(Uncomfortable) Woodland Photography
Fun With Cameras XL
Growth in photography happens when we experiment, allow ourselves to play, and try something new or something we rarely do. Those actions are uncomfortable because the risk of failure is higher, and we’re meddling with something we don’t know or don’t know well.
But when we embrace those vulnerabilities, we open our minds to new ideas and fresh approaches that may yield valuable lessons we can apply when we return to our comfort zone.
I love the forest. I hate the forest. It can be the most beautiful and peaceful place to be. But the great outdoors connects you with all sorts of native lifeforms that may or may not heighten your senses.
Those outdoor sanctuaries I can play with are also so close to busy urban life that you’re hardly alone. I have more than once found myself a few feet away from a dog whose owner was much farther ahead or back, not bothering how other people might feel.
Many outdoor photographers seem to rely on the use of tripods.
I hate tripods for many reasons. They weigh me down. They’re cumbersome to use. And while I appreciate the slowing down factor, they rob me of the freedom to try different compositions without lugging around or micro-adjusting a tripod.
Still, in the spirit of trying something new and something I’m not comfortable with, I aim not only to try some forests but also to use my tripod.
I have a few locations that I want to visit on my list. Fall feels like the perfect time to do this. Hopefully, I can enjoy the peace of nature and pair it with valuable photography lessons. Maybe I’ll even learn to appreciate the tripod.
The first experience was a tricky one; more on that later.
The Snail & The Rain
My visit to the forest and park escape Vonderort, which connects the cities of Oberhausen and Bottrop, began wet.
Heavy rain arrived when I punched my ticket at the train station. It stopped just in time for me to step off the train. But it started again as I entered the forest a few minutes later.
While the weather caused me to abandon the tripod, which rested in a deliberately carved-out section of my camera bag, I was unwilling to give up on this walk.
I did not need much time to throw all my plans overboard. Less than two minutes of forest time, to be precise.
Tripod? Not today, not in that weather.
Slow down even more than I usually do in my photography and pick my scenes so carefully that I come out of the forest with only a few images? Well, the subject I detected ruined that, or rather how I handled the situation did.
I saw a tiny snail trying to weather the storm on a leaf that hung just a bit above eye level. I stopped, watched for a while, and continued.
Do I really want to unpack — in this weather? Balancing umbrella and camera? Putting the bag down into the wet, muddy gravel? Every time I need to change lenses?
Yes, I apparently wanted to. I tried different lenses, angles, and approaches, but the wind and rain made it difficult. The subject was constantly moving around. An umbrella in one hand and a camera/lens combination of 1.5 Kg in the other was decently treacherous to stabilize.
In nearly 15 minutes, including the time under the roof of a nearby tree to wrestle with the bag a few times, I already had 91 pictures on the memory card.
I had no idea if any of them had even halfway useable sharpness. But I was still glad I stopped and tried.
The Tree at the Edge
The umbrella could soon hide in a side pocket of my bag, and I decided to leave the main path and check out a narrow path that wound itself up a short ascent.
Uncontrolled barking in the distance moved me along until I saw a peculiar tree standing at the edge of the path, reaching over it. That’s the sort of detail I was looking for.
My starting point was a wide composition that showed the tree and the path. I walked up and down, trying to decide which view was better.
There wasn’t much room to maneuver. And I stuck to my decision to postpone tripod time until next time. I always struggle with the highlight areas in such situations. I also fought with decisions of composition.
The chaos in a forest is almost worse than in urban areas. Trees and bushes grow in an uncontrolled way, making it hard work to see clean images. Kudos to those photographers who do this regularly.
Maybe picking the smaller details out of this chaos is where I’m more at home. But then, I promise I’ll try for more variety soon. And, who knows, maybe the tripod helps with that.
The Details Sanctuary
I left that part of the woods, trying to shake the feeling I had tiny guests crawling all over my skin, and entered a park. It didn’t yield much in terms of images.
I include a small gallery of disappointments below because there’s value for me thinking about them.
Like last time, I exported those images using Nikon’s NX Studio software with minimal to no adjustments to the camera picture profile.
The woodlands continue on the other side of a major street. But this time, I didn’t see anything that warranted a stop. Besides, the weather was turning grimmer again.
On the way back to the train station, I decided to have one final go: a detour through yet another section of the woodlands instead of staying on paved grounds.
I am happy I did. I tried my hands at another wider image and found a few fascinating details.
While I’m not particularly excited about any images from this walk, I had a good time and many observations that can feed my photography path for a while.
The tripod stays in the bag. Maybe it can force itself into my hands when I stop by the next forest on my list.
I can’t say when I have those images ready. Next week, I continue the blog with Ghana experiences and a writing update.
