Care to share your thoughts on shooting in groups (not at groups)???
Yesterday was the first time I went on a group adventure and I have to say I found it challenging.
So if you have some great tips or advice on how to make the most of this type of shooting please add it to this discussion.
I brought a pair of chairs, because we were going to a sunflower field at six the morning and I knew that if the light was not cooperative or if I just got tired of the mess that I would need a place to take a break.
While many of the others crawled through the fields, non-stop for three hours, getting their perfect photo, I did in fact sit in said chair where I pondered such philisophical thoughts as:
1. Why did I think this was a good idea?
2. Is it still a field of sunflowers? Oh, yes, still there!
3. Is that the worst sky ever? It was so just bright grey that it is blown out in nearly every photo.
4. Sleep. Next time, go on a sunset shoot. Much more your style!
5. Did I bring enough bug spray? And then I added a third covering to everything!!
6. What do they see that I don't see? By the time I had a couple of shots in the camera I was pretty much done. The sunflowers did get a lot more interesting when I imagined a flock of migrating birds landing and devouring them :)
In the end, got home and despite my rather long breaks, I found I had a digital card FULL of photos of ... yes... you guessed it... sunflowers. Imagine that.
And then there is this. It might look like bees, but it is really just another silly sunflower.
Well, once again, any advice on how to make the most of a group photo shoot is greatly appreciated!!
And if you have nothing to say, please feel free to pile a bunch of sunflower photos on this feed :)
haha .. love your sense of humor, but honestly, the photos you just posted here came out amazing - at least you got different points of view and depths of field ... even if the field was full of sunflowers :)
And yet, if I could get others to post their sunflower photos I think we could all quickly see that they begin to blend. More than 100 photographers in two mornings shooting photos of sunflowers just of this one poor little field.
I went on the Internet and googled sunflower photos and thought, yep, that is what they look like.
For kind response, I am now going to follow you and say nice things about your photos!
No advice. But you make me giggle. Don't look at my project right now I'm afraid it has had sunflowers the last few days. Today has a handle. A very boring handle. A very very boring handle. Maybe you'd like it?
You also made me laugh! ;) I go on a group landscape workshop every fall season. So usually a group of no more than 10 people at a time. We're together for 2 to 3 days and half the day is shooting and the other half is critical analysis of the shots. We hit up different locations - so always something new to photograph.
I love the workshops I have participated in - and usually learn a lot from the fellow photographers as well as the instructor. I love being with other photographers because it always gives me a new perspective since I see them shooting differently than I would
However, I have never participated in a one location shoot for just a couple of hours. Sheila, was this just a gathering to photograph an area - but with no instruction or critique? Sorry you didn't find it useful, maybe a longer workshop would be a better fit?
A) Like they said, those are lovely shots
B) Indeed, there are lots of sunflower photos in the world. There are lots of pictures that have been already taken of ALL THE THINGS. I guess we take pictures because we like doing it, not so much because there are things that have thusfar gone undocumented, photographically.
C) I haven't done many group photo shoots, but it seems to me that the purpose of going in a group is to have more fun in the process, not to get better results. If it's not fun, no point. Maybe there is another time place and subject that you would enjoy more? Or maybe you just prefer other kinds of gatherings, and photographing by yourself. That's fine too.
Best wishes!
Perhaps that is the part that I was missing this time. Limited interaction with the other photographers. No feedback on the photos, they took. No opportunity to take a second bite at the apple, so to speak and shoot again after interaction.
That certainly would make it more interesting.
As it was, we rode in a separate car. Took photos. Went home again.
LOL! Loved your story! Clever you to have taken a chair!
I haven't been on any group outings but think I'd feel much like you did. I prefer to wander around on my own and stop and look when and where I want to. I almost joined one to visit a beach which isn't very safe for single females, but when I heard it was for a sunrise shoot, I politely told them I'd think of them when I woke up. Haven't heard from them since! Haha!
PS: Your sunflower shots are all great. I like the different pov's. So at least you got something out of the outing ;)
Evidently going around when you've had no sleep is a part of the criteria!
And perhaps if I had grown up in a less rural place, a field of sunflowers would be far more enchanting. Was an hour's drive to get to a field full of sunflowers.
