Always carry a camera?

They say that you should always carry a camera with you, just in case a great picture presents itself out of the blue. For this reason, the G9 is my constant companion.

A couple of weekends ago, Manda and I decided to take some time out and go for cycle ride. And, wanting to get away from things, it we chose to head just a little way up the road and hit one of the nearest woodland-surrounded off-road trails. Because the main objective was simply to get out and about, we travelled light - just a pump and tyre repair kit, some water and a mobile phone (my BlackBerry ) - 'just in case'. It was this last item (complete with built-in camera) which proved to be the defining factor in our afternoon's events.

After about 15 minutes of incident-free cycling, we rounded a bend in the trail - only to be greeted by a 'crackling' sound and plumes of smoke coming from a number of hedgerows. After questioning whether these might be controlled burnings, I decided to make a call to the local fire brigade just in case. Turns out these were purely of a boredom-driven, needless nature and there were also other fires on the go further along the way. Aren't people charming?!

What amazed me was that it too 3 fire engines, 1 fire Land Rover and 10 fire fighters to extinguish the flames! Still, I'm no expert in these matters, so I'm sure it was all quite justified. At least the fires got put out - which is the main thing after all!

I had initially been quite happy just to stand by and watch whilst waiting for the firemen, but the photojournalist in me took over, and I ended up capturing a good few frames on the Blackberry.

Nothing special, and with no post production, these pictures merely serve as a record of the events of that afternoon. Upon my return, I made a quick call to the local newspaper and emailed the photographs (all of which appear here) across for publication, simply as 'local interest' news images.

The moral of the story, so they say...? Always carry a camera - in whichever shape or form - because you never know what opportunities lie ahead, just waiting to be pictured.