I mentoned in a post earlier this week (https://steemit.com/bescouted/@davekavanagh/gabi-being-her-usual-fabulous-self) that myself and Gabi had shot together quite a bit, so I wanted to post one of those shots, along with a little story about the shoot.
A few years back before I drove a friend would often help me out with shoots by driving us to shoot locations, helping carry equipment etc. On this particular shoot he wasnt available so myself and Gabi got the bus out to a town called Blessington to shoot around the local lakes. I knew this place looked beautiful but didn't know much about it. Eventually we found the lake and got shooting.
This one was cold, like really really really cold, especially since both myself and Gabi had to get right into the lake to get the shots I wanted. Luckily they turned out exactly as I hoped so it made it all worthwhile.
When my friend seen the shots I could tell by his reaction he was a little surprised. His first question was... "Is that Blessington lakes?"
I let him know it was indeed, and exactly where we shot it. He then told me a little bit of info that I hadn't known before the shoot.
The lakes around this town were originally part of the town, full of buildings, churches, houses etc. In the 1930's it was decided they need to flood the town and surrounding areas to create a large reservoir, so rather than safely demolish it they just moved everyone out and flooded it as it stood. As a result the lakes have a very uneven surface which creates a very dangerous undercurrent. Sometimes in the summer the water level even drops to the point where the tip of the under water church becomes visible.
There are certain part of the lakes where swimming is completely fine and safe, and then others where its really not, and apparently where we shot was the dangerous bit. Even since then I've met a lot of people from that area and its creepy hearing the way they talk about that lake. It seems everyone in the areas knows of somebody, a friend, a neighbor, a family member etc who has drowned in the lake and they fully understand its dangers.
Thankfully we managed the shoot without any incident, but hearing the background of this location made me a whole lot more cautious about researching shoot locations more thoroughly before potentially putting myself or anyone else in danger.
Click to enlarge
Hope you like :)