Well, almost. A few days ago I set a task for myself in response to a blog by Bret Edge. Bumper sticker version: There are a lot of photographers out there that travel to exotic locations but a lot of us don't spend enough time photographinng close to home. I'm a prime example since only 2 of the last 10 shooting trips I've taken have been to locations in Colorado. So I decided to do something about it.
The Assignment: Within 10 days of the original blog I was tasked to create a blog postable image within 20 minutes of my home. It's been kind of cold and we got about 4 inches of snow overnight so with the assignment gnawing at my brain I grabbed the G10 and my new little tripod and headed out to run some errands and maybe locate a photo or two.
Now understand, I've been thinking this over for a few days...the location that is. My first thought was Castlewood Canyon for sunrise and, in fact, I woke up this morning about 5am and looked outside to see if there was going to be any semblance of color in the sunrise. What I saw was hopeless. Snow falling so thick I couldn't see the detail of the streetlight a few houses down the street. Back to bed for me.
I thought about taking a hike up Cherry Creek which runs about 200 yards behind my house and provides me with some nice views in the spring and summer when the cottonwoods are leafed out. But a quick hike upstream and downstream from the Cottonwood Drive bridge was a little disheartening. Lots of interesting compositions but the sky had cleared and presented me with a cloudless blue sky, the bane of a landscape photographer's existence.
Back to the car and more thoughts: Finally, Eureka! I've got it! Check out the old standby where I used to go to shoot senior portraits, bridal portraits, family portraits and even some landscape details. Let's just hope the waterfall isn't completely iced up. Got there in 5 minutes, hooked the G10 up to the ballhead, headed down the hill and was rewarded with the sight of water flowing around the boulders in the creek. Turned on the camera and got the error message that none of us ever wants to see: "No Memory Card." No problem, right? Wrong. The memory card I usually keep in the camera is sitting on my desk where I left it after downloading the Bosque images to the hard drive. No problem, there are more cards and they should be in the camera bag, right? Wrong.....I usually carry the G10 in my backpack with the DSLR and that's where the *(_*&&^ memory cards are. Back in the car, blaze home (thank goodness it's only 10 minutes and not some distant locale) grab the memory card wallet and blaze back to the location. Fortunately the light was still good and I was able to create the first image you see above. Now I can finish my errands so it's off to Wal Mart to buy dog food.
On the way I was driving past one of the parks where my son played baseball when he was 9 or 10 and happened to glance down the gulch that runs around the park and saw the snow covered rocks. Two decent images inn 20 minutes in completely different locations. I guess I don't need to travel too awfully far to find some things to photograph. No vacation time? No problem. Cloudless sky? No problem.
And the moral of the story? Well, I'll still keep traveling to build my stock files. In fact, I'm headed to Phoenix in 5 or 6 weeks to visit my daughter and will spend a few hours photographing in Lost Dutchman State Park. And in April I may be heading back to New Mexico to photograph Bisti Badlands with a fellow photographer. But ultimately, if I'm out of vacation days or just want to get out, there's a lot of subject matter....Right In My Own Backyard.
Excellent images from your "backyard", Bill! I am particularly fond of the snow pillows. Those rounded shapes and blue shadows are just awesome. Texture in the cascade in the first photo is really nice, too. You did really well with this challenge, especially considering how far (or more accurately, how close) you had to go. Good work, and thanks for sharing the images and story with us!
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