One Of Those Weekends!

Yes, I had a day like that yesterday as I went to the Rodeo in town and wanted to get some shots. Well in years past I was able to get right up to the arena. Well not this year. They would not allow anyone up close so I was unable to get the photos I wanted. I really don't like the backs of people's heads when I try to get my shot.

Down to the beach I go today and see what I can find in the tide pools.

Went down to the river this morning to see if I could catch a couple of freighters. Stupid me - they go through more often in the morning, but I'm on the eastern coast of the state so they were all backlit. Oh, well, going to see what I can do with them anyway. That was just my poor judgement, though, not the same issues you guys had. If I had any ambition left, I'd go back down there about 5, but who knows how long I'd have to sit there to get one....should check the freighter tracker online.

Oh yes! It happens from time to time. Usually the problem is weather/Mother Nature related or the subject not being there. It is especially frustrating when you come up empty handed. Recently I was really looking forward to seeing and getting plenty of great shots of the rhododendrons along the mountains and the trails of Craggy Gardens in NC, but the flowers decided to bloom early in late May rather than the typical mid June - so no large quantities of lovely flowers blanketing the mountains or covering the hiking trails. There were a smattering here and there so I do have one shot that I have on my docket to post. What I was not expecting and what made it not a total loss was the gorgeous greenery and some distinctive trees along the Craggy Gardens hiking trail. Because the Rangers and a few other resident hikers on the trail mentioned that the flowers bloomed earlier this year, I decided to save myself the trouble and not bother with a long drive to Carver's Gap/Roan Mountain.

A few months ago I went out to Everglades National Park in hopes of seeing native birds that I had seen a few weeks prior on a photo meetup with a friend, but when I got there none were to be found!!! So a few hours wasted. Again in that case you go with what you get - if possible. I did manage to get two great shots of gators.

My most recent was driving 2 hours to photograph the Pittsburgh skyline, only to get there and find the haze to be so bad that a good photo would be impossible! It happens quite a bit, and as has been said, it's usually weather related.

IF it is a totally unfamiliar spot - I usually go there in the daytime - I don't have GPS (and don't want one) - I learned to read maps ages ago - and then there is google maps and I copy them off.

Was very ambitious to go do the milky way - wishing you the best night for it. Must be near a full moon now - may have been last night. Take a snack and something to drink. go carefully.

PS: I wouldn't trust GPS on unfamiliar "through the forest" roads at any rate. I've seen where people get turned the wrong way and into a ditch.

I do remember one that was not my fault (sort of). I was taking foggy pictures of the local boardwalk and old pilings on Christmas eve. Got some gorgeous shots, then I heard a freighter coming. You can hear them a few miles away. I thought "A freighter in the fog would be cool!". The shipping lanes here are really close to the boardwalk, so I waited, and I waited, and I waited.....the last time he sounded off, I jumped about 5 feet he was so close. It was SO foggy, I could barely see him go by. So I took a few shots, and it was so darn foggy, you can barely tell it's a freighter. Oh, well. So much for my dramatic "freighter in the mist".....could do absolutely NOTHING to help those shots.

The moon can really mess up Milky Way shots-- last time I attempted them it was only a half moon, but the light reflecting off a still Lake Huron was enough to obscure the Milky Way. Good luck, hopefully you get some great shots to turn the weekend around!

Roy so true with reading a map! I've become way too reliant on pulling my phone out when I need directions. I have no idea why it didn't occur to me that there would be a really good chance that a tiny town in the middle of nowhere wouldn't have cell service available. I definitely should've brought a paper map with me!

Thanks Matt! I am still learning. I really want to be able to produce those stunning night time starry sky shots using the New England locales around me. There are a few places near me where the light pollution index drops fairly low so I can at least practice before I take the longer trips back to the really dark areas. I was trying to get these particular shots in before moonrise.

Its just as well, there was almost a full moon last night. The moon would rise before you had the dark sky for long.

Wait for a waxing or waning moon. Even a new moon of you want to do some light painting.

Actually, it was a ridiculously productive weekend. 50ish marketable prints..... I just need to find time to edit, upload, keyword etc....

OK, now that I have been a complete DB with that comment I will say, YES, that happens ALL the time

I love seeing that even what I consider all of you ( fabulous artist, photographer an digital artist including) have times that are less productive than you'd like. Ok, let me rephrase, I don't like seeing others have bad days, I do connect with the feeling of wasted time, lighting, weather, and otherwise, the day's gets shot to He--.
There are times, when I see what I want to shoot and I have NO time to. I remind myself, they'll be other sunsets or rises, other moments to capture, for now, my time is grandchildren!

