I have a pretty busy vacation week next week. I haven’t really taken a non-racing vacation in the last ten years so this is going to be a real treat. I’ve arranged a good variety of different stops where I can try my hand at shooting a lot of different subjects in a variety of different scenarios. I’m going to try my hand at some High Dynamic Range (HDR) photography techniques too. HDR seems to be all the rage with the cool kids these days so I guess I should give it a try. For more information HDR photography, you might want to check out this article…
Sunday - It’s off to the National Zoo in Washington D.C. to photograph the critters.
Monday - Organizational and final shopping day. I was going to go to Conowingo Dam on Monday but after further research I decided a better time to go down to photograph the Eagles they have there will be when the leaves start to fall. Right now, they have Eagles but until they swoop down for a fish lunch, you really can’t see them. Instead I stopped procrastinating and got my shit together and finalized the things I needed to get for the camping and hiking trip. I also decided to get a fishing license. I haven’t fished since I was twelve so this should be interesting. They’re forecasting rain for at least two days of the camping trips so that might be a better activity then trying to hike out in the wilderness and photograph things. Wow, trout fishing techniques have evolved quite a bit since I last did this. Cabella’s officially has me on their “best customers of 2008″ list after this week. Found the bear repellent I was looking for there too.
Tuesday and Wednesday - Off to Rickett’s Glen State Park for two days of camping, hiking and waterfall photography. Rickett’s Glen has twenty two named waterfalls and I got a book on Pennsylvania waterfall photography that rates the falls as some of the best anywhere in the US for photogenic possibilities.
Thursday and Friday - Another two days of camping and hiking. This time it’s Promised Land State park. They have three good sized lakes and about fifty miles of trails. They also have rowboat and canoe rentals which I might partake in. Four days without electric, a computer or (God help me !) the Internet. Can it be done ?!?!
Saturday - A day of hiking and photography around Dingman’s Ferry. The are encompass a couple of different falls including Dingman’s Falls and Silver Thread Falls.
Sunday - A day of black and white photography at the mining town of Centralia where an underground coal fire has been burning since 1962. The town has been vacant except for a few remaining citizens. I want to try and document the area and the small town beauty that still remains in the town to this day even though most of the people and buildings have vanished. I’ve driven through there a million times and after reading the Joan Quigley book “The Day The Earth Caved In” I feel a sort of deep connection with this town and would really like to preserve what is left in the form of digital memories. We’ll see how that turns out.
