Last year, Keith and Austin has intended to attend the NASCAR race at Pocono, but circumstances prevented their attendance so they elected to go to Watkins Glen instead. Since that time, Austin has not watched a single race, couldn’t tell you who won last year’s championship (Kyle Larson, by the way), and failed to watch the Daytona 500 for the first time in a decade. It is the end of an era as the passion for NASCAR racing has expired.
A few months ago, Keith asked Austin if there was something that he would prefer to do instead of go to the NASCAR race and after a little thought, he decided that he would like to try a camping/photography trip. He wanted to try camping for the first time and he said that he wanted to give photography try.
Of all the places that Keith could think of, the site that he visited last year in Rickett’s Glen seemed ideal. The park is beautiful with ample photographic opportunities, unlike the Adirondack Mountains that require a 3-6 hour hike for a single view from the summit. The campsite was also appealing as it was known to be quiet, had wifi (in case he hated the experience), and was in proximity to a city and our favorite pizza place (Dough Company in Wilkes Barre). In the end, the decision was an easy one.
Keith took a week off and planned for a 3 day, 2 night trip. Of course, when plans were being arranged, there was no way to know that the dates would land in the middle of a heat wave with temperatures exceeding 95 degrees. Still, photos on Instagram revealed that the falls were still flowing, and the boys had intentions of making the most of their time away.
They departed from home at approximately 0900 on Tuesday morning and were in their camp chairs in the shade at the park eating lunch by 1300. They would spend the next 2-3 hours scouting the location and looking at all the falls so that Austin could identify which falls he wanted to photograph and which ones he would pass on. Unfortunately, 30-40% of the falls were less than compelling and not terribly photogenic, but (fortunately) there are over 20 falls, so that left them with plenty of opportunities.
With an idea of what Austin wanted to photograph, they went to camp to set-up and eat dinner. Austin had conies and Keith had chicken with their baby potato cakes before going back out to the park.
Keith took on the role of guide throughout the trip. He helped teach Austin about composition, foreground interest, framing, the exposure triangle, circular polarizers, and editing. They had an earnest discussion about Austin’s desire to capture vs edit his images, because while he was initially drawn to the editing-part of photography due to his love/interest of computers, he acknowledged that he would always choose to play a game of Minecraft or Legion over editing a photo, so it became imperative that he chose the right settings, crop, and exposure in camera. Once it became clear that the JPEG settings were important, Keith offered his own camera for Austin to use because the JPEG options are more robust and Keith has already created a few JPEG renderings in camera that were going to serve Austin better than the default settings on his own camera.
Austin walked into the park with a pretty solid idea of the exposure triangle and talking through compositions was intuitive. Once he learned about the polarizer, he just needed a few prompts/reminders as he worked his way from one fall to the next as the sun fell closer and closer to the horizon and the light waned.
The boys would arrive back to camp after dark, wash up, and get to bed only to wake up before 0500 to try to get to the first fall as the sun was beginning to rise and beat the harsh light from the day’s cloudless skies.
After a brief night’s rest, they were back at the park as planned and would continue to photograph the remaining falls on Austin’s list, capturing the last falls only a few minutes before the scene was bathed in bright and contrasty morning light.
By 0930 they had returned to camp and were preparing breakfast: Pancakes and bacon. There was a little bit of a breeze, but it wasn’t enough to keep them cool. The temperature was already in the mid-80s and it was expected to continue to climb throughout the day. So, after a few games of cribbage, Keith and Austin cleaned up, changed their clothes, and went to Wilkes-Barre to cool off in a movie theater watching the latest Marvel film, Thor: Love and Thunder.
After the movie was finished, they went across the river to Kirby Park where they found a park bench under a shade tree and played board games for 90 minutes. Keith won more games of Quoridor, Austin won more games of Pylos. When they were finished they briefly drove to Walmart to purchase non-skid drawer liners to place under the air mattresses to keep them from sliding in the cot, and then went to Dough Company for dinner. They had their usual: cheese-filled breadsticks for an appetizer and a separate pizza for each of them so that there would be plenty of leftovers for the when they got home.
That night, Keith started a campfire and they stood at a distance, enjoying the quiet crackling of the fire as the stars started to emerge in the night sky. Austin would remark how nice it was to be outside, unplugged, and just being present in the moment. He also acknowledged that he had no intentions of authoring a context when he could enjoy similar experiences at home … his friends and his interests remain online, after all.
Austin had photographed all that he desired at the park, so there was no reason to return the next morning, so (after a good night’s sleep for both) they took their time to eat breakfast and pack up for home.
On the way home, they would listen to Radiolab and Austin would say that he might like to go camping again with Keith next year.
Whether he does or doesn’t, this year’s trip will be one that Keith always remembers.