Your photos are beautiful! Frankly, a group photo shoot would drive me to drink. I can't even take a walk with another person and shoot photos. Have to do it ON MY OWN! So, sorry. No advice from this quarter. :)
I don't drink much other than Pepsi and Gingerale, but am thinking this entire adventure might have taken a turn in another direction if I had brought along a cooler of Mimosa's! Then it would have been a party and that I could have photographed!!
Sadly, every one commenting here and being nice is being rewarded by a follow and the promise I will write nice comments on their photo!
My husband has opened his own account and is now working on his own portfolio. I'm sure he has a different view of the whole photo safari thing, but he certainly had a view of me. So this is how I looked stalking sunflowers!
Ha! I literally LOL at the whole post! Hysterical!! But seriously, those are some beautiful sunflower pics! And, at the risk of sounding like a dummy, how did you get the sky to look like that if it was a totally gray day??
LR sees what I can't. So when I see nothing but grey, which would normally just blow out as white, LR sees a little blue. And blue is a color we can work with. So I saturated to the point of obnoxious in order to get a contrast of color in the photos.
Lightroom (LR) is my new best friend.
By the way, I am now following you and getting out my thesaurus so I can come up with creative ways to continue my nice comments streak!
I love your pictures but like you, I don't consider picture-taking a group activity. However, that being said, maybe the discipline of staying in one location all that time helped you to see things in new ways. The bottom line: Would you do it again?
Next time I think I will bring home-made muffins and juice boxes.
Yes, starring at the same field and trying to discover a new way to bring it to life in my photographs is definitely an exercise I need to do again. It certainly did force me to think (or at least some version of that considering my lack of sleep!)
Sheila ... great photos; and I love this whole discussion with its complete mix of emotions and little bits of advice etc. The best thing I've read this week!
I am running out of witty things to say. You do however qualify for the consolation prize of a follow and my promise to say nice things about your photos!
Well I think your sunflower photos are the bees knees.......not that I'm a flower photographer ever unless I can help it....would have enjoyed taking a few photos of my companions backsides though!
Your husbands photos of you are more interesting because they have you in them!
A walk round the streets of a city is more my cup of tea. You can have a chat, look in a shop window or two....call at a pub for a bite to eat & a G&T & still take some fab photos........crawling through sunflowers on your own is not my cup of tea!
Great story though ......I would have sat with you & had a good old chat!
This may be one of the funniest posts and threads I've read on here. It cracked me up. So if I say your photos suck will you follow me and say nasty things about mine....please? LOL. Thanks for the laughs.
@swguevin Well, right now I've been taking a lot of bird photos and then, I look at some wonderful photos of birds, taken by others and I think, why do I bother, it's been done before and better, why am I wasting my time. But usually I say, "so what, these are my birds,at my park ( or backyard etc. ) taken in my way and so, much more special than anyone else's silly bird photos" ...and then I go take some more.
Since you asked, here are a few of my sunflower photos, to toss onto the pile.
These are fantastic. That first one is an amazing looking thing. Few seeds, lots of petals. Colors are great. Contrast too. The three make a great set.
You have birds.
Thanks for the encouraging words. My sunflowers. My field. My lack of sleep. I shall try to embrace it all!
Will follow and say nice things about your photos :)
This has to be one of the funniest threads, starting with your first entry, that I've read in ages. I've laughed aloud, which is no small thing given I'm in the middle of a cold so laughing brings on coughing fits, but this was totally worth it. Loved your shots as well so clearly think you've got a good eye as well as great sense of humor! I admit to thinking what you've said about all the sunflowers or all the dandelions or all the sunsets, but am totally guilty myself of posting shots of things I've seen so many times. The thrill of having my own version maybe? I like group photo shoots mostly because they get me to places I'm unlikely to go on my own -- sometimes it works out great, and others, I probably am actually wishing I had a mimosa or two and a chair. And what makes the difference to me is photo shoots where people talk with one another about photographing, share ideas, come up with fun games when shooting the same thing -- and when we don't stay in the same place for 3 hours!
Here's my sunflower to add to the thread...more the sunset trip you might have enjoyed.
Thanks for starting a GREAT thread to end the day with.
