Leaving The Heavy Glass Behind

It's Monday morning, about quarter to five a.m. Heading out to see if I can get some shots this morning with just my phone. I didn't want to carry the heaviness from my bag today. Just the phone, a tripod, and a light just in case I find some close-ups in the dark.

First light over the field before the rest of the world wakes up.

There's a mist over the areas where the river is, right where the waterfall flows. Always creates a nice atmosphere. I've been on a few walks since the last time I recorded, but I just wanted to get my health back in check. Feel like things are good right now. I have the energy I did before, without the pain in the abdominal region.

Stopped by a corner where there's some plants on the ground. Not sure what they're called, but they're all over. Covered in dew. The light's kind of dark, but the phone is doing a good job capturing the scene.

The bundles of flowers that were here a month ago? No, they're all overgrown now. Everything is turning over into summer. But that's alright, there's other flowers to shoot.

Three rabbits out, wow. Usually, I don't see them out in the open like that—just catch them as they're jumping into the brush, or it's too dark to see them. Then a family of geese over near the water. Babies, too.

The parent kept one eye on me the whole time.

One goose was eyeing me pretty hard, thinking I'm going to attack. Not my intention. I thought about trying for some shots, but there's a bench in the way. Haven't been attacked yet, but I think I'm going to move on. See what else there is.

One thing I don't miss from walking in the winter is the spiderwebs. Walking now in the morning, especially in the dark, you get covered in them. When you're wearing a headlamp you can see them all on the ground. Looks like an animal's eyes reflecting in the dark. You get close and see it's just a spider. Makes it hard to walk because you spend the whole time trying to dodge webs. Which you can't do.

The Stack

I am really glad I bought a mount for my phone and a separate Bluetooth shutter button. Helps out a lot, especially at the times I like to shoot when the light's really low. It's almost impossible to get a handheld shot with a low ISO and slow shutter speed. Plus, when you get to a waterfall, you're able to shoot a longer exposure because you have the button and the tripod. Those are my kind of things to shoot. Most comfortable for me. Not that I don't go outside my comfort zone, but…

Don't do a lot of animal photography anymore. Used to be interested, but I got rid of the big lens I had—think it was a Tamron that went out to 400mm. Just wasn't for me. Having the lens and not doing anything with it felt wasteful. Tried moon photography with it, but it was underwhelming. Too much extra work carrying it with me and setting it up. I prefer landscapes and stuff like that. A lot of respect for those who do animal photography, though. Takes a specific kind of person. Very patient. Nature has a way of screwing with you—you think you got the shot, and then it's gone.

Eventually, I need to start taking my actual camera out more. The Canon EOS R5 Mark II. I've had it for a month now and I really haven't reached for it. Feel like I don't know how to use it yet. Want to be able to use it like my older camera, where you just know how it works in the dark. Going from the 6D to the 5D wasn't that big of a change in terms of buttons and menus. But going to the R5 Mark II… a lot of the buttons are different. The menus are awkward to me. Just need repetition to know where things are by default without having to think about it.

Saw an ad for the R5 Mark II the other day on Instagram. They're setting up the ads similar to the ones Hasselblad puts out—showing a picture of a wide scene, then zooming way into a spot in the distance. A composition within a composition. Sure, that's cool, but the R5 is a different class than a Hasselblad. That's a camera with 100 megapixels. They're not the same in terms of pulling multiple compositions out of one frame. You can do it, but it's just not the thing. Wish they came up with more original advertising to show where the R5 actually excels over a Hasselblad system, which is fantastic but expensive, and I'd have to get all new lenses. Just thought it was interesting Canon went that route.

Workflow

At the waterfall right now. Balance myself on these rocks. Harder with every year, but I manage.

Algae on the rocks. The one shot I went in knowing I'd get.

I see a couple of shots. Green algae on the rocks. Vertical shot first. The light's a bit too dark for close-ups naturally, but I have that light with me so I should be able to get them. I'll probably have to clean them up in Lightroom Classic later—saturate a bit, blend the color.

Patterns in the trunk.

Looking for things that have a lot of repetition in them. Want to use them as headers on my website. As much as I like the ones I created in AI, I just feel like it's something I should capture for myself. Doesn't really have to match with the headline of the blogs. Like, I have a posting called Ramblings—don't necessarily need an image that conveys that specific word. Just need an image that's simple, where I can put text in front of it without it being distracting. Looking for patterns in nature, I guess.

Heading back to the car now. Probably going to pack everything up and start transferring all the images over to iCloud and Lightroom on the phone. That way when I get home, all I have to do is wait for them to come over.

While I'm doing that, I'll probably go for another walk. Just a regular walk without stopping. Still have my health to think of—getting my VO2 max and resting heart rate back to where it was before I had the surgery.

"Doesn't really matter if today was a success with the images or not. The whole point is just going out and getting yourself comfortable again."

The Wrap Up

The sun is starting to peak above the trees now. Always creates a nice orange light this time of morning. Just have to get to the spots where you can take advantage of it.

The mist hangs on even as the sun climbs.

Looks like I lost the little mounting magnet for my DJI Mic 3. Hopefully I can just buy the magnet piece and not a whole new setup. Don't know how much audio I lost because of it.

Signing off anyways.