November Photography Hike Recap

We can’t guarantee the weather, or what we will see on our last Saturday of each month photography hikes at Brooker Creek Preserve. Our November hike on the Saturday after Thanksgiving started beautifully. The cool weather made comfortable hiking, and though it proved too cool for the sometime resident alligator to make an appearance, plenty of other subjects caught our attention.

Nine people joined us for the almost two hour hike, actually more of a stroll to allow plenty of time for observation and photograph composition. We stop fairly frequently, sometimes at the same places and sometimes others, to talk about photography tips, Brooker Creek Preserve, and Florida nature. Knowing your subject makes the photography not just more meaningful, but also works toward ensuring you capture a photograph that reflects the subject.

Rain the two days prior gave fungi a chance to really grow. One of the tree fungi on the boardwalk looked like a flower in the lighting. Two Black crowned Night Herons made an appearance, one posing at the bridge over the main channel, and the other drinking water and stalking a hopeful lunch the on boardwalk just over the main channel. This gave us the opportunity to take plenty of shots, not only portraits but the bird living in its natural environment.

Our next hike is December 30. In January we hold a classroom session. The topic this year is “Push Yourself to the Next Level”. We hope to see you at one or both.

Is it Camping? Or is it RVing?

Karl posing with RV on our first trip the day after we took delivery, which was our evacuation for Hurricane Irma!

We frequent Florida State Parks, and other state and local parks in our travels. Our foray into camping started with two converging wants: something to replace the sailboat trips we gave up a few years before when we sold the boat due to bad back issues, and the desire to spend more than just the day between opening and closing in the parks.

We started eight years ago with 10 year old 19’ camping van, loved the freedom of having our own bathroom, bed and kitchen just like the sailboat, and never looked back. We moved to a newer van, and continued our explorer, nomadic trips.

A few months ago we made the decision that we while we wanted to continue our frequent one week or less trips, we also looked forward to longer trips further away to see family and friends, and just see more of the country. We considered a second house, and then realized that a mobile second home made more sense for us. Most of our travel consists of stays of varying lengths of time in state and national parks, many of which cannot accommodate the bigger motor homes. We kept our search to 30’ or less, and two months ago bought a 27’ Axis.

We will need to tow a small vehicle eventually for errands and day trips, but for now we still do our short trips to get used to the much larger and taller vehicle, and also to get used to “slow travel”. In general, the RV cannot be parked in most small towns or along the road as we did when traveling in the van. We stay at camp more, hike more, and photograph in place more. After van living the (to us at least) spacious living arrangements also give us the room to engage in our other pursuits, play board games, and all the things that sometimes take a back seat when home with more distractions.

We do have all the comforts of home in a different place and in a smaller package. So, are we camping, or RVing?

Happy Thanksgiving!! And Hike on Saturday.

Happy Thanksgiving!!

And Hike on Saturday:

If you are in the Tarpon Springs, FL area on Saturday and want to wander a bit with a camera and maybe work off some of that turkey, please join us on our hike at Brooker Creek Preserve. We meet at 8:30 at the Education Center.

Still Life: Picnic Table with Vegetable Baskets

I offered to help set up for a great-nephew’s first birthday party. I loved the farm theme, and while ‘helping’ set the tables I thought what a great still life it would make. I let the rest of the helpers move on to the next table, grabbed my camera, and re-arranged the two vegetable baskets until I found the shot I wanted. I did then go back to my job and continue helping!

Photographing through a Microscope

During a recent plant workshop, I decided to try photographing using my Canon G16 through a standard microscope. I did try first with the SLR, with no luck at all. First, I brought the specimen into sharp focus under the microscope, and then positioned the lens of the G16 directly on one of the microscope eyepieces. It took some practice, but I did finally get some shots. As it was a plant workshop and not a photo workshop, I tried a few times and then went back to my botany mode and observed the spore casings of the ferns.

While not a great photograph, it turned out well enough that I located my home microscope, not used since a naturalist project in which I participated ended, and plan to set it up to see what effects it might produce. Yes, they do sell microscopes which attach to a SLR camera for micro photography. I am not ready for that step, and may never go there.

Photography changes constantly, especially with the newest technology. Experimentation with new techniques and effects may never make it into the work you show, but stretches the boundaries of your imagination and technical skill.