Evergreen Speedway Open Drift 1/7/17

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Getting Out of Your Comfort Zone

I would say that the biggest impact that photography has had on me is the fact that it got me out of my comfort zone. Photography CAN be done in your usual surroundings and the same places/subjects over and over again, but it may not yield the best result. Don't get me wrong, there may be some photographic prodigies that can make world changing images with anything, but the odds are that most people cannot do this. Taking pictures of the same subjects also does not allow you to expand your skills and try new types of photography.

I started out doing landscapes and wildlife. I told myself that I hated taking pictures of people and that I just wanted to be in the wild. Although I still tell myself this, I have discovered a love for street photography and just walking around with a camera and no direction. It allows me to free myself from an absolute project and the frustration of not being able to capture a certain image.

Before becoming a photographer, my comfort was my bedroom. I'm a homebody and just enjoy being in my own home. I knew that I would not be able to capture anything impactful where I was at so I made myself leave the house. My adventures started at various zoos because it was the closest that I could get to exotic animals. I then started to hike more and more just so I could capture those exclusive sceneries.

This leads me to the adventure that I went on early this morning. The trip started with packing up and heading out at 2 AM for Mt. Rainier. The old Hai would've just slept like a normal person, but I told myself that I wanted to do some astrophotography because it was something that I've never tried before. I knew that Reflections Lake would provide a great location to capture Mt. Rainier and because it was so high up and secluded, the stars would be very visible. There just happens to be a new moon 2 days ago so the sky would've been relatively dark.

A few miles from Elbe (a city close to Mt. Rainier), I got pulled over for speeding. I happen to be driving my Mustang. The officer ask me about the car and told me that he himself owned 27 Mustangs. I did the usual car talk with him. The conversation ended with him asking me about my upgrades and asking me to fire the car up so he could here it. I revved the car and the officer got pretty excited. He let me go without a ticket. This was the first sign that it was going to be a good night. 

Reflections Lake is kind of the postcard spot to take pictures of Mt. Rainier so it is usually quite crowded, even early in the morning. This time, there was only one car in the parking lot and I didn't even encounter the owner. 

I started to set up my equipment but really had no idea how I was going to get the picture. It was almost pitch black outside so autofocus was out of the question. I also had no idea of what focal length to use as I wasn't sure what I wanted to accomplish. At the end of the night, I just tried a few different lenses and settings and got a couple pretty good images. I'm quite proud of the images that I got, considering that it was a first attempt at astrophotography and the limited amount of time that I had before the sun started to rise.

The moral of the story is to get out of your comfort zone and try something new. I would've never been able to capture these images if I didn't force myself out of my house in the middle of the night and driving hours to get to the location. Had I not done this, I would've never got to see the most amazing display of stars. I would've never got to see my first shooting star and multiple afterwards. It was just one of those experiences that I will never forget. In short, get out and try something new. You never know what you will get out of the experience.

G.A.S. (Gear Acquisition Syndrome)

All to often do we fall into an activity, that we get so caught up in things that aren't so important that we forget why we got into the activity in the first place. In terms of photography, this could mean that a photography acquires G.A.S. (Gear Acquisition Syndrome).

I have to admit that I myself have acquired this. In the recent months, I've been caught up in acquiring new and old lenses, just to try them out and to have the best lens for every situation. The problem with this is that I ended up with a bunch of lenses that I have to drag around and a hole in my wallet. 

When you have a lot of options to choose from, you often don't know what to choose. When I travel and visit new locations, I often don't know what to expect and would have to carry as much gear as possible. This just causes more physical strain, takes away time as more time is needed to set up, and just reduces my productivity over all. 

I recently saw a post about this subject and it was suggested that the reader should stick to a single focal length/lens. I decided on using my 35mm lens as this was the one that I started on. The 35mm really forces you to work for the shot. It's more on the wider side of the spectrum so you have to interact with your environment and subject. 

Of course for someone who is a working photographer, this may not be the wisest decision. I'll be shooting a wedding in a few weeks and I will not be limiting myself to just the 35mm. This would be careless and not fare to the bride and groom. If I limited myself to just one lens, I believe that there is a great probability that I will miss a lot of important shots. Other than in paid situations, I will be sticking to my 35mm.

If you yourself are struck with G.A.S., I would highly recommend trying to use just one lens (preferably a prime) for an extended amount of time. See what you can do with what you have and explore your creativity.

Dirt Days

I was recently invited to go to a family dirt vehicle riding day. Luckily for me, I work at a motorcycle shop and one of my coworker's nickname happens to be "A-Class". If you can't tell by his nickname, he's pretty fast and pretty good at riding.  I took the opportunity to invite A-Class to accompany me to this dirt party so I could get some action photos.  

This outing was greatly successful as I got some amazing photos that is very different from what I'm used to taking.  Action photography is  very fast paced.  There is little opportunity to stage a photo.  You just have to set up, then prey and spray.  Of course it's not that simple but you will definitely take a lot of garbage photos just to catch that one moment.

This opportunity definitely sparked in new interest in my photography. I look forward to doing more of this kind of work.

Long Exposure

I've been fascinated by long exposure photography for quite sometime but only recently, have I spent the time to experiment with it.  

To do this, I purchased the Nikon 14-24 f/2.8 and some Fotodiox Wonderpana filters that were made to work on this lens because it is very different from other typical lenses.  

Long exposures makes you think outside the box as the world around the subject typically changes as you are taking the photo.  

Since exposures can last minutes at a time, things such as clouds and flowing water typically takes on very different forms than what we are used to seeing.  Clouds seem like they are stretched across the sky while flowing water takes on an ethereal calmness.  

Long exposure photography is something that every photographer should experiment with as it taps into a different sense of creativity.