ESTABLISHED 2010 - Beyond The Campfire was created to encourage readers to explore the great outdoors and to observe it close up. Get out and take a hike, go fishing or canoeing, or simply stretch out on a blanket under a summer sky...and take your camera along. We'll talk about combining outdoor activities with photography. We'll look at everything from improving your understanding of the basics of photography to more advanced techniques including things like how to see photographically and capturing the light. We'll explore the night sky, location shoots, using off camera speedlights along with nature and landscape. Grab your camera...strap on your hiking boots...and join me. I think you will enjoy the adventure.

Tuesday, March 22, 2016

When It All Clicks Into Place


Not unlike writing when blocks of time drag on and the words simply do not come to life, photography can provide blocks of time when the pictures simply do not appear. I get discouraged at times when I am unable to see past the end of my lense. I tend to make excuses like the light is bad, or the composition is uninteresting. When that happens my motivation seems to wavier. I have stored my camera away for long periods of time because it just wasn't working. Even so, there resides within all artists, and photographers are indeed artists, the desire to create, and to create means to visualize what is not seen, to work past the blocks, and to achieve a level of accomplishment that is satisfying and rewarding. Those moments are the times when it all clicks into place and you know something magical just happened.

Making it all click into place takes a measure of effort not often realized by those who simply approach photography from a casual perspective. Such efforts are both rewarding and frustrating at the same time. Knowing what you want to create but being unable to do so plays on your confidense. So many times I find myself shaking my head knowing I am just not seeing it and the results prove it. Then there are those moments of insight when you see beyond the ordinary, when the light falls just right, when you create the moment with a vision that transcends what your senses simply see. That is when you rediscover why you do what you do.


You are the creator of the artistic vision that resides within. You are the one who must put all the pieces together to make it happen. Others can help you learn technique, but you create your own style and it is your style that brings your vision to life.  
You are a painter of light. You see what others do not, and you capture what others never pursue. You endure freezing weather, torrid heat, wind and rain. You climb high to place yourself in the best possible location, you lose sleep to be there at the best possible gathering of light. You make the difficult look easy, yet you are never satisfied continually seeking perfection. Somewhere deep inside, you understand what is required to capture that special moment...a moment when it all clicks into place.

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