of sand dollars everywhere, and wonder about where the live ones were. We only realized after the sun came up that they were literally under our feet the whole time, and we probably crunched them in their hundreds... Oops.
Although we didn't have much of anything that day, we still have a sequence with a horsshoe crab that probably cannot be used due to the surge knocking the camera all over the shop, a puffer fish that probably had a swimbladder problem since it was swimming upside down. And moonsnails. Lots and lots of lots and lots of moonsnails and their food the button shells.
The next day I had a bit more help in carrying gear. We joined by Luan Keng from RMBR and Jacqueline. Read Jac's blog entry for the trip here. I still had to light and shoot my subjects all by myself though, as there was noone around to bark at.
We got a whole variety of stuff that day. Two flatfish, one of which was a peacock flounder. Very pretty fish, and they don't move like a fish. In fact, the way they move reminds one of the way a worm moves. Also lots and lots of Portunus, and what made our day was a 20cm octopus, that Jac or Luan Keng found, hiding in a volute shell. He got agitated when we were moving him into a deeper pool, and decided to make a run for it. Since he plopped into water that was barely 5cm deep, he couldn't use his jet propulsion to get away. So, he did the next best thing. He got up on his legs, and lurched away, and made good speed too. For the few meters that he had energy. After that he tried to bury himself in the soft silty sand. We left his volute shell next to him, in case he should decide that he would need a little more shelter.
Here's hoping that there will be no more such opportunities for me to do all this work alone. Makes me appreciate the rest of the team more. :)
On the 27th, we joined by Collin from NParks on the beach at the Tanah Merah Ferry Terminal. It had nice sand. Lots and lots of lots and lots of very, very nice sand. But there was little else to see while it was still dark. In fact, we would see the tests (skeletons) of sand dollars everywhere, and wonder about where the live ones were. We only realized after the sun came up that they were literally under our feet the whole time, and we probably crunched them in their hundreds... Oops.
Although we didn't have much of anything that day, we still have a sequence with a horsshoe crab that probably cannot be used due to the surge knocking the camera all over the shop, a puffer fish that probably had a swimbladder problem since it was swimming upside down. And moonsnails. Lots and lots of lots and lots of moonsnails and their food the button shells.
The next day I had a bit more help in carrying gear. We joined by Luan Keng from RMBR and Jacqueline. Read Jac's blog entry for the trip here. I still had to light and shoot my subjects all by myself though, as there was noone around to bark at.
We got a whole variety of stuff that day. Two flatfish, one of which was a peacock flounder. Very pretty fish, and they don't move like a fish. In fact, the way they move reminds one of the way a worm moves. Also lots and lots of Portunus, and what made our day was a 20cm octopus, that Jac or Luan Keng found, hiding in a volute shell. He got agitated when we were moving him into a deeper pool, and decided to make a run for it. Since he plopped into water that was barely 5cm deep, he couldn't use his jet propulsion to get away. So, he did the next best thing. He got up on his legs, and lurched away, and made good speed too. For the few meters that he had energy. After that he tried to bury himself in the soft silty sand. We left his volute shell next to him, in case he should decide that he would need a little more shelter.
Here's hoping that there will be no more such opportunities for me to do all this work alone. Makes me appreciate the rest of the team more. :)
1 Comments:
Yes, I did miss the lively company of the full crew.
Looking forward to upcoming trips when exams are over and work periods less hectic.
Time to do the Proper Initiation with Exploding Food! Yay!
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