Hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek
It is really important to remember to take a camera with you on any walk, even if you are only an amateur photographer, like me.
I realized how important this piece of advice was recently, when I stumbled on this normally public piece of green that had been cordoned off by dozens of police men and women who where milling around.
The first thing that I did was to ask a policeman whether or not I could take a photo. They had no worries about that and told me to go ahead. Incidentally, aren't the policemen getting young these days? They only looked like teenagers. Thought I had better not push my luck and ask them to say "cheese". I knew they wouldn't agree to do that.
I had thought this was some sort of open day displaying the work of a police helicopter and had a feeling that the vehicle was getting ready for take off. I was not going to miss that.
I knew this was going to test my photographic skills. Would it just be a whir of helicopter blades blurring the image? I knew there wouldn't be a second chance, so I'd better get it right first time. I am a bit hit and miss with different ranges and I can't do anything too technical. I find my photos either go well or they don't and I have to learn by experience and try to remember what I did or didn't do.
Wahay! This isn't too bad so far. People will at least be able to see what it is supposed to be. You can see the police lady in the background, guarding the tape that was cordoning the area off.
The noise was really loud and the breeze was strong from the turbulence made by the spinning blades.
Soon the helicopter was up in the sky and disappeared from view. The cordons were removed and the police started to get into their vehicles. However, being a bit curious, I asked one of them what had happened and I was told that there had been a medical emergency and the patient had been transported to hospital.
A real drama for some one and I hope the outcome was good for him/her.
As I started to put the camera away and carry on with my walk, a couple of tourists asked me if Royalty had been and gone and they seemed disappointed when I told them it was a medical emergency. However, I was fairly pleased that I had witnessed it.
The whole event took only minutes, so I happened to be in the right place at the right time. Ten minutes either way and I would have missed the drama.
