Milestones

 Beyond The Campfire started back in 2010 as an offshoot of an old 1990's website I developed called Oklahoma Backcountry. OKBC was an experiment where I learned how to construct a story and how to put my outdoor experiences into words. It was mostly about hunting and fishing along with some other outdoor related adventures mostly in the Oklahoma outdoor arena. Being an applications programmer I created the site using HTML code, which took a bit of a learning curve. Over time it developed a small but consistent following and garnered somewhere around 50,000 hits or so within its lifetime. It was selected as one of the top 10 AOL Hometown websites and was one of the featured pages on that platform. But, in time, the AOL Hometown platform closed down suddenly and almost all of the stories and photos posted on the site were lost. Except for a few printed stories, everything else was lost.

Fast forward a few years and I ended up in Kentucky. Photography became a larger part of my life and I began to explore the possibility of starting a new webpage with a focus blended on outdoor activity and photography. I settled on using Blogspot as a platform. It fit my purposes almost perfectly and in October 2010 I started Beyond the Campfire (BTC) and posted my first article, Time on the Prairie,  https://beyondthecampfirebykeith.blogspot.com/2010/10/time-on-prairie.html

It was short paragraph with a single photograph, but it was a beginning, and since then I've posted and shared almost 500 articles using countless photographs, with visits from almost 90 countries, all 50 states, and hundreds of cities. As of this writing BTC is approaching 140,000 hits. In 2018, using a similar format, I created a Media Page for the local Sunny 16 Camera Club. (https://sunnysixteencameraclub.blogspot.com/)  It has grown to date with almost 20,000 hits from 40 countries, 40 States, hundreds of cities, with over 80 articles and hundreds of photographs provided by club members.

Back 2019, After hundreds of articles and photographs, I felt like BTC had grow a bit stale and repetitive having lost some of its originality and freshness, so I decided to shut it down. It remained available for anyone to visit and browse through the archive of articles, and so it remained dormant for a while. 

By 2021, those creative longings once again began to stir and BTC was reopened with a newer approach focusing less on the how-to photography and more on the outdoor experience with photography as a measure of the moment. I also started making more video productions calling them Beyond the Campfire Adventure Photography Video Productions. That endeavor has gone through a great deal of trial and error, a lot of error, but has evolved into a series of YouTube video's focusing on the outdoor experiences captured not only through photographs, with using videography as the main media tool.

Beyond the Campfire over the past 12 years or so has taken on a life and personality of its own. My writing and videography skills are improving, with lots of room yet to expand into. I am thankful for all of the support and following from every visitor and I hope Beyond the Campfire has inspired you to explore the outdoors with your camera.

Doing With Less to Achieve the Most

 I stirred back to life from a questionable sleep to discover a sharply defined night sky filled with chandeliers of stars. No moon was out and light pollution was virtually nonexistent. I had slept little. Just dozed, here and there, waiting for the constellation Orion to climb high enough to breach the top of the ridge surrounding my campsite. Thought it might peek through the canopy of tall, ancient trees outlining the blue-black sky dome inside of which I was encased.

It must have been around midnight when I climbed out of my sleeping bag. The dog days of summer were but a distant memory, and winter hovered a few weeks away, so the air possessed a refreshing chill to it with the aroma of dry, late fall leaves covering the ground. Smoke from the campfire was but a smoldering ghost of itself by this time, but remnant aspirations settled low across the ravine below me illuminated by the ambient glow of thousands of stars. My purpose, well, first of all I just wanted to get away for a while. Secondly, I wanted to do some nature and woodland style photography and should clear skies prevail, do some night sky photography taking advantage of the dark skies of Mammoth Cave National Park.

My camp for early December was spartan; a small tarp draped over a stretch of paracord with a small ground cloth, sleeping pad, and a sleeping bag tucked underneath. I had backpacked into the backcountry of the park, and contrary to what I would normally carry, to save weight I purposely reduced the amount of gear I carried including my camera gear bringing only a Nikon for the main video both the A-roll and B-roll segments, a Sony for still shots, plus one extra lens and a few extra batteries. 