I've only been on one "photo safari." I was traveling in the Rocky Mountains, signed up to be toured around Rocky Mountain National Park by a local professional photographer, and get the shots I knew I couldn't get by myself in the day or two I had there. He had a bunch of "rules" about what I needed to read/watch before I met him. All were blog posts/beginner videos about photography. I needed to sign something verifying I had read/watched the required materials prior to meeting with him.
Here's the clincher for me: he kept asking what I wanted to take pictures of while out on the safari. Ya know, if I knew what to take pictures of in the 1000's of acres in the National Park, I wouldn't have paid someone who had been taking pics there for nearly 10 years. It was a frustrating experience that paid off in spades when I asked for his opinion about the best place to take photos of sunrise the next morning. Hands down! BEST photos of my trip. It made it all worth it.
I've been wanting to take photos of sunflowers! Now I can aspire and endeavor to some that are as lovely as the ones you've shared. I appreciate your story and the inspiration. (Now I just have to find a field!) ;)
I'll have to find a sunflower field much more local to Chicago or my upcoming vacation destination on the upper East Coast. I'll take my chances on the hundreds of photographers. ;)
They are lovely photos and I've decided to follow you, too! One good turn deserves another. Happy shooting!
Yes very amusing :) And imo they are great photos, I would be proud to have taken them, even if they are no different than stuff you could drag out of google. I reckon what @taffy said - some kind of satisfaction in getting your own and knowing you can produce the results too.
As for photo safaris, I haven't really done any other than a 365 meet-up last month in my city, which was a fairly fun faces-to-names, tangled tripods kind of affair :) I fear if I ever do I will unable to concentrate, giggling to myself remembering this thread!
It is getting rather late and I'm looking at your adorable photo and thinking it looks like it is peaking around. In my mind, it is looking for a way to escape. I can hardly blame it for wanting to try!
I must admit, I will probably be thinking of this thread on my future safaris too. And hopefully, I will be embracing the experience and making a new friend or two!
I've lost track of who I already follow (sorry Tia) so just a reminder if you add nice comments here, I will be following you and making nice comments about your photos. Which seemed like a good idea when I thought only a person or two was going to even read this nonsense :)
@swguevin@bobfoto I also think macro is the way to go for sunflowers and they are so amazing up close.
Sheila, thank you for posting this thread, it has been a blast to read and made me laugh so much. I'll say that same as everyone else, your photos are great and varied but i particularly like the one of the field and the sky.
I haven't been on a photo safari for many years (since I lived ion the UK) and they way you describe yours, I would also have taken a chair, maybe a book, something to drink - haha...
From what I recall of mine (and others have said it), we took shots and then looked at each others work and then went our again and our group was much smaller.
I have to say that I even find it hard taking photos when I'm out with a group of friends as being behind the camera does tend to stop the conversation somewhat! No, for me, its alone or with one other person taking photos. Thanks again for sharing!
PS, I've also done the obligatory sunflower, so here's something different for you - a B&W one from a series I did earlier this year.
In all honesty, I do take a chair along most of the time. Just makes it easier even on city shoots. You know the type that you take to kids sporting events. Goes in a bag. Has a nice sling handle and weighs almost nothing. We keep a pair in the car and they are used more often than the tripod!
Yeah I tend to prefer to be on my own taking photos, I find it quite hindering to have other people with me so haven't done the group thing except for a photo tour around a local township as it was a safety thing!
Loved your messages, a sunflower field though beautiful would not be the best place to group together for a couple of hours as I would expect to take a few shots then want to move on as there is only so much you can do with some yellow flowers!!??!!
Hey Deb. Since I already follow you, I will award you some random FAV's though your photo today earned one by just being so fantastic!! Loved it!
A book. Brilliant idea. I think I will bring along a copy of something like "photography for dummies" and that way when I'm taking a break, I will also bring a smile to anyone who walks by.
PS - a sunflower series? well the one you posted is fabulous!
We must be kindred spirits! Alone is better! And dogs are amazing (saw your photos)!!
In all honesty, I thought there must just be something more. Something I was missing. The toughest part was having my brain shut down.
Usually I am highly energized on a shoot. But I ran out of creative approaches and just couldn't push the envelope.
At one point, the group leader/mentor ask if I had the camera on "auto". I must have given him a "are you kidding look" but then he clarified and wanted to know if the camera was off on its own taking photos. And of course, I said "yes. yes it is."
