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.)

Which brings me to my first subject, ice. And particularly, ice fishing. I have to admit that ice fishing is not a pastime (I hesitate to call it a sport) that I am exceedingly fond of. But taking a photo of a dedicated ice fisherman sitting on the lake (for hours at a time, usually) gives me the chance for a late evening shot to see how things turn out. (Click on the photo for a larger view.) I had to set up the tripod to take this since it was actually darker out than it seems in the photo.

Again, this is not a wall hanger shot, but another in my series of photos to add to my photo education. There were quite a few problems with this shot and the final result. At first glance, this looked like a good opportunity that could have been a great shot. But I stumbled upon the scene on my way home from a photo outing. The light sitting on the ice caught my eye and I thought, “why don’t I take a picture?” (I think that a lot.)

But I didn’t know the guy on the ice, and it really was rather dark so we couldn’t see each other. I walked out fairly close to him and told him I saw him and his light and wondered if it was OK if I took his picture from ‘up there on the shore’. He said go for it, so I did.

But I rushed this a lot and really didn’t have time to compose things. That’s a lesson learned right there. Don’t waste your time trying to take a ‘good’ picture if you don’t have time. And it took enough time setting up the tripod and fiddling around. I didn’t want the guy to think I was some kind of nut job so I took a couple of different exposures and skedaddled.

I can think of a number of ways to try this type of shot again in the future. The obvious ones are to get down on the ice, or maybe really low down rather then going back ‘up on the shore’. And a close up of the fisherman with the lantern accentuated would have been a nice shot. But as I have said, I at least took a shot that will give me food for thought for the future.

If it wasn’t snowing like crazy today and tonight, I would be camped near this tree taking a long telephoto shot of it and the full moon. But it’s totally overcast and they are forecasting the same for tomorrow. Maybe on Easter Sunday the clouds will break in the evening but the moon won’t rise until 10:03 PM, so that will probably be a bust since this silly tree is 20 some miles from home. But we’ll see.

We might have to start a tree page. How about remembering to watch for majestic or interesting single trees when you are out and about. Find 12 of these and as the seasons change get 12 great shots for a tree-mendous calendar next year. What a great gift for your erudite friends in the wood working or construction business.

And the more I think about trees the more I remember trees from past photos. This is probably my favourite tree. I took this shot while on holiday in London, England a couple of years ago. Best tree to date by far. I think the castle (actually St Albans Cathedral) in the background is a nice touch, don’t you? Serendipitous. When it comes to finding cooperative subjects that don’t mind standing still for a long time while you fiddle around getting that perfect shot, you can’t beat a tree. And for the kinder and gentler group of photographers reading this, you may want to (re-)read Joyce Kilmer’s timeless tribute to trees. It makes my lens fog up.

I started to look through some of my past year’s photos to see where I’d been and what I’d shot, and suddenly came to the realization that it’s time for a paradigm shift in how I go about searching for new shots. Rather than just going ‘out’ it’s time to become a little more structured. And if this structure helps to improve my chances of getting a decent shot, then the planning is worth it. So here are some thoughts and ideas to think about:

Step #1: Your old ‘bad’ photos are the best photos you have ever taken. Review them often.
(If you don’t have any, then go take some. Of anything.) The photo to the right is just a representative shot of what conditions look like on a ‘big cloud’ day. But a different location with better foreground features could make this into a great shot. Look at your old shots with a new eye. How can you change things to make them better? If photography is your hobby and not your profession, you are probably limited to the amount of time and other resources you can spend. And this is discouraging to some. We all wish we lived in a more ‘photogenic’ part of the country. But by thinking through your projects and re-evaluating what you see and have seen, you can change your ‘snapshots’ into something you’ll be proud to hang on your wall.

Step #2: Photos are made from light. Plan ahead and be prepared for change.
No matter if you are going out for a day or an hour, target subjects that will work with the available light and current weather or the with the lighting and/or tripod you can take with you. By doing a little planning in advance, you can increase your chances of getting a good shot. And if possible, have a backup plan if conditions change. It seems they always do.