The only luxuries I afforded myself were two tripods, a smallish one for video, and my regular one for the still photography. I could have gotten by with but one, even so, the camera gear alone added several pounds to my packing gear which had mysteriously grown heavier by the time I reached my destination the day before.

Camping gear was basic with the tarp and sleeping bag being the most important portion, but I also brought along enough food and cooking gear for a two day stay, a small camp stove in case it rained, and a water filtration system to provide for clean water...

...not far from the camp, a spring created a light shower of water that gently tumbled off the top of a bluff to provide more than enough clean water... A few other basic extras completed my gear list. 

Doing with less to achieve the most, became the theme of this nature outing. Being somewhat hobbled with a troublesome hip encouraged me to reduce the overall weight of my gear. I was still able to limp along at a good pace, just had to take more breaks along the way.

 Doing with less prompts one to fully use what you do have. A tent would have been a nice luxury, but not necessary for the weather report indicated little chance of rain. The tarp would be more than adequate and I preferred its simplicity. Even in a moderate rain the tarp would provide enough protection. More camera gear would have only added more weight and not improved my chances of capturing some good photos. I actually carried more than I really needed, but used all of it.

I brought plenty of food, some dehydrated things, along with packages of oatmeal, and trail snacks, plus warm gear for the season and could have stretched my food into a third day if I needed to. Doing with less actually made the outing more enjoyable. There certainly were far fewer things to keep up with. I was able to spend some quality time just relaxing around the campfire writing in my adventure journal. 

Life is too easy sometimes. Being retired makes it too tempting to just do nothing, which is okay for a while, but not all the time. Forcing yourself to rough it and to become more self reliant strengthens resolve and confidence. It transports you into another realm where physical activity combined with a purpose lifts your emotional state to where satisfaction becomes the end result. Even as a photographer, being forced to use lesser equipment encouraged me to think through the process more thoroughly.  Instead of simply shooting a lot photos hoping one or two might turn out, I began to search for, and then see specific photo opportunities. Observing how the light filtered through and highlighted the landscape, I was able to focus more on moment defining shots.

 After doing so, checking out the finished photos reminded me of how enjoyable the outing was, and how rewarding roughing it can become. Those photos might be some of the most memorable ones I may ever take, because they are forever tied to a place and time, places and times locked into my memory banks by aromas, sounds, stillness, and visual beauty.

A backpacking photography adventure removes the boredom one might possess by sitting around the house. Got my heart to pumping again, lungs to working more deeply, and more calories were burned by limbering up the legs, shoulders, back, and...well pretty much the whole body. By the end of a couple of days, the beltline seemed looser as well. Although I'm in reasonably good shape for an old guy, all the new aches, additional stiff joints, and surprisingly sore muscles, helped me to appreciate more fully the luxuries I too often take for granted.

Time seemed to slow down, as a contrast to the often self imposed hurried and hectic life. The day seemed longer, the evening tarried well into the night, and a tired but relaxed state of mind prevailed. Yet, when it was over and time to pack up, it all seemed to fly by much to fast. This was my third backpacking trip into Mammoth Cave NP that season, and since then I have longed to return, and will do so when the season changes again. Until then, I will do much the same kind of thing, biding my time by paddling my canoe toward new and exciting outdoor adventures. A canoe fishing/camping/photo trip appears to be on order sometime soon. Much too hot to do more than plan for it now, but the heat will soon break and with proper planning, I look to make a multi-day, adventure photography outing...to video and write about the how to's and what for's of that adventure. That, after all, is what Beyond The Campfire is all about.

As a photographer, during that late fall backcountry outing, nature began to present herself in ways I may never experience again, plus that night sky, oh what a special evening that was. Orion never glowed so brightly, and the heavens opened their door allowing me to enter into its realm. The memories...well, they will last forever, and I plan on making new ones soon. Doing with less to achieve the most out of life, there's something to be said about roughing it outdoors, even as a photographer.