Now I have all these crazy sunflower photos and am thinking, I don't remember taking that. Maybe the silly thing did take them on "auto"!
Great pics, Sheila! Funny to read your perspective because I've tried three photo walks thinking each time that I must be missing something! So many people do it so I tried it again and again...still I don't find much enjoyment out of it! Great thread!
Oh, what good news to know I am not alone in my misery! Thanks for that.
Though you can imagine my shock when I head over to your page and find what appear to be sunflowers, with a beautiful finish you got be using pantyhose. If only I had known this little trick before the shoot.
If they thought a chair was odd, imagine how they would have reacted to pantyhose!
Please post that photo here so other can enjoy it too!!
I love yellow and thus sunflowers - they make me feel good - your photos make me smile they are gorgeous - in saying that I am laughing at your narrative - I would have felt the same - I would possibly have been found sitting in the chair pondering but probably would have wandered off and become lost because I was off in my own little world.
To answer about groups -
1: make them friends and intend to have lunch in an hour or
2: interesting strangers who you can find out all sorts of neat stuff from or about or
3: make sure there is an out option
:)
Sheila, this post is so funny. I think the shots of flowers are brilliant. As for taking a chair good idea. Have to say having organised a few photo safaris in London for 365'ers I have never seen anyone bring a chair. Having said that coffee, lunch and pub breaks are an important part if the day. What makes these days for me is the humour and banter, if there were none of that do you have a spare chair and a book perhaps!!
I really enjoyed this post! I do a fair bit of group shooting, I particularly remember one shoot in the teeming rain, the insides of my shoes were drenched and squelching, I had a horrible plastic rain cover on my camera that kept getting in my way, and I was thinking to myself 'Why the HELL did I ever think this would be a good idea?!' When I came home I uploaded the shots and I was actually really pleased with them!
I know that if there hadn't been a group situation, I would have NEVER bothered venturing out in the pelting rain with my camera, and I certainly wouldn't have stayed out in it for three hours. I think that's one of the benefits of group photography. You have made a commitment to people that you will show up, so you show up.
Another benefit for me is that I can feel a bit vulnerable with my camera sometimes when out shooting alone, and there is always safety in numbers. Stand near someone whose gear is fancier than yours, and your camera is much less likely to get stolen hehe!
Here's a couple of shots from that horrible rainy experience
I belong to a photography club that has weekly outings (called "Scoot 'n' Shoot") where the group goes to take photos in a herd. Since the majority of the participants are retired or some other form of stay-at-home people they do this on Thursdays, which as a still-young-and-poor-enough-to-work-full-time person, I can't do. I have gone on a couple Saturday Scoot 'n' Shoots, and I also go out shooting occasionally with another member of the club. Like you, I can take a few shots fairly efficiently...but to linger for hours in the same location taking the same shots countless people have taken before me? Not my cup of tea.
But if you look at the Trending and Popular page here on 365 (I've made this observation before as well), you'll see a vast preponderance of the usual (in no particular order): sunsets/sunrises, birds, flowers, insects, children. Yes, there are a few stray "other" subjects, but the usual majority rules. So it goes.
I am trending today with a broken glass pane. Please take note. Organise a photo shoot of a broken shed and I'll be right there. Look forward to my lucky favs. Please pick something exciting to fave if you so find one.
The photo club I'm in does photo safaris all the time. I've found them useful for two purposes:
1) see what others are doing and learn from them (wow - that's a point of view I had never imagined!)
2) safety in numbers (I don't look strange tromping by myself through a sunflower field because I'm with others doing the same thing)
That said, I tend to wander off by myself and do my own thing eventually anyway, so I'm probably getting limited enjoyment/satisfaction out of it. (And I've never done one at 6am!) Certainly getting together to view or critique the images is critical. If that's not happening then there's probably no point.
They were meeting for breakfast after, but I don't know if the intent was to share photos or not. It would certainly have been a help to me to do that mid-point so i could learn from their technique and vision.
And if you took a bunch of beautiful sunflower photos, so why not drop a few here!!!
I am not a big "flower fan" In general. Sounds like the sunflowers just bored you. haha Maybe a different locale might have been better. The pics came out very well!
