The clouds started moving in this morning and I thought it would be a good day to wander with my camera and see what kind of photos I could get. I like a cloud filled sky, clear blue or heavy overcast grey doesn’t make as interesting backgrounds for scenics.
In the past forty plus years I have walked, ridden horses and motorcycles, and this morning drove my car along the winding country road that passes my home. When I first moved here the roads were all bumpy, rut filled, dusty (or muddy) dirt roads. But that’s in the past, and now there is asphalt paving.
I slowly drove up Duck Range Road, watching for interesting subjects with interesting light. Sometimes the lighting is the only element in a photo that makes it different from those I have taken a hundred times before. I had my IR [infrared] camera with a 20-40mm attached, and because I decided to go past some ponds I mounted my 150-600mm on another camera.
This morning I kept stopping and switching cameras as I selected angles to shoot from that I hadn’t used before. However, the morning was nice, and I sometimes I just stopped and looked.
I saw turtles out sunning themselves, and the ponds finally had a few ducks paddling around. Roadside reeds were filled with small birds and I could see geese on the warm sunlit hill in the distance. No goslings yet, it is a lot cooler there than down in the valley where there are already families of geese along the river. Photographers from Kamloops, only 40 minutes away, have started posting their shots of geese with goslings taken in the local park.
As I do every spring, I make regular trips along the road to photograph the fields, turtles, ducks and geese. I am hoping that this will be a good year for gosling photos. I’ll soon see, and as I have for so many years I’ll keep going along the backwoods roads, cameras at the ready to see what I can photograph.
I think it was good luck that I went out early this morning. The wind has started and it’s getting dark out. My three kittens just came in, and one, Pippin, seems to be explaining why, and I am pretty certain some of what she is saying includes directions as to what I am supposed to do for them.
I plan on photographing the Canadian Snowbirds flying from Alberta on their way to Kamloops to thank all the doctors and nurses that are keeping people alive. I’ll join other residents and the fire trucks down by the Pritchard store. Ha, another photo op!
I’ll end this with a quote by American photographer and photojournalist (known for his photo “Afghan Girl”) Steve McCurry, “My life is shaped by the urgent need to wander and observe, and my camera is my passport.
Stay safe and be creative. These are my thoughts for this week. Contact me at www.enmanscamera.com or emcam@telus.net.
