It has been a dry year. Lake levels were the
lowest I have ever seen, mandatory water restrictions are enforced, and
the last time I was at
Woods of Terror, my cameras were coated in
dust from one particular scene. For this night, we had the
opposite water problem--lots of rain. Instead of being rained out,
the attraction went on with the show. The actor who played the
original "Pinhead" from
Hellraiser was a guest, so the doors had
to be open. An estimated 150 people braved the rain and came.
Before customers came through the attraction, I busied myself with
establishing base at the crypt. Later, the actors came on the
scene and I was able to use my time with them wisely and get some killer
shots. I liked them all, so posted more than one of each type.
For the one that is sort of lizardish or goblin-esque, I took the
original shot and made the red and green very contrasty. That
really brought out the mask's colors and made it look much more like
flesh.
While customers went through the attraction, I tried to get various
shots and candids while it was pouring. I used the 10D and longer
lens for this, wrapping the camera in a plastic shopping bag and using
rubber bands at the ends. I then attached the flash gun to the
body and wrapped that likewise with a plastic bag and rubber bands.
This worked well and I was able to get a few more shots in.
However, while using the bags, I could not use my flash gun to focus the
shot as the emitter was also covered. This meant good old
fashioned guesswork by focusing on a light at the same distance people
were going to be from me when I would take the picture. It was hit
and miss. I really tried and even risked destroying the camera and
flash gun due to water exposure. Dedication.
In the end, the attraction closed a little after 9PM. But at
least I did get some good shots. If one of these becomes the killer shot, I would say it was a rather successful
night.
This album is part of
Christopher Hall's
Haunted Pictures collection.