I went on a small group "safari." I even drove about 10 hours to get there. (Well, for it, and to visit with my aunt who lived somewhat nearby.) But for me, it was more about meeting the 365-ers than worrying if I got good photos. I met with Lisa Bell Jamison and Paula Goff... Lisa posts periodically on here and Paula posts as a member of The Paula Project now that she doesn't post to her own project here much anymore. It was a marvelous safari! Having many people can make it harder to get a shot without a person in it and easier to have wildlife started away before you get the shot, but I did not experience any of that with this meet up. I hope they did not with me. They even found frogs and hummingbird moths, took their shot, and then called me over so I could too. It was an amazing meet up. We were at Farmville Cafe and this little "town" (inn) in Story, Indiana. Here are some of my pics:
I am one of the older photogs here, which usually translates into I used to shoot on film.
As such, I tend to be fairly efficient and then I'm done.
The one thing I would have changed, is that I could have gone back and shot all the deformed or unusual sunflowers. At least, that would have kept me hunting longer.
@swguevin I used to shoot some film too...not great with the film..nothing artsy. Just pics of daily life and travel and my niece. I still get out that old film camera and shoot from time to time. For the fun. But yes, film shooting must make one super efficient! And that is a great idea...to go find the "quirky" examples to keep your attention. When I look at my photos here, I just feel HOT....the day we were shooting these....91 or so degrees and "Steambath humid."
@sjoblues True about what the people want. You listed the main ones. I shoot some of those, but that is just because I love to sit outside and soak in nature. I try to mix it up though. The other day, my favorite one for my main album was a soft focused/weird angle shot from underneath my favorite tree...a cedar tree.It as my favorite shot of the day. I put the damsefly pic in album 2.It ended up way more popular than my tree view pic. That is just life on 365. I laughed at what you said about not wanting to shoot what all the others already shot. Lisa, Paula, and I were curious to see what shots we each came out with, and how much they would be alike and different. The main shots I put up were things we pretty much all three shot..but I have some others I am sure they did not. Especially walking around the antiques barn. I tend to take the "weird" or "ugly stuff" shots. Like a glass insulator and a hammer. OR at the inn. a jute string with skull heads on it. Hee hee Haven't posted those yet...if I ever do. Interesting discusison, swguevin !
@swguevin - I had seen so many clichéd shots of sunflowers that I thought (at the time) my macro focus was innovative! Bwahahahahaha, I crack myself up....
@padlock You picked a site far more interesting than a sunflower field, Padlock! I've only been on two group shots -- yours and Mike Eliot's in NYC. I loved both because of the variety of subjects and the fun of meeting people who understand why you take pictures of graffiti and puddle reflections and strangers when they're not looking and funny signs and rusty pipes -- and no one cares if it's raining just so the camera stays dry. The sunflower field reminds me of why I hate landscape painting. Once I spent hours in a poppy field which was fun for the first half hour and then I was ready to move on to something more interesting.
@espyetta I love the photos you took on your safari - know all too well what you mean about steam bath photography. Even at eight in the morning when I take my walk I'm a hot and grumpy mess by the time I come home. It's almost too much effort to lift the camera and press the shutter release.
@blueberry1222 Can you give us a breakdown on how you photographed and processed the 3rd imagine which looks like a sunflower in front of a glass block. Thanks!
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For kind response, I am now going to follow you and say nice things about your photos.
So it is be kind to the crazy woman who didn't get enough sleep day. How wonderful. Should be an international holiday!! :)
For kind response, will now follow you also and say nice thing about your photos.
And yet, if I could get others to post their sunflower photos I think we could all quickly see that they begin to blend. More than 100 photographers in two mornings shooting photos of sunflowers just of this one poor little field.
I went on the Internet and googled sunflower photos and thought, yep, that is what they look like.
For kind response, I am now going to follow you and say nice things about your photos!
I love the workshops I have participated in - and usually learn a lot from the fellow photographers as well as the instructor. I love being with other photographers because it always gives me a new perspective since I see them shooting differently than I would
However, I have never participated in a one location shoot for just a couple of hours. Sheila, was this just a gathering to photograph an area - but with no instruction or critique? Sorry you didn't find it useful, maybe a longer workshop would be a better fit?
B) Indeed, there are lots of sunflower photos in the world. There are lots of pictures that have been already taken of ALL THE THINGS. I guess we take pictures because we like doing it, not so much because there are things that have thusfar gone undocumented, photographically.
