It’s been another up and down summer, photographically.

The weather has been difficult. It’s been dark and cloudy in the morning and evening, but bright and sunny in the middle of the day. So we’re missing out on sunrise/sunset light as well as getting way too much light from straight above in the middle of the day.

I’ve not been out as much as I’d like, in part because of the weather above, and in part because of scheduling. There’s a few places I’d really like to get nice sunrise pictures of – and they’re almost all 2 hours away. Which means leaving the house by 4 am to get there by sunrise. And that’s assuming that the sun rises at the same time at a few thousand feet higher elevation, which defies logic.

And with even our cheapest gas tank pushing almost to $30 to fill, it’s hard to talk myself into going out when the light just isn’t there. On top of that, I’m under-impressed with my landscape shots in general – even knowing that the folks I rub elbows with have a lot more practice than I do, and knowing that landscapes are mostly about timing – you can visit the same location off and on for months before hitting the one day when the time and the light just come together – it’s just not helping much. I’d love to get a group together and have someone who’s got some experience with landscapes even just bring some examples and talk about how they were shot – how long were they in the planning, what was the weather like, that kind of stuff. The kinds of things that take experience to learn how to do right.

Still, it hasn’t all been bad. We went out a couple of times a few weeks ago, and this last week, a fellow EPS member started something that’s been exciting – a monthly portrait practice session. So we all chip in to pay a modest modelling fee and hire someone to put up with us learning lighting and posing techniques on her. It’s been fun, and I’m looking forward to the next one. I placed an order this weekend for an off-brand external shoe-mount flash for my camera, which should be here before the next photo shoot, and that will help enormously.

August should pick up. EPS has a couple of events planned, and I’ll be prepping for vacation in September. Should keep me almost as busy as last August was!