Toward the end of May I was out driving with my husband when I noticed that the bridal veil bushes were blooming their little heads off. And I had my camera with me! So I told him to drop me off at the church on the corner near our house. They have a bridal veil hedge along one wall that is must masses of blooms every year, so I figured it was a sure thing. I was going to get some shots up into the flowers from the sidewalk, maybe get the dark wall in the background. I normally just snap shoot rather than plan, so I figured this was a perfect opportunity to be more deliberate. But when we got to the church, they'd pruned back all the bushes so there wasn't a single bridal veil flower in sight! So much for advance planning. I'll have to get my bridal veil fix next year, and somewhere other than the "sure thing" church.

All of my photo shoots were failures this weekend, I would love to share, but that would be way too much effort...I don't know what was wrong, but lots of epic failure occurred this past weekend.

I have had a great 11 days of productivity. I began 11 days ago with 19 images and now have 34 images for sale.

I have been busy tonight with new plans and therefore new studies on how to use PS.

Dave

After reading and being reminded of all the things that can go wrong for photographers, it makes me humble (and happy) to be a painter.
So for all those who had a rough weekend, I've put out homemade cookies and hot chocolate in the back of the room. Enjoy!

People should have seen the sun about twenty minutes before its final setting tonight.

Over Avon it was large and a very dark red orange. With just a bit of haze in the sky.

I put on sunglasses while driving and put down the visor, but got a glimpse here and there.

I thought of wanting a camera. The rest of the sky was mainly blue.


Dave

Stayed in this weekend but PLENTY of times have shared the experience of failed planned shots, nature of the game but on the flip side, I have many many unplanned shots that are great but I was prepared (just in case) and had my camera with me....off for cookies and hot chocolate ;o)

LOL JC I'm glad you had a productive weekend. Not all was lost- I still managed to get some usable photos on the way to my location. This week I'm going to hit up a few of my surrounding beaches (on the North Shore of Massachusetts) at sunrise so I should have a lot more by the end of the week.

Failed photo shoots have resulted in some of my best images. If I'm open to other possibilities and not blinded by my quest, other things sometimes reveal themselves. This was supposed to be a moonrise over the mountain shot. Dang clouds wrecked my plan.



On Saturday, I decided to be different and shoot fireworks from high above in context of a big vista. When I stopped earlier in the day to scout out the location I had in mind, I got this. (The fireworks shots were pathetic, lol.)



Today I'm thinking about doing some macro work with all the wildflowers that are blooming. Who knows what I'll come up with!

Double post.

Fun-filled holiday weekend but too many guests (we live at the beach). Photo plans were not possible but I did manage to pick the very first bell pepper from my very first vegetable garden - so I set it on the front porch and photographed it. I then had my seven year old granddaughter (visiting) help me make the post-processing choices. This is what she (we) decided upon.






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~ Bill
~ US Pictures .com

Good luck with shooting at the shore, Love Massachusetts with water !
I went to firework last weekend. It was very boring. I kept shooting, but nothing exciting. Most boring firework I ever attended :(

Yes, I started the weekend with photos that were lost because of corrupted card.

Can't retrieve them so the locations shots, and the moments, are gone.

I kept beating myself up all weekend because I was supposed to be away on a short trip but couldn't get my act together in time to get away before the crowds arrived. Was really bummed to be stuck here because it's so brutally hot and I wanted to be off swimming and hopefully get photos of baby ducks and osprey chicks while they are still little and cute.

Still, in the back of my mind I kept thinking that often there are reasons why things don't turn out the way we planned and maybe there is a reason this time. Not sure I really believe that stuff but sure enough, I was outside watering yesterday and started hearing planes. I have helicopter- and small airplane-related PTSD from several awful events starting when I was very young. A helicopter and 2 water bombers started circling low and diving right above my property but since I'm in a hole in the woods I couldn't see what was happening. Didn't know how big the fire was or how close but the wind was blowing hard toward my place from the direction where they were working. I threw up then started making calls but couldn't get any information on a holiday weekend. We started gathering animal crates and evacuation bags and did a quick inventory of who we thought we could catch to load into trucks and crates. With a herd of goats and no horse trailers, they'd be on their own. No way to move all the birds. No way to catch all the cats but we could catch some. Dogs would load up. Everything else would burn.

I've been through this a few times and it never gets any easier. It just reinforces past nightmares and makes each event exponentially worse. Many of my friends and neighbors were burned out and we were under siege for days. My partner loses it and I have to be the one to stay calm for both of us and focus on getting the job done and getting him to settle down and get moving.

Anyway, long story short, the fire was stopped and no homes burned this time but I'm glad I was here because I could load animals and drive one of the vehicles out. He may have had a heart attack or stroke if left on his own to deal. It's going to be another long, hot, wildfire season and it looks like I ain't going anywhere for the duration.

Dang Kathleen, that story was a nail biter. I hate how dry California is right now. All it takes is one good lightning storm and the whole state could go up in flames. Really wishing I could divert some of the unusually heavy water flows here in Colorado over to you! (I know it runs that way from here, but doubt it will make it over there before fire season, if at all.)