C) I haven't done many group photo shoots, but it seems to me that the purpose of going in a group is to have more fun in the process, not to get better results. If it's not fun, no point. Maybe there is another time place and subject that you would enjoy more? Or maybe you just prefer other kinds of gatherings, and photographing by yourself. That's fine too.
Best wishes!
Perhaps that is the part that I was missing this time. Limited interaction with the other photographers. No feedback on the photos, they took. No opportunity to take a second bite at the apple, so to speak and shoot again after interaction.
That certainly would make it more interesting.
As it was, we rode in a separate car. Took photos. Went home again.
Fun. That is definitely what was missing. A big FUN factor!
Though perhaps it was fun for everyone else. Really the lack of sleep may have been a HUGE factor in the entire experience for me.
Perhaps next time I should include a pillow for the trip to go with my nice chair!
I haven't been on any group outings but think I'd feel much like you did. I prefer to wander around on my own and stop and look when and where I want to. I almost joined one to visit a beach which isn't very safe for single females, but when I heard it was for a sunrise shoot, I politely told them I'd think of them when I woke up. Haven't heard from them since! Haha!
PS: Your sunflower shots are all great. I like the different pov's. So at least you got something out of the outing ;)
Evidently going around when you've had no sleep is a part of the criteria!
And perhaps if I had grown up in a less rural place, a field of sunflowers would be far more enchanting. Was an hour's drive to get to a field full of sunflowers.
Surely, somewhere you have a sunflower photo to post here! Please!!
Will follow and make nice comments on your photos regardless.
I don't drink much other than Pepsi and Gingerale, but am thinking this entire adventure might have taken a turn in another direction if I had brought along a cooler of Mimosa's! Then it would have been a party and that I could have photographed!!
Sadly, every one commenting here and being nice is being rewarded by a follow and the promise I will write nice comments on their photo!
No need to comment. You already did.
I did not make this photo to 'shoot a sunflower', I was just testing something else. @swguevin
Thank you! Perhaps others will pile on now!!
LR sees what I can't. So when I see nothing but grey, which would normally just blow out as white, LR sees a little blue. And blue is a color we can work with. So I saturated to the point of obnoxious in order to get a contrast of color in the photos.
Lightroom (LR) is my new best friend.
By the way, I am now following you and getting out my thesaurus so I can come up with creative ways to continue my nice comments streak!
Next time I think I will bring home-made muffins and juice boxes.
Yes, starring at the same field and trying to discover a new way to bring it to life in my photographs is definitely an exercise I need to do again. It certainly did force me to think (or at least some version of that considering my lack of sleep!)
I am running out of witty things to say. You do however qualify for the consolation prize of a follow and my promise to say nice things about your photos!
Your husbands photos of you are more interesting because they have you in them!
A walk round the streets of a city is more my cup of tea. You can have a chat, look in a shop window or two....call at a pub for a bite to eat & a G&T & still take some fab photos........crawling through sunflowers on your own is not my cup of tea!
Great story though ......I would have sat with you & had a good old chat!
A city walk is more my odea of fun too!
Will save a chair for you on the next adventure!
Am going to check out your photos and follow.
Done and done! Thanks for the laugh!
My only Sunflower shot, taken way back in the first month of my project.
The night lights are my favorites. I love shooting at night.
I unfortunately have a collection of bug bites from those adventures, which accounts for my new addiction to being sprayed with bug spray!
Shockingly I LOVE your sunflower photo. Macro was definitely the way to shoot those annoying flowers!!
Since you asked, here are a few of my sunflower photos, to toss onto the pile.
These are fantastic. That first one is an amazing looking thing. Few seeds, lots of petals. Colors are great. Contrast too. The three make a great set.
You have birds.
Thanks for the encouraging words. My sunflowers. My field. My lack of sleep. I shall try to embrace it all!
Will follow and say nice things about your photos :)
Here's my sunflower to add to the thread...more the sunset trip you might have enjoyed.
Thanks for starting a GREAT thread to end the day with.
Okay, that is spectacular.
Sunset. Water and sihouettes of SUNFLOWERS! It really is fabulous!
They say laughter is the best medicine. Hope you are well soon!
