Week 5: Kids Rule

ask a student for an idea

The photo of the week is from my drive to Elliot Lake on Thursday.  There had been some snow overnight and a bright sunny sky in the morning.  The sunrise made the tops of trees so beautiful with the pinkish orange hues but sadly, there was no safe place to pull over and capture those sights.  I admired them from the car and later, on my way back, I stopped at the ride sharing spot for a few photos.  Three other cars pulled in just after me - I thought they were also going to take photos (who wouldn't?!) but they all needed to throw snow on their windshields as they were out of windshield washer fluid.  Snow does have its downside, I guess.

Anyway, after lunch I asked my next student what I should photograph for this week (I explained what I was doing first).  I admit, I led him in the direction of "snow covered trees" by first talking about how pretty it all was and how lucky we were to have such a nice sunny day that day, since the sun has only made rare appearances this winter.  So I guess I didn't really "ask a student for an idea" so much as "guide a student into saying what I wanted him to say."  Oops.

The other photos are from the Fireworks Extravaganza, part of the opening ceremonies for the Bon Soo Winter Carnival.  Last year we enjoyed them from the Mill Market parking lot, practically right under the blasts.  This year I wanted to photograph the fireworks so I moved farther away to the waterfront boardwalk.  It was much better for photography but the awesomeness was much less spectacular - either from being farther away or from a smaller carnival budget, I'm not sure.

I set up my tripod and was just getting the camera set up when the fireworks began...right on time!  I started shooting the way I normally do - long exposures with the lens covered part of the time - in order to catch more than one explosion and full lines of colour without overexposing.  As I watched the photos briefly pop up on my screen I noticed they were all blurry - my gear was moving in the wind.  I thought the tripod was firmly planted in the snow but with the overall height of it all, I guess the wind was enough to move the camera during the ten second exposures.  I even had trouble with two second exposures.  As a result, I tossed all but about 15 shots when I got home - and they are not perfectly crisp either.  Next year, I need to bring a shovel to clear an area for the tripod.  I guess there are always lessons to be learned.

That's all for this week.