I almost always shoot solo. Having a shooting partner is nice and offers a bit of safety when one is hiking deep in the woods or off the beaten path and I’d be wise to do so, but I almost always prefer the lack of company. It’s a little distracting knowing there is someone else with interest of a different nature. Several years back I went out with a good and old friend regularly. He almost never made any images as we had different interests…having a pulse versus not…but was a good sport about patience and encouraging me to follow what I wished. Still, it was difficult to be totally immersed in the subject at hand. I just do better work when on my own. I’d also like to say that shooting in peace and quiet without conversation is a plus, although the quiet part is a lost cause with tinnitus.
So here’s an image from Dean Brook on a frigid morning…cold and alone. I can even say that I was indeed immersed in my subject.
I’ve a couple of things going on. I entered once more the annual Monson Arts Council show and also have an exhibit coming up in April at Arcadia, one of the Massachusetts Audubon sanctuaries.
Stephen Gingold Nature Photography Blog 
Congratulations on your exhibitions. I love this picture, and have been staring at it quite a while. I’ll remember to look it up again, and will immerse myself on the muggiest day this coming August.
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Thanks, Robert. Glad to offer the summer cooling service. 🙂
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I’ve seen that kind of interesting, stalactite ice formation on streams around here this winter, and I really like the very festive, streaming look of the rapids. Worth some wet feet, if that’s what it took.
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Very nice image Steve and I completely understand your point about shooting alone. Distractionless and worryless shooting. If I could invent a couple of words.
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Nothing wrong with coining a few of our own words. I do it often myself.
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I like the action evident in the lower half. Good luck with the shows.
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Thanks twice, Jim.
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So beautiful, Steve. The combination of so many different textures is pleasing, and the faint hint of blue is perfect.
The Audubon exhibit sounds like a perfect venue for your work. I’m glad you entered the show, too. I looked at the Arts Council page, and was surprised by the number of things going on: fiber arts, music, and so on. It ought to be fun.
A friend and I went out and about Sunday, and when I came home and looked at my photos, I tossed every one of them. They just weren’t good, and it clearly was my lack of focus and sense of being hurried that was part of it. (Cloudy skies, wind, and rain didn’t help, but still: I was the greater problem.) My friend wasn’t at all impatient, but it’s just different. it’s a lesson I keep re-learning.
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Linda, I tend to follow the advice of one of my favorite photographers through the years, DeWitt Jones, which was to refrain from deleting photos from a session upon first viewing. He advocated a resting period of at least several days before reviewing the set. I have found many a treasure that I would have lost through a knee-jerk response to first viewing. Thanks to the advances in external hard drives, it’s a simple matter to save them, pending future review. One can always delete them at any time and free up more storage space, but it’s still fun to re-visit them and thereby re-live what went through our thoughts at the time when we captured the images. Accordingly, when you said you had “tossed” them, I hope you didn’t mean permanent deletion. If so, please reconsider…
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I did indeed mean permanent deletion. There are photos I ponder, and question, and go back to, and ponder again, but there are those which deserve nothing but a hearty toss into the metaphorical bin. I’d rather keep one excellent photo from a day’s trip than a hundred maybe-yes-maybe-no images. It’s more fun to dump the mediocre or bad after figuring out what went wrong, and then try again.
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Thank you, Linda. The Mass Audubon space is a bit small so I’ll just be hanging 7 or 8 framed prints. Happy to be there.
This is, I think, my fourth year in a row in the show. I’ve had some success there which makes me think I should pursue a few others. We’ll see how I do this year.
I’ve had days like that too, Linda. But they really have to be stinkers to toss. Storage is cheap and one never knows how processing skills will improve over time. The only time I delete files are when some are superfluous (multiples of the same image…maybe from trying different exposure for water texture). I try to save at least one duplicate of each in case a file goes bad.
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The problem is, if I keep them, I keep messing with them, and a goodly number just aren’t worth it. If they’re not in focus, or the exposure is terrible, there’s no need to keep them around You and Gary and Steve and no doubt many others here are sufficiently advanced that you probably are beyond the kind of bad photos i still produce. I’m getting better, but it’s better photography skills I need — not better processing skills!
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Not much one can do about bad focus although sometimes there are images poorly focused that can be appreciated as abstract etc. Obviously, they work better when it was your intent but there can be pleasant surprises. If focus isn’t too bad but maybe there is camera movement, Photoshop has a filter that does reduce the movement to a degree. There are also ways to recover slightly over or under exposed files as well. But if they are too much so then you are right…no reason to save them. I have an image with just too much movement as I handheld the camera which, for me, is almost always a mistake. Even the Photoshop filter wouldn’t help. Shame as it is of a mother nursing her two baby bunnies which is a rare view and would have been a great shot were it sharp. But I still saved it for the memory if nothing else.
Despite all I have just written, your description of the images probably does recommend leaving them alone and concentrating on the better ones and learning from your errors…which I have no doubt that you are.
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Your concentration and concentration are apparent. I hope, though, that your immersion reference wasn’t too literal, and that you didn’t have to cope with what we used to call a “soaker” to get into position to make the image. Regarding the solo aspect, I agree that there is a lot of value in not having to think about what a companion (or several) would like to get out of an outing without being held up by an artist taking the time needed to pay proper attention to a possibly-fleeting opportunity. It’s a wonderful thing to share an experience, but it’s a real treat to be able to stop and appreciate a photographic moment without distraction.
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Yes and no, Gary. I did not fall in but the water occasionally is just a tiny bit higher than the tops of my boots. It only takes a few fractions of an inch to fill a boot.
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It would be so lovely to be in a room full of your images.
When I was younger I never gave my solitude in the field a thought, but in some places I do, now. You’re right, there is nothing like being out there alone, especially knowing that you have family to come home to.
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I feel the same about a gallery full of your paintings, Melissa. 🙂
Part of why I enjoy practicing nature photography is the solitude. I think my favorite few moments are those while waiting for the sun to rise over Quabbin and hearing nothing but the loons…and, of course, the ringing in my ears. 😦
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I’ve had bouts of ringing in my ears, so I know a little of what you are coping with. You have my sympathy! Here’s to solitude in the face of serene beauty.
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Congratulations on the exhibit and good luck with the show! I’ve had very similar experiences with shooting alone versus with a partner or group. I do enjoy getting together with fellow photographers from time to time, but do find I’m usually happiest with the photos I produce when alone. Beautiful detail shot of the brook!
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Thanks, Todd. I’m pretty much uncomfortable with groups of people in general so hanging with a bunch of folks isn’t something I do often. If Mary Beth would go for it, I’d rather live in a cabin in some remote woods somewhere.
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Beautiful image – I wish Dean Brook was in my area. I’m with you, I’m more productive photographing by myself. And I like being alone with nature…
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I am lucky to have so many nice brooks here to photograph and enjoy, Tom. As I’ve said before, I’d be glad to show you some of them…even if it means shooting with company. 🙂
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Maybe I can do that in the next few weeks – after I’m done with the four group exhibits I’ve got going!
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One at a time is enough for me. Good luck with them.
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You are so right about distractions Hurrying accomplishes nothing. This is a beautiful scene. You should be having plenty of falling water after all the snow.
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Thanks, Yvonne. The water is indeed flowing nicely. We had a foot or so of snow last week and the streams are running pretty much at full capacity for the time being.
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A good turn of phrase: immersing yourself in your subject.
Like you, I find photography mostly a solitary pursuit—unless, of course, I’m photographing other people.
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I don’t get quite as close with the water shots as I, and you, do with the flowers and insects, but the intimacy always produces a more meaningful image.
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