This photo was the surprise of the trip. All morning I cursed at the clouds which were obscuring my subject while I sat on a cliff that was bathed in full warm sun. I wandered around making photos of bushes and glowing leaves and grasses, but what I wanted was dark as could be. Until this little hole opened and suddenly this scene started happening. It was a Rembrandt sun beam that was just magic. Time to make some coffee and have a snack.
...and with that it was time to move on. How did I know? I didn't really know. I had something close to the shot I came for and several others that I made while I was here, so that's it. Pack up and go home. Remember to put the notes on a calendar so you'll remember to come back at the appropriate time... Drive safely... Uh, what's the problem?
The problem is how could I be sure I got the shot I wanted without connecting to the thing I came to photograph.
From the notebook:
Have to stop and eat more often. Making bad decisions. -SLOW DOWN!
Rushing down from the 6_3 camp and hunting for a spot put me in a situation to skip breakfast, sometimes not a problem, but this day I had to be energetic, hiking, climbing, scouting, and I was on a time limit. The sun is coming! I got lucky to find a spot that made a nice photo, and lucky to have had the forethought to bracket the hell out of it for an HDR (see this post). But the rest of the photos from that morning are merely passable examples of properly exposed poor decisions. But why would that stop me from leaving. It didn't, but it should have. Because even though I had the photograph, I didn't have anything else. I didn't have a story to tell. That was the lesson for the trip. It is no longer enough to come back with that great photo, but there needs to be more to share.
Well, I didn't learn it sitting on the cliff that morning. Not even on the drive home. May not have learned it at all, and I probably won't know until my next portfolio trip.
Photo details: Nikon D3, 24-120mm VR at 120mm, 1/80-f/16, -2EV
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