Photographing Nature From A Canoe

Many hours have I spent inside a canoe over the years. A good number of them with a camera in hand capturing nature from a water level vantage point. 

The fundamentals of photography remain the same, of course, regardless from where you find yourself, but photographing from inside a canoe presents both new possibilities and new difficulties. 

There are common sense precautions one must follow when using a canoe, but I'll leave that discussion for another time. Just start out on a smaller body of water to gain some experience before tackling more demanding conditions.

The new possibilities are numerous, and present themselves simply because a canoe allows you to access areas you may not otherwise be able to access. Whether on a float down a scenic river, or gliding across the mirrored surface of a lake, simply being able to reach other points of interest opens you up as a photographer to all kinds of opportunities. Dewitt Jones, a former National Geographic photographer always advocates, as a photographer, you should strive to place yourself at the point of greatest potential. This means being on location at a time that offers the greatest opportunity to capture the most interesting subjects in the best possible light.

I've managed to do some wildlife photography over the years with limited success most of the time. But, the best wildlife photographs I've managed to capture were almost all made while I was paddling in my canoe. Not sure why that is exactly, but I suspect most wildlife do not equate threats coming  from the water, so they tend to remain a bit calmer and less spooky as a result.

I once was able to paddle very close to a immature green heron. I saw him fly across a cove and land on the far bank about seventy five yards away, so I pulled my camera out with the big 50mm - 500mm lens and slowly made my way over to where he sat down. I could see him moving along the bank and in the shallows searching for a meal. Slowly and calmly I worked the canoe toward him, snapping photo's as I closed in, eventually drifting to within fifteen feet or so. Several closeup photos were made but most of the time I simply watched his antics from close range for several minutes until he squawked and flew off. He never acted spooked at my presence, even when so close.

One of the most iconic wildlife photos I captured was while canoeing up on Barren River Lake late one summer. It was just before sunup when I arrived to make my way toward the upper end of the lake. There was some fog on the water creating a surreal atmosphere. The morning grew brighter and as I was moving toward a better vantage point to photograph some great egrets, I heard a soft splash and saw some movement through the fog. Turned out to be a deer swimming across the gap between a small island and the mainland. I hand held the camera and long heavy lens to get that photo. It's high key finish turned it into a unique wildlife portrait, one I would never have captured without the use of my canoe.

Although it is sometimes difficult to crawl out of bed well before sunrise, the photographic rewards can be downright inspiring by doing so. It's that place yourself at the point of greatest potential concept that comes into play here. Many times I have been in the right place at the right time simply because I was willing to lose a few hours of sleep. Photographically, the rewards almost always justify the effort, but more importantly, the visual and emotional rewards are even greater. 

So many times I've simply stopped paddling to drift silently across the stillness of the morning. It is during those times I find myself most at peace with my surroundings. Although the camera only captures a weak facsimile of the experience, what truly matters is how your heart captures the moment, for it is within the depths of its chambers the best images are made and the most personal of memories are kept. 

There are bigger, faster, and more comfortable boats, but none more versatile than a canoe. Mine has allowed me to slow down and observe nature at her best. Because of this classic and timeless vessel,  time spent in nature has afforded me the luxury of witnessing the heart warming moment when the amber hues of a new day slowly drift into view. I have been awed, caught up close, within the power of a thunderstorm, and calmed by the beauty of cobalt blue skies. The sting of wind blown sleet in my face and the warmth of the sun on my back has added to many canoeing adventures. No sleep was ever so peaceful as when camping next to flowing, crystal clear waters. Gazing into a dark unopposed night sky to witness the majesty of the Milky Way and a wolf howling moon as it lingered across the heavens, well, it just don't get much better. 

Those times spent communing with nature in my canoe granted me precious moments of sharing days more personal and intimate than ordinary times could afford to offer, and...along the way...I managed to take a few pictures.