air rifle image

Hello peeps, my image for the 'play' competition is me pointing my unloaded air rifle at the camera. I 'play' with this when shooting at targets at the end of my garden.

It is a cheap .22 rifle with a cheap telescopic sight bought for shooting rats (also at the end of the garden, we have a river behind us).

I took over 30 pictures and got two I was happy with. I didn't use the camera tethered, but I did use the 12 second delay, manually! It did my back no good getting up and down all the time.

Image has been tweaked in LightRoom: cropped to centre gun barrel to centre of image, sharpened slightly to bring out highlights/texture on end of barrel and exposure darkened to fade 'me' into the background more.

I thought it justified to include in the 'play' competition because I use it to unwind, shooting at targets is very therapeutic. I also thought it might be a tad controversial, playing with guns is not a good idea.

My son used to shoot air rifle at a local shooting club - he was the area champion twice. He gave it up when he went to study, sold all his gear, which was a real shame I thought. It was a wonderful hobby for him. It turned a hyperactive stroppy teenager into a calm, relaxed young man so you will get no nasty comments from me.
And I used to shoot rats with an air rifle as a girl - they invaded our garden when a nearby stables was demolished.

did you change to a man when you were not shooting rats?

Shooting, whether with an air rifle or a bow, helps me slow my heart rate, concentrate to near exclusion of all else, get involved with 'techie' aspects and give me something to 'aim' for (pun very much intended!)

I can imagine it would help an active teenager, if you can get them to stand still for long enough!

you could get in some troubles for shooting those.....
teenagers can be problemattic, but there are less, (shall we say permanent?) ways to deal with those active teens....

one of the other forums I contribute to had a brief fad a few years ago for avatar pictures showing the member pointing a gun at the camera. Started out with people holding airsoft weapons and progressed with variations based on the individual members interests.

Mine had me holding a Colt Walker .44 (a muzzle loading revolver of the wild west type, the largest legal handgun in the UK). That's one image I never want to see any variation on in real life! Especially since a quirk of the lighting situation made the chambers appear to be loaded (they weren't, of course).

Nice twist there Don, I suspect you knew very well what I meant!

However, I shall clarify. Becoming involved with organised shooting would help active teenagers calm down and focus. if you can get them involved in the first place!

I think this effort can also be misconstrued without too much problem.

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I really enjoy shooting, and have shot targets with small bore and full bore rifles since I was at school. I still use an airgun for pest control and plinking in the garden.

The interesting thing is that it is very good training for photography, taking handheld shots, when most others would give up. Bracing the camera, holding breath, even slowing heart rate, gently sqeezing the shutter release, it's just the same technique and very effective.

Yes, Shake reduction takes it even further, but I'd still use a tripod if I have one with me.

I had a go at shooting many years ago, all paid for by the British Taxpayer- it was called being in 'The British Army'