Rediscovering Photography

I’ve told myself over and over that if a person wants to take some good photos, you have to go take pictures! I think we all forget this from time to time.

If you have a half hour to spare on a nice day, grab a sandwich and your camera and head to the nearest park. You might be surprised what you might be able to capture.

Even a goofy chipmunk makes a good picture after a few days off from the camera habit.

It was interesting to see what appeared after sitting for just 15 minutes or so.

I put my telephoto lens on and set the shutter speed to 1/1000 of a second. When something moved I shot it <grin>. Nice bright sunny days make this easy.

It was nice sitting out in the sun. And in the Zen spirit, on a nice spring day, it’s good for the soul to spend a little time contemplating nature and letting a little bit of stress go. I did have to walk about ten steps to take the shot of the Mallard. But I managed that feat of exercise without a sweat.

Don’t waste the nice days. A half hour break with your camera in your hand beats an hour of sitting at your desk eating your sandwich and looking at all the emails in your inbox.

So bust loose and do it. The emails will not mind waiting.

Just a few sample shots up here for a few days while we organize things.

Example of an HDR hand held shot

Another barn to use on the geotagging/map page

A green barn, unusual. And with a chimney with lots of vines growing from it. This should be a real ‘green’ barn when the leaves come out on the vines.

A red and blue barn. I’m sure the flowers in the ‘planter’ in the foreground are plastic. First shot this year with green grass.

Add more photos/text…

Everyday life and the commitments you have are constantly demanding your time. But a break for a photo trek can give you new energy and insight about your hobby. And today was a day when I think it was worth it. I am surprised how much more I have been enjoying getting out and taking shots after changing how I have been approaching my planning for the times that I can get out with the camera.

Paco road along with me this afternoon on a trip up to Crow Wing State Park and the Camp Ripley area. It was a lot of fun having him along. And I have quite a few shots that I will be sharing with you. But time is of the essence and hopefully tomorrow morning I will be able to try some sunrise photos. Plus they are having a maple syrup demonstration at Lake Maria State Park and I’d like to check that out if the clouds stay away for the morning. So you will have to wait for some really dreary or rainy weather to give me a chance to keep the blog updated. So many photos, so little time.

Food for thought: Can a person take an art-worthy photo of people drilling holes in trees to make maple syrup? If you have the answer, let me know.
(Update 3/30/08: The weather didn’t cooperate yesterday. We’ll try again next weekend.)