I first mentioned Riverbank Primary School before it was even completed and open.
I’d come across it by chance, and been amazed to see that in today’s mentality of austerity, they had been able to incorporate a fairly large clock tower – the architect scored with this one.
That was less than two years ago, and I hadn’t seen it since, having no reason to be that far down the road, and not passing it when I go to the nearby Cuningar Loop Woodland Park.
However, I was down that far last night, in the dark, and got a reminder to be more alert, as I should have realised that clock would be illuminated, so should have been back there sooner, for a nighttime pic or two.
No matter – I got to make up for that sin of omission recently, after spotting the illuminated clock face from a distance, so had to go in for a closer look.
The first pic I took was actually a mistake, but it turned out to be the best one showing the clock face.
Riverbank School Clock (Broken)
I keep the compact camera with custom setting which provide the best ‘grab’ results, but is also slightly infuriating as the flash mode cannot be disabled. While I can turn it off, it resets when the camera is turned off, so is active when next turned on. That’s OK if I can always remember, and turn it off before taking the first pic – but I don’t, so often get to swear ever so gently, when I hear the flash firing the first time, then remember it should have been turned off. There is a mode that does allow the flash to remember it has been turned off, but the exposure programme is not nearly as reliable in difficult situations, and often fails for grab shots.
However, apart from possibly catching a slightly warm image (probably not an error as such, but a consequence of some still extant sodium street lighting nearby), the exposure set to go with the flash exposure was perfect for the illuminated clock face. This is confirmed by the second shot I took with the ‘correct’ (non-flash setting), which has completely overexposed the clock face.
Riverbank School Clock (Broken) Overexposed
Sad to say, when I arrived at the school and its clock, I was disappointed to note the clock was wrong, as I got there some time after 9 pm – and the clock wasn’t anywhere near that.
Here’s a closer look, just to be clear.
Riverbank School Clock (Broken) Closer
That would have been it, but for a lucky turn.
After taking the pics, I went to the park for a quick spin around the round feature, and got luck again, as can be seen in another post which has pics of work just about to start on the creation of a new feature in the park, The Tur.
That done, while I was leaving I happened to glance down the road towards the clock tower – and noticed the clock now appeared to be showing the CORRECT time!
The difference being that I was now looking at the face on the OTHER side of the tower.
So, back down to the school once again, and some more pics.
This time, I wasn’t so lucky with the wider views, and it was now just too dark to get this camera to focus reliably, and none of those shots were useable,
However, the anti-vibration system was working just fine, and I was able to take another long zoom shot of the other clock face, this one showing the CORRECT current time.
Riverbank School Clock Working
I guess this modern clock probably features two independent movements, so one can fail while the other carries on working regardless.
My mind still thinks of multiface clocks from the days of clockmakers, when one single mechanism was geared to drive all the faces – if it died, ALL the faces died with it.
I suppose this means I’ll have to try to remember to divert down to the school occasionally, to see if there’s a repair allocation in the school’s budget, or if it’s only a matter of time until the second clock dies too.
I’m now wondering if the illumination is LED or incandescent, and how long it might be before the clock face goes dark.
And that focus?
Because I only do handheld night shots, I never get to do any long exposure tripod shots in the dark.
One of the sad side effects of this is that I never get to produce, or even practice, those gorgeous night shots with pin sharp detail.
I have tried one or two (with a dSLR I hasten to add), but they usually come out just as fuzzy as the shots seen above, where the school building is seen.
And it’s not a simple case of being silly and setting the focus at infinity (if possible, given the hassle of defeating autofocus on some cameras) as I usually aim for a hyperfocal setting. The only thing I know I’m doing ‘wrong’ is having a wide aperture. Maybe the answer is really that obvious, and I’m just not seeing it.
I really need to play with this one day, and work out what I’m doing wrong, as it’s not as simple as dismissing it as a failure to set the focus.
After all, the focus is almost pin sharp on the clock face, and it’s at the same distance as the school building, but that structure looks out of focus, yet some detail near it is fairly sharp.
I really do need to play with this, especially since I used to be able to shoot sharp night pics back in the days of film (and lovely* yellow sodium street lights), years before digital even arrived in the shops.
- Yes, that was sarcasm, just in case anyone thought I meant it.
Secret Scotland 