The shot that almost wasn't

On the South Coast in Wellington is a replica Moai statue, gifted to New Zealand by the Chilean president on a state visit in 2004.

I decided to get some shots of this to show when I go back to Chile for my next work trip.

So I decided that the strategy for this shot, given that it was a fairly overcast day, would be to use the telephoto lens (70-200), open it right up for minimum DoF (f/4), and then stand far enough back to get the entire statue in shot. I'd planned to add a vignette and take it down to B+W in PP.

Sort of like this:

 

Unfortunately although I experimented with a few angles and waited for the sun to appear, this shot just kept getting away from me. The version above was the best of the sorry bunch, and I'm not overly fond of it.

Then I went fishing in the camera bag. I remembered the wide angle was in there. (10-22mm). Why not try the other end of the focal length scale? On it went. Dialled it right back to 10 mm and then got good and close to the statue. (Anyone watching must have thought I was going to give it a hug!).

Then - Live view mode engaged (Thanks Mr. Canon for that one!) - camera above head looking down - this was the result:

Much as I'd have liked to do this one in B+W, it just didn't work. Colour it is.

And the strange thing is - I am rather pleased with this shot. Completely the opposite to what I had planned in all respects, but it just works!

I'd be even more pleased with it if I'd stepped to the left so as to avoid the car (my car, actually....) in the background!

However. This shot demonstrates the benefits of perseverance and keeping an open mind!