good to get out - parfrey's glen

After 6 months of winter; getting out is glorious.  Growing up in California I never understood what Cabin Fever was.  Today I was appreciating green trees, waiving leaves, and running water as if I was seeing it for the first time. A member of the Photo Group I am part of suggested Parfery's Glen, a ravine I have visited before but was very intrigued to see it again in different weather. I found myself running up the ravine, jumping from rock to rock, as if I was 18 again.  But, once we reached the end, it did start snowing on us...which felt weird since it was sunny and 50 degrees.

balcony garden

Sometimes, you just have to get out and shoot...with or without an excuse.  I found myself "itching" to shoot this weekend so I took the opportunity to try out a new toy tool by shooting Sarah planting her balcony garden, one of two she is working on this year.

"The hard part about gardens, is that you never know if they will turn out." - Sarah

Photo lesson: I kept trying to remind myself not to chase moments. Something I have been teaching others this past year, but still needed to practice.  If you are not going to direct every movement your subject makes, you have to be ready before they do the action that you want to capture. For example; if I wanted to get Sarah pouring dirt into the pot I would need to be at the pot (focused and have my composition) before she got there.  This sounds easy but the temptation is to chase the action: while I was getting ready for my shot she was doing something else interesting (gathering soil) and if I would have been distracted by that I would not have been getting ready for the next shot.  If you find yourself saying, "Wait, wait, do that again" they you are chasing moments.