Step #2.5: Take 1,000 photos a day.
What? 1,000 shots a day? Well maybe I am exaggerating a little here. But the idea is that no matter where you go, there are great shots that you could have taken if the light was different, or the weather was different, or it was a different time of year or time of day. So snap a bunch of shots anyway no matter what else you do. Change your camera to the lowest jpg setting if you don’t want to use up your card or disk space. Just take snapshots, lots of them. These photos will give you loads of ideas of what could be done with the subject if you went back at a different time. Here is an example shot of a tree. It’s a nice tree but the photo is just one of the shots I took one day on a hike. But as you can see from the other examples of the same tree below, it can take on a lot of different looks.

Step #3: Prepare a list of projects in advance of your outings so you can take advantage of any weather condition.
I have been working more and more with the idea of planning trips or photo treks with specific projects in mind. The specific items to consider are:

• Time of year.
• Amount of time available. (Going for two hours or two days?)
• Weather conditions. (Which usually means how much and what kind of light will be available)

There have been many times in the past when I have had free time early in the morning or in the evening or on a weekend when I would just take off on a ‘photo’ trip. Over the past years I have put on many hundreds (really thousands) of miles and been to many places. But I now realize that I passed a tremendous amount of good photo opportunities and really don’t remember many of the things that I saw. And I had a camera with me! Now I really wish I would have just flipped the setting to jpg-small and continually snapped away at whatever I saw. The shots would not have had to be ‘good’. But having that record of where I’d been and all the other miscellaneous things I saw would now give me a tremendous amount of material to use to plan new effective outings and an excellent amount of ‘idea-generators’.

Step #4: A pencil is sometimes more valuable than a camera.
Take a notebook and pencil along whenever you go out. Keep notes on thoughts you have even if you haven’t found that ‘perfect’ shot to take. Make notes about subjects (things) you see that you think might make a great shot, but need to be found in a different context or at a different time. When you are out with your camera you are at your most creative level. You are thinking about what you see and what you can shoot. Jot down notes about these ideas and when you get home review them. Add your ideas to your master list of projects that you want to work on. Then after you review and update your projects, make a targeted list of what you want to do on your next outing. With a little forethought you can be ready to have a productive and much more enjoyable time on your next excursion if you have a plan ready. You have really increased your odds of coming back with a great shot.

Step #5: If you have a GPS, turn it on.
If you don’t, get some maps of the areas you plan to be shooting in or print them out from the Web. When you see something that would make a great shot mark a waypoint on your GPS or mark it on the map. I have used this technique to good advantage in the past. If I’m out in the summer and see a spot that I think would make a great shot in the winter, I mark it. I have been to many of Minnesota’s State Parks and have marked interesting spots with a note about what and when might make it a good spot to revisit. And now when I’m out, I can check GPS and look at the list of nearest waypoints to see if there is something interesting close by that I otherwise would have forgotten about.

Step #6: Expand your workflow to include what really counts.
(I know, I know. There are only supposed to be 5 steps.) There is a measureless amount of information on the Web on the best way to handle your digital workflow. People spend hours writing and reading about how to best manage their photos and files on their computers and what programs to use to convert their digital data into viewable or printable photos. This has to be important to professionals, and is important to pro-amateurs as well. But after a number of years of shooting digital and taking tens of thousands of shots, I am becoming convinced that the planning and work you do when you are not in front of the computer is the most important. When I first ventured into digital, I spent many, many hours processing the photos I had taken. There is a lot you can do with computer workflow, but as they say, you can’t make a silk purse from a sow’s ear. Personally I know that if I would have spent the bulk of those hours in thinking about the big picture of what I was trying to accomplish rather than what exact radius and threshold setting I should use for the unsharp mask for a shot I would have many more pleasing and enjoyable photos.

Learn all you can about photography and photo techniques, and all you can about digital workflow and processing. But also stop and step back and look at it all in context. Look at your old shots and ask yourself ‘why do I like this one?’ and ‘what could I have done to improve this?’. I guarantee you’ll come up with effective and exciting ideas about what you will be doing the next time you pick up your camera.