|
The Modern Antiquarian Forum » Stone circle etiquette |
Log In to post a reply
|
|
|
|
| Topic View: Flat | Threaded | |
|
ironstone 62 posts |
Feb 19, 2015, 10:36
|
||
I need some guidance. Yesterday I went to Coldrum and on arrival found someone sitting cross-legged eyes closed, headphones on, right next to the stones, his trail bike lying on the ground equally close. Like many of us I wanted not just to appreciate the beauty of the site and its setting etc, I also wanted to take some pictures but not ones that included this person and his bike. Okay, I thought, give him some space and time, don't be impatient, but after about 20 minutes he hadn't budged and clouds were gathering threatening to shut out the sun altogether. Should I gently suggest he might consider moving out of shot? Would it be seriously uncool of me to interrupt his meditation? Whenever I visit a circle and there are others there wanting to take pictures I'm always careful to stay out of the way and wait my turn. In the end I managed to take pictures from oblique angles omitting his presence without disturbing him but I left feeling slightly irritated and wondering if I was being selfish. What do others feel?
|
|||
|
scubi63 463 posts |
Feb 19, 2015, 12:23
|
||
After waiting half hour I would have nicked his bike and come back later ;)
|
|||
|
nigelswift 8112 posts |
Feb 19, 2015, 13:24
|
||
|
Ironstone, I think you need to fight your Britishness! Seriously, I have a thing about this sort of thing. The places are owned by everyone so the only civilised thing is to share them timewise (and leave them pristine of course). Nicking his bike is rather a nice way of making the point. They are "our" stones and "our" bike....
|
|||
|
CARL 511 posts |
Feb 19, 2015, 13:29
|
||
|
I don't think you would have been out of order to have asked him to move while you took some photos. He could have always gone back to his music if he wanted. After all, you had been waiting long enough. This site is near the top of my 'to do' list - hopefully he would have gone by the time I get there!
|
|||
moss 2897 posts |
Feb 19, 2015, 13:31
|
||
Just be nice, none of us own anything in the long run;)
|
|||
|
ironstone 62 posts |
Feb 19, 2015, 15:40
|
||
It's well worth a visit, Carl, proto-hippie-meditators excepted. Of course I should have (politely) asked/told him to mind effing off but as nigelswift points out, my Britishness got the better of me. I'm all for people having their own ways of feeling the vibes but he could have done it at a slightly less intrusive distance.
|
|||
|
Mustard 1043 posts |
Feb 19, 2015, 16:05
|
||
|
ironstone wrote: I need some guidance. Yesterday I went to Coldrum and on arrival found someone sitting cross-legged eyes closed, headphones on, right next to the stones, his trail bike lying on the ground equally close. Like many of us I wanted not just to appreciate the beauty of the site and its setting etc, I also wanted to take some pictures but not ones that included this person and his bike. Okay, I thought, give him some space and time, don't be impatient, but after about 20 minutes he hadn't budged and clouds were gathering threatening to shut out the sun altogether. Should I gently suggest he might consider moving out of shot? Would it be seriously uncool of me to interrupt his meditation? Whenever I visit a circle and there are others there wanting to take pictures I'm always careful to stay out of the way and wait my turn. In the end I managed to take pictures from oblique angles omitting his presence without disturbing him but I left feeling slightly irritated and wondering if I was being selfish. What do others feel? Speaking as someone who would have been highly irritated in your position, I think you were being unreasonable to be highly irritated. These places are to share, and sharing involves accepting that photography isn't necessarily a right, and that sitting in a stone circle isn't really doing something particularly obnoxious, disruptive, or unreasonable. That being said, if it feels appropriate, I don't think it's a problem asking someone nicely if they wouldn't mind moving while you take a couple of shots. I've done that on occasion, and people have generally been obliging. Other times, I've waited patiently for people to move (not so patient on the inside, but hey), but most times I've just been extremely adept at Photoshop (handy hint - if people are moving around, and not just static, take multiple shots from the same angle, and you can then clone between shots to make one completely people-free shot).
|
|||
Howburn Digger 986 posts |
Feb 19, 2015, 17:12
|
||
|
Mustard wrote: I don't think it's a problem asking someone nicely if they wouldn't mind moving while you take a couple of shots. I've done that on occasion, and people have generally been obliging. Other times, I've waited patiently for people to move (not so patient on the inside, but hey), but most times I've just been extremely adept at Photoshop (handy hint - if people are moving around, and not just static, take multiple shots from the same angle, and you can then clone between shots to make one completely people-free shot). Quite with you there. Polite requests are just that. Failure to comply? Simply sit right in front of them or roll around on the ground in front of them making funny noises. They soon shift. (I should state here that I was once stopped in my tracks by chancing upon an amourous couple at Carn Ban on Arran. Sometimes you just "know" that it ain't appropriate to interrupt. I wasn't turning back, I ciouldn't go forward and going to either side wasn't an option. It was an awkward. wait.. but every time I think of Carn Ban I smile...) For non-Photoshoppers the free Microsoft ICE (Image Composite Editor) programme is free and very good. Take multiple shots from the same angle and hack them up and let Microsoft stitch 'em together minus the intruders.
|
|||
tjj 3606 posts |
Feb 19, 2015, 17:38
|
||
|
Something similar happened to me when I visited Boscawen Un a few years back - we sat outside the circle and waited for the two women to go, which they did eventually. Fortunately it was a beautiful warm afternoon so there was no rush. We had the circle to ourselves for about 15 minutes before other people turned up. I don't think I would be brave enough to ask someone to move as stone circles are often in remote places and I'm a woman, albeit usually with someone. There are other sites where it is a given that people will be in the way - Castlerigg springs to mind, and of course Stonehenge.
|
|||
thesweetcheat 6216 posts |
Feb 19, 2015, 18:02
|
||
|
My worst ever example of this was at Boscawen Un too, funnily enough. One year we went there the day after the Summer solstice (which had been very rainy) and we got there to find a group of 7 or 8 people in the circle, with finger cymbals and chanting. We'd walked a few miles over the fields to get there so it was a bit disappointing but not unexpected during the summer. So we waited in the (then) long grass away to the side to let them do their thing. About half an hour went by, during which a few more visitors came and waited patiently for the "ceremony" to finish. It went on a bit longer, then finally came to an end - we'd been there getting on for an hour and still had quite a long walk to get to where we going to be catching the bus from. Anyway, they could obviously see that we and the other visitors had been waiting quietly for them to finish. Rather than vacating the circle, they then proceeded to stay inside the circle and started chatting about jobs, kids, etc. I thought this was massively rude when everyone had waited for them for so long. Anyway. They still didn't leave, so we did. As we left the circle (not the way we went in) we passed their minibus parked in the layby on the main road. Bloody weekend pagans :) This was one of the reasons why I rarely like visiting sites when there are other people there. It's a reason I hardly ever go to Merry Maidens and much prefer remoter sites where you can't just park up next door (I appreciate not everyone can easily access more remote places). Another reason I don't much like visiting "show sites" is this (see comments as well): http://www.themodernantiquarian.com/post/109378/fieldnotes/sunkenkirk.html
|
| Pages: 4 – [ 1 2 3 4 | Next ] | Add a reply to this topic |
|
|
|
| The Modern Antiquarian Forum Index | |
