Pixiq

Landscape Photography is a brutal endeavor.  Doing it well is anyways.   More time than not the visions we have of creating something amazing fall short.  Horribly short.  Casual observers and fans of our work don’t typically know this side of things.  Why would they?  We don’t share those days with anyone.  Those bad days.  It’s not fun to admit we spent an entire day doing nothing but driving.

However, these are the days that make up the majority of our experience in the field...you need to hear about them to fully appreciate what we do.  For us, the bad days are what bring reward and purpose to the good ones.  That’s what I write about; the good, the bad, and the ugly.    It’s all important to me.

The shot you see above is from a good day in the field.  It was taken at Crater Lake National Park.  It was very easy to get.  I know my gear well and how to use it to get exactly what I want in the field.  I rolled into the park with 15 minutes to spare before the sunset….the sky went pink and purple…I trudged out in the snow, braved a few moments of cold, took the shots and was back in the warmth of my vehicle within the hour.

Easy.

Unfortunately, photography is rarely like it for me

This is the way it typically goes.

Flash back a few weeks...

 

I love to be out with the camera.  It's been a few weeks since the last time I'd really been out photographing.  I'm chomping at the bit to get out somewhere and make new image.  I’m checking the Crater Lake webcams every half hour to see if there is the possibility of a good sunset.   The sky looks SWEET.

Clouds are forming in all the right places.  The nightly forecast calls for a late storm meaning the possibility for a dramatic sky is THERE. 

I make the call to go for it and before long ’m in the vehicle making the three and a half hour drive north to make some magic with the camera.

Now here’s the first issue.  

I have kids. 

Two of them, ages six and ten.

Both Boys. 

Often times photography is an endeavor that requires bringing my boys with me.  I'm a parent first and foremost.  The trick is figuring out how to include my family in with my work.

The first order of business is to convince my boys that spending seven hours in the car is a worthwhile activity for them.  Normally, this usually isn’t too difficult.  Bribery works wonders.

I arrive at their school, pick them up, and we’re in the car heading north.

“Where are we going?” one of them asks…

“Out to take pictures!” I say enthusiastically.

“Where?” The older asks.  “I don’t want to go,” he adds before I even tell him the location.

“I don’t want to go either.”  The little one chimes in

Being the wise father, I see this as the opportunity to employ my ‘Love and Logic’ courses and rather than give them a final decision….I offer choices.

“Well we can go to Crater Lake…that’s in OREGON….or we can go to Lake Tahoe that’s in Nevada.” I say

See as a landscape photographer I watch weather.  I watch webcams.  I try to gauge where the best photography will be at any given time…even if I don’t really plan on going there.  Yes, I’m aware I’m a bit "off".  In addition to watching the webcam for Crater Lake on this day…I also checked the Tahoe weather cams….because I knew it was a similar driving distance, and hey, I might have a last minute change of heart on Crater Lake…and then I have options.

It’s obvious my kids aren’t keen on the idea of us heading anywhere...other than home.  Offering them a choice, gives them options...and hopefully buy-in because they PICKED the spot.

“Crater Lake.”  Says the oldest

“Lake Tahoe.”  The little one says at the exact same time.

Damn.  I didn’t see that coming.  I was hoping the word "crater" would draw thier attention, and they'd make the choice simple.  I quickly try to remedy the situation by offering the pros of going to Crater Lake. 

“We’ll drive up…take some photos….then go out to dinner!”

My kids are suckers for going out to eat.  It’s one of the cards I play when I want to go shoot, and they come along.

“How long is it going to take?”  One asks.

Yikes.  These kids are brutal.

“Uh….. only about three hours.”  I say, trying to make it sound as fun as a three car ride can be.  (I used the word “ONLY” to try and make it seem short.)

“WHAT?!”  The older one says.  “I definitely don’t want to go.  I want to go home and play Wii.”

“I don’t want to gooooooooooooooooooooooooo”  The little one wails, and bursts into tears.  “I wanna go hoooooooooooooooooome!”

Oh this is bad.

“It’ll be FUN!”  I say “Just us guys…out together…you’ve never been to this National Park before!”

Seeing all the National Parks isn't high on most children's wish list it seems.

The little one is in hysterics crying.  The older child is giving me looks that are so intensely MEAN I’m just thankful he’s not in the mafia…because I’d probably find myself dead in the morning.  He’s PISSED.

This isn’t going well.  

Now some parents, or single people would probably say.  “Cut your losses…just go home.  It’s NOT worth it.  Clearly they’re enraged and distraught.”

I can’t. 

Then they win. 

Kids win most of the time anyway.  If I go home I set the example that, ‘if you cry and whine enough….you get what you want.’ That’s not what I’m trying to encourage. 

