Of wood and water
Welcome to all dear visitors!
The road leading here was long, but this day has finally come! First of all, I would like to thank Dávid Lakatos for the time and energy he invested in creating my site, and also all my friends and acquaintances who contributed to the current form with their opinions, constructive criticism, and ideas before the launch!
The first post is a supplement to the short film titled “Of wood and water,” for this:
First, we had to figure out the locations. There were plenty of ideas, as there are many beautiful places in Baranya county. We clarified the possible locations and the approximate order. Luckily, the weather was not a factor, as the project could accommodate any weather conditions. The tricky part was organizing a completely free weekend, but everything came together. In the end, we assembled a four-person team. Ricsi and Gergő from Flying Eyes. Peti, who started going to nature more often due to the Woods short film, and myself. The beauty of this was that although we invested a lot of time and energy into this project, it was more like a relaxation, at least for me. Unfortunately, I hiked much less this year than I would have liked. Ricsi and I discussed that we needed to escape the constant busyness and take a break. This project was partly about that and partly about creating something that reflects our vision. To release ourselves and our ideas as it possible as a form of relaxation. We learned a lot during this weekend and the following weeks while processing the materials.
On the early morning of October 15, we gathered and set off. Our first destination was Lake Herman Ottó. After parking the car, we assembled the equipment:
We had pleasant weather. We started “working” here:
We walked along the lake shore, recording footages. We went all the way to the end of Lake Herman Ottó:
From here, we moved to the lake at Kovácsszénája, where there was a small additional task. Since the Flying Eyes team came from Pest, they could only join during the weekend. However, I went out during the week to prepare some time-lapse shots. During this time, an unfortunate incident occurred. There is a small bridge over the lake at Kovácsszénája. I wanted to shoot a series with a wider angle from this bridge. However, the bridge was visible in the frame. So, I thought I would hang one leg of the tripod off the bridge. To do this without risking dropping the tripod and the camera, I needed to weigh down the other two legs. I planned to use the camera backpack for this. I was on a night shift before, not too fresh, so I forgot that I hadn’t zipped in the bag. When I grabbed the bag and lifted it, the fixed 50mm lens fell out. I watched it roll towards the edge of the bridge, and a few thoughts ran through my mind. If I move quickly, I risk pushing the camera into the water along with the tripod. What else could fall out of the bag that is even more expensive than the 50mm? By the time I finished these thoughts, the Nikon 50mm 1.8g lens left the bridge, and upon reaching the water, it completed its work with me. I had never experienced such a “disaster” before. It was awful to see it fall into the water. I don’t think I knew how to react for minutes. The air and water were cold, the water’s depth was unknown, and I had no suitable equipment to retrieve it. Plus, I already thought that this lens was done for, with water likely infiltrating everywhere, making it economically unrepairable. After the initial shock, there was not much to do but continue photographing. After I told Ricsi, he suggested that when we go filming, we bring a net in hopes of retrieving it. This incident happened before the shoot, on Wednesday morning. So the task was set. With the net borrowed from Pityu, I first tried to fish it out, but in vain. Then, to keep things moving, Peti took over the net, and I could focus on the project. Suddenly, Peti signaled that he thought he found it. And he did. He managed to fish it out in this condition…
So, we found it. The water naturally got inside, and I almost dropped it again… I wrote to the Hungarian representative of Nikon, though I didn’t have much hope. In their response, they concluded that it couldn’t be repaired cost-effectively. So now it rests on the shelf, waiting to be taken apart. Since I haven’t disassembled a lens before and I’m curious, poor thing will end up like this due to lack of a better option. As you might guess after such a mishap, the guys teased me about this all weekend. They didn’t spare me, that’s showbiz. After and during this sidetrack, the filming continued:
After we finished here, we took a break to charge the batteries and then headed to Mánfa. From there, we walked up to the Melegmány Valley. We had previously chosen the lime stairs but unfortunately, there was very little water, so it wasn’t as spectacular as we had hoped. Still, we managed. There were plenty of beautiful spots along the way:
That day, I didn’t take many pictures. Meanwhile, we realized that despite trying to leave enough time for everything, it still wasn’t enough. So we postponed Dráva for another weekend. After finishing at the first location, we moved to Óbánya. While unpacking the equipment from the car, we noticed that the gimbal was missing. We had left it at the other place. After a brief discussion, Gergő drove back to get it, while the three of us continued to avoid stopping the shoot. Fortunately, we found the gimbal. The big lesson from this incident was that when carrying multiple people’s equipment and taking turns, we need to pay more attention.
Óbánya was a rewarding location, and it was worth going there. The conditions were good, so we were able to capture good materials. Despite the little incident, Sunday turned out well too:
Two weeks later, we continued. This time, Gergő couldn’t join us due to other commitments, so Ricsi, Peti, and I tackled Dráva. We had plenty of opportunities there, but time was the limiting factor. One conclusion was that a full day, or even 2-3 days, could easily be spent at Óbánya and Melegmány Valley, giving us plenty of time to explore a topic without rushing. Personally, I can imagine having a third part, dedicating even more time and achieving better quality with further equipment development. But we’ll see about that. So, Dráva. Ricsi and I had been here before with a small group. I had visited it before, inspired by previous experiences. Originally, my friend Gyurka introduced me to one of Dráva’s backwater and its close environment. Yet, I only knew a small slice of the area. Peti knew it much better, so we relied on him. We weren’t disappointed; he took us to incredibly beautiful places.
We visited several spots along Dráva:
We stopped at an backbwater where I had hiked several times. Here we rested a bit. What bothered me was that it seemed they had cleared some trees in the area. Nonetheless, it was still beautiful in its own way:
That was my favorite place of the day. Firstly, it had a certain atmosphere. Secondly, two creatures came relatively close to us. One was a large deer. Ricsi and I saw it jump into the flooded area about 30 meters away, cross it, and disappear into the forest. We saw it for maybe 3 seconds; I tried to photograph it, but it was pretty much hopeless. It was a beautiful scene, and we talked about going back someday, possibly staying overnight for even more relaxation. I hope we can make that happen. So that was one, the other was a kingfisher. I had never seen one in real life and didn’t get very close this time either. I managed to take a few pictures with the telephoto lens, but more for documentation. Meanwhile, Ricsi was also flying the drone:
In summary, three days of hiking over two weekends, lots of experiences, relaxation, and an enormous amount of footages and photos. We gained a lot of valuable experience. It was an adventure! Thanks, guys!
Besides the weekends, I visited several places and returned to certain filming locations. This is my additional contribution to the entire project and the related hikes, in the form of a few more pictures.
