Last September, I found a false widow spider in the bath. I wasn’t in it at the time. Their bites are considerably less deadly than their more toxic counterparts, but they can nevertheless leave a hell of a mark.
A few days later, I had a real pain in my chest and back and I discovered a mass of what looked like spider’s bites covering my shoulder blade. I figured maybe the spider had been in a t-shirt when I put it on and had got stuck there and panicked.
The doctor quickly confirmed my diagnosis was well off – shingles!
Banished to my house, cabin fever set in pretty quickly. After a week inside the same four walls, I was going stir crazy, so I took a trek out to Hengistbury Head to get some real space and feel the wind on my face.
That mass of black cloud was a serious storm and it was heading straight for me. The decision was whether to try and bomb it (as best I could) back to the van before it reached me, or get the waterproofs on me and the equipment and take a hefty soaking for what was a pretty awesome situation.
Obviously, no choice to make and this is the resulting shot. As a bonus, the wind changed direction and the storm passed right in front of me.
I’m pretty happy with this shot, it quite nicely sums up my mood after a week confined to four walls.
Part of the Hengistbury Head, Mudeford and Barton collection.