I’m staying strong. 

We’re NOT going home.  No matter how much crying ensues.

There is a lot of crying.  Nearly a forty-five minute sob show if you’re interested.  “I want mamaaaaaaaa,” type crying.  This ride north is NOT a comfortable experience for me. 

Finally, the older child decides that mad-dogging me isn’t going to get anything accomplished and he settles into read his book.  The younger, to his credit, is persistent and tries really hard to cry his way home. 

Thankfully, exhaustion from his tantrum finally sets in and he falls asleep with his head lunched forward, hanging in space.   The older child tires of reading and he too falls asleep.

It’s quiet again.  It’s beautiful. The drive is fun once more.

Unfortunately, it’s a THREE and a half hour drive.   At no point are these kids are not going to become more enthralled with the ride.  Once they wake It’s going to be a build up until the eventual coup, when they overthrow the whole night with their bad attitudes.

I need to act. 

I know my kids though…and they can be bought with treats and snacks.  When they both wake from sleep I tell them that we’ll make a stop soon for a snack break; to get a drink and something to eat.  

“Can we get candy?”  the little one asks?

“Yes.”  I say.  “You can get one treat…whatever you want.”

“YES!”  They both say enthusiastically.

I’ve won them over.  You can’t tell me a five dollar investment for snacks is not the worth a peaceful two hours in the car. The sky is still looking amazing as well.  I’m getting pretty excited for the night of photography that lies only an hour and a half in my future.

While we drive my son points out a gas station (which in our family are called snack stores…yes, I bribe my kids a lot)

“Can we stop there!?”

“No not there…there will be another up the road a little farther where we’ll stop.”

Farther up the road there aren’t any good stores to stop at.  The kids WANT their snacks.  I want their snacks!   Snacks mean they’ll be eating and not fighting with one another, which is a past time they choose on most every car ride.

Time is getting dicey.  I need to be at Crater Lake with at least 30 minutes to spare before sunset in order to find a place to shoot, get set up, etc.  I need a snack store…STAT.

We hit the town of Klamath Falls, Oregon.   Though i’ve seen the town several times as I’ve drive on by on my way north, I’ve never stopped there.  I haven’t even really ever paid attention to it.  I know that it must have a store somewhere with snacks…

I see gas stations, and fast food stops and take the exit. 

Easy off the road.  Easy back on the road...or so you would think.

The gas station here has no snack store inside.  Worse yet….there are no other stores with any semblance of a snack section.  I briefly consider going into the movie theatre to buy them some popcorn and sour patch kids…but I know how those movie lines work…and time is of the essence.

Worse yet…

There is no easy way off this street and back to the highway.  I need to drive MILES into downtown Klamath Falls to find a place that will let me turn my vehicle around. 

My kids are all over me.

“Is that the snack store?”

“When are we stopping?”

“I’m sooooo hungry.”

“OH can we stop there?”

Murphy’s Law is in effect right now, and I have visions of being trapped in Klamath Falls as a brilliant sunset lights the sky and gives me the finger.  That is what happens to landscape photographers.  We miss countless sunsets of amazing color because we’re trapped somewhere we’d rather not be.

I’m throwing a big time tantrum in the depths of my own head.  Why can't I find a snack store?  Why am I stuck in Klamath Falls?  Why is that Honda Civic driving SO slow?  Why won't this stupid light change?!? Why didn't I stay HOME?!?

I make it back to the highway only to discover that had I not taken that exit I wasa only seconds away from a snack shop.  Paitence is not something I'm very good with.

We rip into the parking lot in our soccer van and prepare to get snacks.

“OK.  We're IN and we're OUT.  Quick.  We need to make better time.”

Both kids understand.

I get out of the van and head for the entrance.  Neither kid is following me.

They have both taken off their shoes AND socks and thrown them at one another during the drive, now they're scattered in every corner of the vehicle.  My kids don’t just fist fight.  They use weapons.

I’m waiting impatiently as my kids FIND their shoes and try to get them on their feet.  Of course, the littlest son has worn the most difficult shoes on the planet to put on his feet.  You need the jaws-of-life to get them open and Herculean strength to push his feet in.

I’m totally missing this sunset. 

Once in the store the older son quickly decides on a muffin and blue Powerade as his snack of choice.  The youngest son is in the middle of indecision 2010.  He has no clue whatsoever what he wants.  It’s like he’s never been in a snack store before.

“Can I get these?”

“No you can’t get a box of doughnuts. One thing.”

“These?”

“No.”

“These?”

“No.”

