Beamcatchers: Back in the Saddle

We took a short hike into parts north earlier this month consisting of a little camping in Pennsylvania and an interesting stay at a hostel along the Apppalachian trail (see mountain laurel photos on Flickr). The camping part was during that weekend that most of the eastern seaboard had temperatures peaking into the upper 90s and 100s. It was hot, really hot, and did I mention still? My camera barely got removed from it's bag as most energy was expended just to maintain air moving in and out of our lungs.

Once we headed back south to northern Virginia, we found the air at 2000 ft much more accomodating, complete with a refreshing breeze. The hostel, Bears Den Trail Center located near Snickers Gap was an interesting place. Although our stay was brief, we enjoyed spending our spare time learning about the Appalachian Trail, the role and history of the trail center, etc. There was a beautiful overlook of the Shenandoah Valley on a rocky outcropping behind the property, and I got to catch sunset beams the night we were there. I don't think you can really visit this place and not develop a bit of the "do the trail fever" yourself. I know I did, and it's still a thought lingering in the back of my mind. Will 2009 be the year? Maybe...

Since returning, I've been busy with appraisals, and our first scheduled photo shoot since returning wasn't until just this past weekend. I could probably even be accused of falling into a mid-season funk, inexplicably associated with the downtime in the Twitter servers. Maybe we've become more connected than I feared. Or could it just be the Metal Gear Solid 4 addiction?

We jumped into the car this past Saturday and headed down to Double T Farms for our monthly shoot. And before I get to far, I want to take this opportunity to thank all of the staff there. They've been wonderful and welcoming to us every month and supportive of our efforts and we truly appreciate it! Bless you guys, all of you!

Saturday's weather wasn't as nice as we had experienced in May. I'm pretty sure I recall the following throughout the day: partly sunny, cloudy, cloudy with light rain and thunder, and breezy with incoming smoke. One look at the photos and you immediately notice it wasn't the gorgeous blue skies and puffy white clouds of last month! Regardless, the event was well attended with some new faces and many of the familiar ones.

As I generally do for these events, I neglected the wide-angle and stuck with the 70-200mm f2.8 for the day's shooting. It has become a familiar sidekick and been sucessful at producing photos that people enjoy, and sometimes I'm afraid to break the mold. I was really happy with the results, and have dubbed the following image my favorite action shot of the day.

How does that song go? "You don't have to be a star...."

We carried along my 14-year old stepson, Michael, to witness his first horse show. So just how do you occupy a thumb-twitching PS3-hooked adolescent male for 7 hours? You stick a camera in his hand! I give him my back-up camera, a Canon Rebel XT, fitted with a Tokina 12-24mm lens, set the aperture and showed him how to "center the needle". Admittedly, he had more throw-aways than keepers as would be expected for a first time outing, but he came up with the following beauty which I think deserves some type of "Rookie of the Year" award for photography by a novice. Way to go Michael!

The following thoughts have been coalescing in my head for some time now, and one image brought it all together for me and I want to share. First the story, then the image - gather around...

I love being a photographer, and if I can verbally pull it together, you might begin to understand why. There's something very special about being a photographer that transcends the simple process of understanding the characteristics of light well enough to be able to push a button and print a pretty picture. There's more to it, and the "it" is what makes the whole exercise special and worthwhile. As you cover an event like a horse show where you photograph the same individuals repetitively, the relationship between photographer and subject changes as the photographer becomes recognized as adding value. Your subjects open up, begin to accept your presence and look forward to the contribution you bring to their enjoyment of the event. I find the development of this relationship to be the primary joy of event photography. I'm happy I can bring a little extra joy into their lives as they view the beams of life I caught.

Ok, now the image...