The province has issued more pandemic restrictions that include limiting travel and has warned us not to gather with anyone not in our household.
This has not been an easy year for us photographers. In a normal year I would have made trips to the coast and spent time photographing the harbours and shorelines of British Columbia and Washington. I was also planning photo adventures in northern B.C. and Alberta, and I expect my yearly overnight to photograph the Christmas lights along Kelowna lake is out also. Oh well, I have not doubt there will be opportunities in the future. Patience is the normal now.
This week I have been thinking about my continuing quest to re-re-re-photograph the community I live in. I’ve been, as I always have, enjoying my drives and walks around the wooded landscape with my camera as I try to be creative in the ever changing weather we have been experiencing.
The past week has been cold and overcast. When I got a text from my best pal photographer Jo McAvany yesterday morning that the sun was poking through the clouds down in the river valley I put my freshly brewed cup of coffee in a travel mug, grabbed two cameras, (including the IR body) my 20-40mm, 24-70mm and 70-200mm lenses, jumped in my car and drove down towards the river.
Turning to drive along a road that winds along the valley I could see the sun illuminating the bluffs across the river.
Photographer’s forum comments often include making personal and group challenges for photograph shapes or colours or objects. I’ll read, “this week’s challenge for members is windows” for example. I rarely join in, but on this partly sunny day when I had no plans but to take my household garbage to the dump I decide it would be fun to have a “personal challenge” to follow the light along the road and hills above the river.
I had everything I needed; plenty of camera gear, a thermos of coffee and lots of time. Plus, I was well prepared for photographing two kinds of light.
The dirt road was quiet, and I could stop my car anywhere without worry to photograph the changing light. I could stand almost whereever I wanted without being surprised by traffic.
I leaned against the fender of my car and I drank some coffee as I watched a freight train in the distance as I savoured my (what’s a popular word?) “social distancing”. I’ve walked, drove, and even ridden horses along this road many times in the past f40 years that I’ve lived here, and I always made time to stop for another photograph of the large fields with the bordering highway and white hills in the background.
Last March I wrote about doing photography during the first of the provincial “lockdowns”, and at that time I said, “I think most hobbies are time consuming and easily ward off boredom and loneliness. Photography, well photography to me, captures my mind and makes me think about the subjects I photograph and the environment I am in at that moment.”
Just the act of finding and photographing something is a reward in itself. And whether one plays with their images on the computer like I do, stores them in some file, or posts the pictures on something like Facebook for others to enjoy, photography is the perfect stimulant for those of us hiding out from this pandemic.
Stay safe and be creative.
These are my thoughts for this week. Contact me at www.enmanscamera.com or emcam@telus.net.
