Last weekend my husband and I headed back up to Beaver Meadows Ranch Resort. It’s just over the hill from where my family had a cabin while growing up and it still feels like ‘home’ to me. I took the opportunity to take a few photos of people on the tubing hill. If you’re in some of these photos – here’s where you can find out how to get the digital files in exchange for a signed release.
I LOVED working on these photos – both while taking them and also in processing them – and found myself smiling right along with them. See if you find the same thing watching the slideshow of the simply joy of sliding down a hill.
Beaver Meadows Tubing Photos 10-11 Dec 2011 – Images by Janet White
I was so very thrilled to learn that this blog was featured on Becky Higgins’ website. I am jumping in on Project Life, but keep most of my posts about it over on my Field Journaling blog. This is where I’ll be posting more about the photography aspect of it, though, so check back or just subscribe to the feed. Glad to have you here!
Click on the photos below to go straight to the blog posts about them…
Setting Up Project Life Using my Stash of Digital Kits
Project Life is the Perfect Solution for Our Trail Cam Record
We had a full week of sunshine and gorgeous weather in Yellowstone. Hardly a cloud to be seen. That changed when we drove home – the farther south into Colorado we drove, the clouds were full of drama as though reminding us how much we missed them. Just love those dramatic clouds over western landscapes. Here’s a large one we watched all the way through South Park – in this photo (one of many) it sits over the hot springs at Hartsel. They closed long ago due to the high radioactivity there.
We took off mid afternoon from home to drive part way up to Yellowstone. The light on the mountains just north of Frisco was gorgeous and I had to capture it. But we couldn’t stop – and were traveling at the speed limit (60 mph there?). I saw an opening in the trees coming up on my side of the car and got the camera ready. I had no idea if it would be crisp, or blurry, but I took the shot anyway. It turned out.
On this last trip up to Yellowstone, I rented a lens I’m interested in purchasing. It’s the 28-300 mm lens from Canon and I rented it from the good folks at Borrow Lenses .com – if you’ve not rented a lens before – I have to suggest it as an option for special trips or occasions. You can rent nearly anything you need or are interested in trying out before you buy.
You may not think you can take photos from a vehicle moving so very fast, but you can. No, not all of them will turn out, but once you get the hang of it, it’s surprising how many great shots you can get. Here are a few tricks I use to get photos to work using this hand-held method from the passenger’s seat.
1. FAST shutter speed.
You’ve GOT to crank up that shutter speed usually to at least 1/1000 of a second or faster. The longer the lens, the higher you need. The above photo was shot at 1/1000; ISO 200; f/4.5; 50 mm (28-300mm lens). I don’t recommend shooting while you drive, and never do when in traffic, but it can be done on lonely roads with a fast shutter speed and ‘shooting blind’ – just hold up the camera and release the shutter. Just remember that no photo is worth risking your safety. You might have to straighten it a bit, and with some creative processing, even slightly blurry shots can come out nicely. If you’re in the passenger seat, though, look through that viewfinder.
2. Compose Ahead & Have the Camera Ready
Watching the landscape pass by, you can see things that might make a good photo coming up. Check to see where power lines are if you want them out of the photo – pay attention to trees, signs or billboards that line the road. If it’s a road you take repeatedly, note the spots you might want to catch on the next run through.
Perpendicular to the road a western scene unfolded before us as we drove into Dubois. The wagon was moving along at a good clip, and we were driving near 65 mph. I noticed the wagon driver noticed me (or at least the lens) – and it did cross my mind that if this guy didn’t know what he was doing, we would collide with the horses, or it could turn really ugly really fast. I took one shot that was blurry. But through the viewfinder, I watched his hands and could tell he knew exactly what he was doing. My eyes moved to the horses, who also seemed solid in this. I relaxed and got two solid shots. The last one of the three I took I didn’t hope to come out since they were so close, but it did. The most I hoped for was the name of the ranch to look up online. That last shot wasn’t quite as crisp as the second shot, but good enough to make it to the ‘to print’ file for the vacation scrapbook pages.
At home, I looked up the Turtle Ranch – these horses (and driver) are used to cameras. Interesting to know.
3. Give Yourself Some Distance
Things closer to the road will more likely blur out than things farther away. The first photo in this post used that, but you can also use the blur to your advantage to give a sense of motion – of being in the car. And when capturing the sense of being on the road, that can be important.
4. Steady As You Can
If the road isn’t too bumpy you can get some good shots. I find myself sitting forward on my seat, not touching anything in the vehicle with my upper body. I also hold my breath before releasing the shutter. I also may take two or three shots in a row simply to remove the small bit of shake releasing the shutter might make.
5. Experiment
Look around for different views and scenes. I feel so lucky that I scrapbook as well as work to shoot for stock – to me, they compliment each other well. Both work to tell the story – photos to capture the moment – the concept of the moment. And, if they don’t work for stock, because I scrapbook, I can love them even in their imperfections – and work again another time to get them crisp and smooth enough for stock. Just keep shooting.
Part of the Colorado Springs Watershed – taken in the Upper Blue River area.
This photo pretty much sums up the type of weather we had the entire time we were in the Yellowstone area – amazing.
Geology defines Wyoming. In this area, it’s Laramie Peak.
Shot ‘blind’ – hold up the camera while driving and release the shutter.
UPDATE: Photos are up and ready to order.
This last Saturday, Mike and I enjoyed all the fun at the Lake George Tractor Pull. I took photos that should be up no later than Friday for those of you interested in ordering. Check over at Tractor Tales for more information on pricing, etc. I’m pleased with how they came out.
In the meantime, here’s another tractor portrait taken last fall:
Transitions. Growth. Change. No matter what change you make or experience in life, it creates imperfections. It’s hard to let go of ‘yesterday’ when all was gloriously perfect in our minds. But we must let it go and let the transition happen in order to become what God intended for us. Like this apple blossom, though, the imperfections and bruises create their own sort of beauty as it transitions to becoming an apple. The ability to appreciate that beauty in yourself and others is nothing short of Grace.
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Available now as a print and as a royalty free download. Click on the photo above or here to purchase.
Crop Reference for Prints:
