Wimbledon Common is a great place for photoshoots. It is large enough to get lost in and you only meet the occasional dog walker so you won’t get disturbed too much.

I was waiting for my Viking model after being dropped off by the friendly bus and noticed a message from him saying he had been stopped by the police a couple of times and was running late. No matter as I was scouting the area using Google Maps to ensure I was on the right track for Kingsmere lake, which was to be our first location.

The Viking arrived shortly after and I was disappointed he turned up in an Uber and not a Longboat. It would, of course, be quite difficult to navigate the journey across Londinium whilst your hull is scrapping across the tarmac.

What struck me as odd, as we were walking towards the lake, that as we were approached by a young lady, out of the two of us she choose to converse with the obviously weaponized marauder and not the sensible oyster card-carrying individual next to him… some people make some odd life choices.

Now obviously the shot above has been edited to remove the trees lining the northern edge of the lake but the resulting skyline was in fact an older shot of a sunset over Wimbledon taken many moons ago. The birds in the distance are ravens, not seagulls…

Moving further in I wanted a crouching shot as if he was hunting deer or something. The common is in full bloom at the moment so I had to dull down the vibrant greens to give it a more rustic autumn kind of look. How he will down any type of deer without a bow is anyone guess.

The two shots above were taken fairly close to each other. We both wanted a shot of the trinkets being worn and original the shot had more of the Viking but I choose to crop in to make the trinkets the focus. I did not think the Merton council would enjoy me throwing a couple of tons of salt around the common to create the effect of snow in the next shot. Salt would of course stop things growing. I wanted instead to use buckets of flour but if it rained then Peta would be kicking my door down to show me pictures of rabbits stuck to the floor by the now glue-like substance. So I had to use Photoshop trickery for that one.

This whole session was shot on a very hot Bank Holiday Monday. As it was so hot I was flagging a little so was grateful when we came across a natural glade for a quick rest. This is where I got the idea for a camp shot. I used my Canon 70D as it can use my Sigma 10-20mm wide-angle lens where my Canon 60d Mkii cannot.

I hadn’t used the lens in a while so I forgot that things closer to the lens are exaggerated. In some shots the feet were massive!

After the shoot, we retired to the local pubbery for mead and victuals.

Fear not death for the hour of your doom is set and none may escape it.

~Volunga Saga, c.5

Erm OK… I will just get the bus home then!