Here's the clincher for me: he kept asking what I wanted to take pictures of while out on the safari. Ya know, if I knew what to take pictures of in the 1000's of acres in the National Park, I wouldn't have paid someone who had been taking pics there for nearly 10 years. It was a frustrating experience that paid off in spades when I asked for his opinion about the best place to take photos of sunrise the next morning. Hands down! BEST photos of my trip. It made it all worth it.
I've been wanting to take photos of sunflowers! Now I can aspire and endeavor to some that are as lovely as the ones you've shared. I appreciate your story and the inspiration. (Now I just have to find a field!) ;)
McKee Beshers in Maryland. Bring bug spray. A ladder. Boots. AND a chair :)
Also, evidently you can find fields at Jarrettsville.
Hurry before all the photographers stampede them over!!
Should not have called them lovely, now I must follow you and say nice things about your photos :)
They are lovely photos and I've decided to follow you, too! One good turn deserves another. Happy shooting!
As for photo safaris, I haven't really done any other than a 365 meet-up last month in my city, which was a fairly fun faces-to-names, tangled tripods kind of affair :) I fear if I ever do I will unable to concentrate, giggling to myself remembering this thread!
Thank you.
It is getting rather late and I'm looking at your adorable photo and thinking it looks like it is peaking around. In my mind, it is looking for a way to escape. I can hardly blame it for wanting to try!
Follow and nice comments on their way.
I must admit, I will probably be thinking of this thread on my future safaris too. And hopefully, I will be embracing the experience and making a new friend or two!
I've lost track of who I already follow (sorry Tia) so just a reminder if you add nice comments here, I will be following you and making nice comments about your photos. Which seemed like a good idea when I thought only a person or two was going to even read this nonsense :)
Sheila, thank you for posting this thread, it has been a blast to read and made me laugh so much. I'll say that same as everyone else, your photos are great and varied but i particularly like the one of the field and the sky.
I haven't been on a photo safari for many years (since I lived ion the UK) and they way you describe yours, I would also have taken a chair, maybe a book, something to drink - haha...
From what I recall of mine (and others have said it), we took shots and then looked at each others work and then went our again and our group was much smaller.
I have to say that I even find it hard taking photos when I'm out with a group of friends as being behind the camera does tend to stop the conversation somewhat! No, for me, its alone or with one other person taking photos. Thanks again for sharing!
PS, I've also done the obligatory sunflower, so here's something different for you - a B&W one from a series I did earlier this year.
In all honesty, I do take a chair along most of the time. Just makes it easier even on city shoots. You know the type that you take to kids sporting events. Goes in a bag. Has a nice sling handle and weighs almost nothing. We keep a pair in the car and they are used more often than the tripod!
Loved your messages, a sunflower field though beautiful would not be the best place to group together for a couple of hours as I would expect to take a few shots then want to move on as there is only so much you can do with some yellow flowers!!??!!
Hey Deb. Since I already follow you, I will award you some random FAV's though your photo today earned one by just being so fantastic!! Loved it!
A book. Brilliant idea. I think I will bring along a copy of something like "photography for dummies" and that way when I'm taking a break, I will also bring a smile to anyone who walks by.
PS - a sunflower series? well the one you posted is fabulous!
We must be kindred spirits! Alone is better! And dogs are amazing (saw your photos)!!
In all honesty, I thought there must just be something more. Something I was missing. The toughest part was having my brain shut down.
Usually I am highly energized on a shoot. But I ran out of creative approaches and just couldn't push the envelope.
At one point, the group leader/mentor ask if I had the camera on "auto". I must have given him a "are you kidding look" but then he clarified and wanted to know if the camera was off on its own taking photos. And of course, I said "yes. yes it is."
Now I have all these crazy sunflower photos and am thinking, I don't remember taking that. Maybe the silly thing did take them on "auto"!
Will prepare better next time.
Or take a book and just have a good read!
Oh, what good news to know I am not alone in my misery! Thanks for that.
Though you can imagine my shock when I head over to your page and find what appear to be sunflowers, with a beautiful finish you got be using pantyhose. If only I had known this little trick before the shoot.
If they thought a chair was odd, imagine how they would have reacted to pantyhose!
Please post that photo here so other can enjoy it too!!