Finally he decides on a bag of Cracker Jacks

We pay…but even this activity takes considerable time because the guy at the register is amazed that my bank card and his have similar numbers.

“Mine had like the same numbers only reversed….weird…it’s what I noticed when I saw your card….almost the same…but reversed.”  he says, shaking his head with astonishment, looking at my card.

Fine. Great. PLEASE LET ME LEAVE!

Once in the car it’s go time…we have to make tracks.  It’s going to be close if I even have any chance at all of sniffing the sunset.

The remainder of the ride to the lake the kids are fighting over who had the better snack.  It’s clear that the younger was wiser with his coice of Cracker Jacks.  His snack lasted longer, had sugar covered peanuts, and a tattoo.

The older is mad that he chose a healthy muffin when he could’ve had sweet sugar covered goodness.  They settle their differences with battle. Shoes are coming back off.

Fighting in the car drives me nuts.   I’m trying to cover the sounds of battle with the radio.  Only I can’t get any stations because we’re in B.F.E.   I have no CDs to listen to because it’s my wife’s van…not my car.  This car has no jack for my ipod.  I’m tuneless; stuck listening to the virtues of Cracker Jack’s over muffins, and the sounds of feet kicking at one another.

I’m convinced now that I’ve made a horrid decision with my time…and I should’ve just gone home.

Time passes.  The sun is dropping.  The sky still looks sweet.

Thirty minutes before sunset we arrive at Crater Lake National Park!

I’m giddy.  The sky looks good!  There’s a good chance things will go my way and the whole drive will be worth it.

We make the rim drive in search of a good spot to shoot.

Now here’s the deal with Crater Lake- The whole thing is on a very abrupt edge.  I HATE heights.  It makes my rear pucker even talking about it, let alone shooting from it.  I have kids whose first inclination when they exit the car is to avoid my words of caution and rush right up to the edge and play chase.  This causes me much duress.  I turn into THAT parent.

I scream.  I yell.  I freak out.

“Don’t go over there.  NO.  NO! Not even there! MOVE away….MOOOOVE!!!! You can’t throw things off the edge!  Do you want to sit in the car?!?!?!?”

The kids decide it's better to be content running and chasing away from the edge as opposed to having me freak out on them …which leaves me free to photograph.

Only the sky has completely gone gray.  There’s way too much atmosphere to the west.  There isn’t any color now…nor will there be. 

Time to go. 

First a few shots of the kids at the lake to commemorate the event.  I’m not leaving without at least taking the camera out of the bag.  The kids are as uncooperative as the sky.  I can’t get either of them to pose for me by themselves let alone as a duo.  They’re determined to destroy one another whether in a vehicle or at a National Park they’ve never visited.

“Alright kids…we’re out!”

 “I thought you were taking photos?”  The older asks right as his brother smacks him in the back with a karate fist.

The chase is on….

The boys race off in the direction of the van.  The older hell bent on revenge.  They disappear behind the van, and very soon screams emerge.  A lone shoe flies into the road.

 The older has pushed the younger into the pavement, sending his untied shoes flying from his feet. The intention of the shove wasn’t a little brother screaming on the pavement with a scraped up face but they don’t think when they brawl.  I’m just happy it wasn’t on the edge of the lake when it happened.

Once I’ve reassured the littlest Rueb that he’s not going to die, and reprimanded the older Rueb for assault.  We’re back in the car and heading for dinner.

The ride to dinner is fairly comfortable.  The kids are worn out from their hours of fighting.   The ride is even bordering on enjoyable…we’re talking and discussing life…it’s the times like these that make travel with kids worth all the effort.

We arrive in Medford, Oregon ready to eat.  I give the boys options on eating establishments.  In typical fashion for the day, neither can agree with the choices the other makes.  The word ‘stupid’ is thrown out about forty-five times in the span of four minutes.   We’re not fans of the word stupid in our house…so we try to corral its use whenever possible.  This process further delays the eating portion of the night.

We eventually decide on Burger King.  Not healthy…but we’re not after health conscious choices at this juncture in the trip.  We just want food, and a speedy ride home for our beds. 

We all need sleep.

 

We make it home before midnight.   The total driving distance was nearly five hundred miles.  Seven and a half hours was spent in the car.  Most of that time was spent either listening to my boys fight, or to AM radio static as I tried desperately to find something else to fill my ears.  I took seven frames with my camera; all of the boys pretending they liked each other.  We spent thirty minutes outside of the car in total.

If I only wrote about the good times and the great trips with the camera my life would be very boring, and I’d rarely have much to say.  It would also be a poor indicator of what my life is like.  I’m a landscape photographer, and like I said….it’s a brutal endeavor.

Happy Shooting.