The kids were with Grandma and Grandpa, but Christine was training. The air was exceptionally warm and the sun was shining, so an exceptional morning with the camera was out of the question. Or at least an exceptional morning with a traditional camera was out of the question, but what about the infrared camera? Perhaps it would be worth a try?
I didn’t want to drive too far and I didn’t feel like walking too much in the heat of the day, so I elected to collect my gear and go for a drive up East Lake Road and photograph one of my favorite trees.
I started along the road, but there was a hill in the background that I couldn’t seem to get out of the way and it muddied the composition, blending the leaves of the tree with the grasses behind it. I moved to the side of the road, but that perspective felt unbalanced as well. The best vantage point, it seemed to me, was from the field immediately adjacent to the farm house of the property owner.
So, I did it … I walked up to the door and knocked, quietly at first. But I could here the television (FoxNews) from outdoors and I knew that they hadn’t heard me, so I knocked a little louder a second time and the property owner came to the door. He was initially apprehensive, but quickly softened when I explained that I just wanted to take a picture from the field alongside his home. He would explain to me that the field was leased and he couldn’t allow me to walk on it, but he welcomed me to take any images that I wanted from his side yard.
While I would have preferred to have positioned myself closer to the tree and capture more of the sky with a wide-angle lens, I expressed my appreciation to the gentleman and deployed the zoom lens to capture the composition that I had envisioned. Then another. Then, finally, my last.
It certainly isn’t the best picture that I’ve ever created, but I think it has an interesting look and feel to it.
I then got in the car and proceeded to drive farther south to the stables in hopes of capturing an image with the horses and fencing in stark contrast to the field and trees that I thought would envelop them. The horses were far in the distance and a good image wasn’t on the offer this date, but I can see the potential for a very pleasing image if the circumstances were to be in my favor on another occasion, so I will be sure to have the IR camera with me in the future when I drive by the same location again.
The location has all the makings of a wonderful and unique image. I just need to be patient.
Very patient.