To answer about groups -
1: make them friends and intend to have lunch in an hour or
2: interesting strangers who you can find out all sorts of neat stuff from or about or
3: make sure there is an out option
:)
I know that if there hadn't been a group situation, I would have NEVER bothered venturing out in the pelting rain with my camera, and I certainly wouldn't have stayed out in it for three hours. I think that's one of the benefits of group photography. You have made a commitment to people that you will show up, so you show up.
Another benefit for me is that I can feel a bit vulnerable with my camera sometimes when out shooting alone, and there is always safety in numbers. Stand near someone whose gear is fancier than yours, and your camera is much less likely to get stolen hehe!
Here's a couple of shots from that horrible rainy experience
Posted as requested. mental note to yourself...always take water bottle with you wherever you go.
All excellent suggestions! Thanks! Am quickly scribbling notes before heading over to look at your photos!
Why I do have spare chairs. Now I will know to pop those in to the car before heading out in a group! As they say, misery enjoys company!
Photos. Nice things to say. Still on that kick today! Look forward to seeing what you've posted :)
Well those are lovely photos and do seem so worth the pain of group and rain!
The experience tip of standing next to someone with nicer gear to reduce my risk of theft is just brilliant! Wonder why I didn't think of that one!
Offering a group trip to visit your photos and say nice things about them!
Brilliant sunflower photo was totally worth the wait.
I need to come up with a formal packing list so I don't leave things like the water bottle home again! Lovely suggestion!
Already looked at your photos and said a nice thing, but since you came back with beautiful sunflower will now go award you with a random FAV or two!!
http://www.dictionaryofobscuresorrows.com/post/59306080288/vemodalen
I belong to a photography club that has weekly outings (called "Scoot 'n' Shoot") where the group goes to take photos in a herd. Since the majority of the participants are retired or some other form of stay-at-home people they do this on Thursdays, which as a still-young-and-poor-enough-to-work-full-time person, I can't do. I have gone on a couple Saturday Scoot 'n' Shoots, and I also go out shooting occasionally with another member of the club. Like you, I can take a few shots fairly efficiently...but to linger for hours in the same location taking the same shots countless people have taken before me? Not my cup of tea.
But if you look at the Trending and Popular page here on 365 (I've made this observation before as well), you'll see a vast preponderance of the usual (in no particular order): sunsets/sunrises, birds, flowers, insects, children. Yes, there are a few stray "other" subjects, but the usual majority rules. So it goes.
Hi Shannon
Scoot'n'Shoot is just so clever. Love the term herd.
Next time, I will be thinking just that "herd" and hoping we don't stampede!
And yes, this group on 365 does seem to identify strongly with sunsets/sunrises, birds, flowers, insects and children. Point on observation!
Really quite lovely. Thanks for playing!!!
Broken glass? Did you call the photo Annie Lennox?
Going right over to check it out. I love broken, urban decay photos!!
The photo club I'm in does photo safaris all the time. I've found them useful for two purposes:
1) see what others are doing and learn from them (wow - that's a point of view I had never imagined!)
2) safety in numbers (I don't look strange tromping by myself through a sunflower field because I'm with others doing the same thing)
That said, I tend to wander off by myself and do my own thing eventually anyway, so I'm probably getting limited enjoyment/satisfaction out of it. (And I've never done one at 6am!) Certainly getting together to view or critique the images is critical. If that's not happening then there's probably no point.
Your photos are gorgeous anyway!
They were meeting for breakfast after, but I don't know if the intent was to share photos or not. It would certainly have been a help to me to do that mid-point so i could learn from their technique and vision.
And if you took a bunch of beautiful sunflower photos, so why not drop a few here!!!
I am one of the older photogs here, which usually translates into I used to shoot on film.
As such, I tend to be fairly efficient and then I'm done.
The one thing I would have changed, is that I could have gone back and shot all the deformed or unusual sunflowers. At least, that would have kept me hunting longer.
That totally sounds like the way to "safari"!!
Love the photos you posted. What a great, great day!!
As I already follow you, I will reward your sharing here with a scattering of FAV's for fabulous photos!
Nothing is better than a photo that evokes memories... even if it is of a steambath humid day !!!
Thanks. I am growing more fond of them. Guess I should embrace them before they wilt!
Follow and nice comments heading your way!