Constraints

I pulled into the parking lot just as the golden light crept over the edge of the horizon.

I had discovered this sparkling jewel of a park this past spring while participating in an eight-week group walking program. I had explored the lower half of this park in years past, in the autumn and winter months. Always avoiding the warm summer months, certain that a large snake was lurking somewhere in the mown grassy paths waiting to slither across my foot and up my pant leg. The upper part of this park, where I was now, had installed wide, paved paths in the last couple of years. So much easier to spot a snake without the hinderance of grass.

Climbing out of the car, I reached into the back seat to unzip my camera bag. It had been so long since I had been out shooting landscapes with my big camera. I knew my camera bag contained my camera, which might seem obvious, but trust me I have unzipped that bag before to discover than I had left my camera sitting on my desk at home. I also knew there was a picture card in the camera, that has been forgotten before too, and I had an extra battery, just in case. 

What I hadn't given any consideration to was what lenses were in my bag. As I unzipped my bag, I remembered the last time I had used my camera was a few weeks before when I had done some head shots for a friend of mine at her house. There were not going to be any wide-angle, landscape loving lenses in that bag.

Just the day before I had watched a youtube video by David duChemin on Seeing More Creatively in your photography by embracing constraints. Pick one lens and shoot with it for the whole day. So I searched through my bag and settled on the 55-250mm telephoto lens. I have no idea why that lens was even in the bag, it definitely wasn't for the head shots, and it is probably one of my least used lenses.

My photography has run into so many constraints this summer; the heat and humidity, too much sun, not enough time, there is never enough time. I decided to finally embrace a constraint and see what this challenge could bring me. I put the 55-250mm lens on my camera and set off down the wide, paved, snake-free path.

What constraints have you been dealing with lately?

Using the Telephoto

For our lesson this past week in the Flickr group that I am in, The Visual Workbench, based on the lessons in David duChemin's book The Visual Toolbox, we were challenged to put on our telephoto lens and go out and shoot. In particular we were suppose to work on using the telephoto lens to isolate our subject.

 I readily admit that I rarely use my telephoto lens, in fact the last time I remember having it on my camera was in North Dakota at Theodore Roosevelt National Park, two years ago.

So it was with a fair amount of grumbling that I screwed that 55-250 lens on my camera and set out for a photo walk around my town.

I quickly realized once I was walking the sidewalks, that I have grown short-sighted, seeing only the things that present themselves right in front of me. This happened because I tend to only shoot with my 17-55mm wide angle, or my 60mm macro lens.

I have forgotten how to look up.

I have forgotten how to look farther into the distance. 

I have forgotten how to see things differently. 

I have forgotten about the joy of discovering new/old things. 

This lesson has taught me many things, but most of all it has taught me to be open to trying things and to stop being so short-sighted. 

Check out one of my fellow group mate's blog about the same exercise and what she discovered.