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Yesterday, I wrote about my Kindle crashing for the second time, requiring a third replacement. I was a bit bummed about the third go around but completely quit thinking about the mishap this morning. I woke up to find my new SUV stolen! It was not in my driveway when I went outside. At first, I thought, am I losing my mind and parked somewhere I don't remember? That would have been a better outcome, unfortunately, it was stolen along with "things inside". The good news, I had just taken several pieces of camera equipment out of the car to have it washed and waxed. Bad news, I had just put a new steel rack on the top, added a voice activated phone system, filled it up with gas, and had it serviced.
Chapter two should be better now that I have the bad karma out of the way, I might go out and buy a lottery ticked. Careless in California
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Recall the string of less than optimum photography before I left for Lassen, well I'm on a roll! Seems, the prior week, a thunder cell came over Burney California and the Lassen area and from 3pm in the afternoon until around 1am in the morning, 11,000 lightning strikes were recorded(told by Park Ranger) setting at least 77 forest fires. Firefighters(all 3,386) worked diligently around the clock, containing the damage and the 77 resulted in 9 larger fires, one of which was my destination. To put the effort in perspective, 96 fire crews, with 236 fire engines were required and the estimated cost was $26Million. All of this information was reported in the local newspaper,"The InterMountain News". But good news abounds, no lives and minimal property damage were reported, and the local spirits were great. Oddly it did not affect the fishing at all, and some of the fly fisherman were reported to have fished through the whole thing. While not all that revealing, I did capture some of the fire damage:This was pretty much the scene where firefighters cut down trees to keep embers from spreading the flames. When we arrived at our camp on Hat Creek, embers were smoking across the creek on the hill and after we set up and relaxing at night, a stump burst into flame. My cohort John asked "is that another camper". No, it was God french frying another tree. After the initial panic, we settled down enjoying the evening burn of the "heavenly campfire". Least you suspect the trip was nothing but burned toast, we did see some great sights, interesting towns, and a side of California not in the minds of most people. You could transport yourself to any rural area in the US, discounting accents, it would be similar to Burney. Here are some examples of the rural atmosphere in small town Northern California:
This a local theater, and you can see, it gets new movies without mall crowds. Now don't get the wrong idea, making a judgment from this photo is like judging Yellowstone by the small towns that service the park. This area is drop dead beautiful and here are a couple of views in spite of the fires:
A slightly different angle of the volcano in the background:
Hopefully this illustrates the beauty of Lassen National Park which is unique with its volcano residue(last eruption 1914 and caught on film from a view camera), its abundant wilderness with bear, mountain lion, ring-tale cat, deer, and assortment of migratory birds. And oh yes, the zen of the outdoors, great fly fishing! I watched this guy fish for a couple of hours from his boat, casting away for one of those giant trout that live so abundantly in this part of the world. With the fire, odd how images of heaven and hell can be so close to one another, here is heaven:
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This the holy grail of photography as it is with most things in life. I enjoy the hunt as much as looking at the final photograph. The journey is expanding and actually overlaps with many activities in my life. Once you decide to be more creative, it is difficult to contain the energy to one space in your life, you use the same tactics in all aspects. The issue is getting out of the routine that you have established especially if you have been successful with that routine and don't have a real need to change. In business the metaphor is a burning bridge demand, without it, change is unlikely. The key, is making a change that is enjoyable, re-energizing, understanding that if it doesn't work, unlike business, no harm done. It is very easy to get good at portraits, and become a photo factory, or good at landscapes with HDR, and again become a photo factory. So, how do I change?
The first step is to do something different, use your instincts, think of the options, try all of those options. There is a concept called synergy which explains how ideas coming from a small group create a new idea that no single individual could have developed. It is the highest thinking order of groups and while not ordinary it is possible where brainstorming is open, goals are clear, and change is expected. I mention this to encourage you to shoot with friends as a group, talk about different ideas, set a goal of doing it different, share success, and above all exhaust all of the options, you can think about. This is just one way of beginning the journey. There are other resources, check out Harold Davis at Photoblog2.com or his articles on creative photography at http://photo.net/column/harolddavis/becoming-a-creative-photographer/. Good luck, if you get into it, it will change your photography for the better.
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