As I begin this “Journal” portion of this photography journey, I will use this area to share stories of how I got a shot or a story of how things came together to have a scene or photo happen. Some call it luck, I often call them blessings. But for sure is a work and skill involved in all genres of photography. In photography and especially the genre I enjoy most there takes research and timing to know where you’re going and times of day, etc. That is the idea of pre-scouting. The internet is very useful to look up an area for trail maps, where the sun is rising on the horizon depending on time of year, plus answering my questions, like will I actually have a public area to legally get where I want to be?
Staying legal, safety and being aware of your surroundings while obeying property rights are very important. I confess I once went in, in the dark, and coming out in daylight I saw the sign of private property.....of course my thought was “that is not what the internet showed”. No excuse, and I am sorry to those folks on Lake Geneva if you saw me that morning by the bridge, willow and island. Actual physical scouting is best, but you will find your spots and return to them the more you learn them. You can also look at images others have taken in the area you want to shoot, you learn a lot and see what people like. It is never ok to take a photographers’ photo and plagiarize, but with creation no photographer owns that which you are viewing. Who has captured the Tetons more famously than Ansel Adams, yet he owned not the mountains nor the scene.
So I will close today with the LORD declaring:
For every beast of the forest is mine, and the cattle upon a thousand hills. I know all the fowls of the mountains: and the wild beasts of the field are mine.
Psalm 50:10,11
