I missed the Golden Hours

My last post touched on this but I had more to get off my chest about my picture quality...

I got out for an overnight picture taking trip on the Valentine’s Day weekend, the first overnighter in quite a while. I have a couple of ways that I make my overnighters, and this one was the simple version. Take a sleeping bag, some clothes, camera gear, my dog Elmer, and plan to sleep in the back of my Ford Explorer. I like this version when I don’t plan to stay in one campground for a couple of nights – it’s pretty quick and easy to get up and get going in the morning.

I pulled out of the driveway at home at about 4:30 AM on Saturday. We, my dog Elmer and I, fueled up and I got some gas station groceries including a case of bottled water. My plan was to hit the Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument in south west Arizona. We headed that direction – and got to some little turn off a bit north of Ajo as the sunrise was happening.

I’m a sucker for sunrises but after shooting a number of them I usually only bother with them if there are good cloud formations or when I have a good foreground subject to shoot. Otherwise, while each day that dawns is something to be thankful for, they’re not all as photogenic as the special ones are.

Such was the case that morning. There were a few clouds, and a small section of the sky turned some nice reds and purples, but I’ve taken better shots at other times. Still, I enjoyed stopping, getting the camera out, and being prepared for an amazing sight. I enjoy the process of taking pictures almost as much as having an image.

It’s like when I used to fish – I enjoyed being outdoors and fishing whether I caught a fish or not. And that’s a big reason why I started photography. I wanted an excuse to get outdoors. I wanted something to do if or when I went camping.

On the downside, I didn’t get to the Organ Pipe Cactus Park during the morning Golden Hour. When I did arrive at about noon and took some pictures and processed them, they seem somewhat less than spectacular. I really wanted to get some pictures of cactus silhouetted against the rising sun or at least with the purple skies behind them or with the warm sidelight from the sun hitting them. But I got none of that.

I got some pictures with compositions that I like, but due to the lighting they look like quick vacation snapshots. I could have bought a cheap point and shoot, or used a cell phone to take the pictures instead of my expensive rig. I am really getting picky about my pictures and it’s causing me to shoot fewer of them. I haven’t decided if that’s a good thing or a bad thing – being choosy about the pictures. 

On the one hand, taking a lot of pictures leads to more familiarity with the equipment, helps train your eye as to what to look for in a composition, basically provides an education that can’t be replicated by reading books or watching a video. On the hand opposite, I may be over-estimating myself but I feel like I know what types of pictures I like to take and if I know they’re not going to be that great I pass them by. 

I recently finished reading Photographically Speaking: A Deeper Look at Creating Stronger Images (Voices That Matter) by David duChemin, the second of his books that I read. His books resonate with me regarding composition and I like his example photographs. I work to try to get the same aesthetic qualities in my pictures. One of his points is that we have choices in our photographs, including whether to take a shot at all. My paraphrasing is that if the picture isn’t likely to be very good why take it at all; why do something if you know it’s only going to be half butted?

My answer is that I have started taking fewer pictures. But, because I also use photography as a reason to get outdoors, and because I don’t do it for a living and consequently don’t have a schedule to keep or clients to please, I still take pictures that won’t ever make it into Outdoor Photography magazine. But they have perhaps even more value to me, they serve as reminders for places I’ve been.

I often look at my pictures and I can remember if it was cool or warm when I took the picture, what Elmer had been doing, whether it was a day trip or an overnighter, where I slept if it was an overnighter, how the air smelled, etc. The pictures remind me of my life.