Winter Driving for Photographers and the rest of us Part 1

The Four Seasons is not just a hotel chain. Even if you live under a rock you can tell that your surroundings change in sights, sounds and smells through out the calendar year. The fastest change in the environment for me happens between fall and winter. The leaves start to change color and the next thing you know the ground is littered in color. Soon after the cold rolls in and winter has arrived.
Some genres of photography see large drops in activity in the winter just because most people schedule their events and engagements for warmer days and when travel is more convenient.
But for outdoor enthusiasts and landscape photographers winter just gives them more scenarios and opportunities to go out and shoot either a new location or revisit one that they have shot in the past during another season.
Some of locations even during most favorable conditions take a lot of work to find the right light and angle for a favorable composition. But dump a few inches of snow and that lackluster over look the DOT put in suddenly changes when the hillside or mountain top is lathered in white fluffy snow.
There are a few good reasons why some photographers put away their gear during the winter months but I have a few tips and tricks to help you still manage to keep shooting even when conditions seem less hospitable.


Part 1. Winter Driving for Photographers 

Until you arrive at the trail head or your destination and set up your camera you are not any different, better or more important than the other commuters on the roadway be it passenger cars, buses or trucks. Just cause you want to be somewhere for sunrise or sunset does not mean you can force yourself through traffic any faster than the rest of us. Yes, even having a 4x4 or having grown up in Buffalo, NY and having years of over the road experience in snow and ice does not matter when you are sharing the road with other drivers. Leave early, slow down and keep your eyes on the road is a better choice than overestimating your driving skill or your vehicles ability and ending up in a ditch or worse injuring another person because you slid into their lane.
After prepping your gear and go bag, next thing you want to prep is your vehicle. This will get you from Point A to Point B and hopefully back home safely. So you can see how important it is to have a safe and functional vehicle especially when you will be away from home and shelter for an extended period of time during the cold winter.
Would you hand over your car keys to your child or parent right now?
Or would you be concerned that the tires may be low on air or even have bald tread. Do the brakes squeal, does the car shake when you apply the brakes, does the heater not work, is a head lamp out??
Taking your daily driver to work with its faults and quirks is different from road tripping out to a lake or mountain pass. You don't want to run into a mechanical situation or accident miles away from home. Being stranded in an unfamiliar place can be scary, unsafe, time consuming and expensive.
During my travels on the roadways of America I have come across travelers that simply ran out of gas 40 miles from the nearest gas station on a rural highway and their passengers were quit eager reimburse me for my 2.5 gallons I offered them. Others left the roadway and their sedan did not have the clearance to make it back onto the blacktop. Instead of scrapping their cars undercarriage along the asphalt rise you would think they would scavenge some flat rocks and built an impromptu mini ramp to scale the burm. Luckily that driver did not damage his engine or oil pan trying to rock his way onto the roadway before I got his kids looking for flat rocks and in less than 5 minutes they were back on the road.
Is your car road trip ready?
Meaning no obvious or current mechanical problems. Are your tires properly inflated, have even tread wear and good tread depth? Trying to change a tire on the side of a 2 lane rural road with your photogear and trunk junk on the side of the road is not fun nor safe. So make sure you have 4 good tires and a spare. AND ALL THE PARTS TO CHANGE A TIRE. (wheel chocks, car jack, proper lug wrench and wheel locks)
All engine and vehicle fluids are topped off and you have extra. Engine Oil, Radiator Fluid, Transmission Oil, Brake Fluid, Windshield washer fluid. Road Trips can put a lot more stress on the vehicle than you may think and its good practice to routinely check your fluids year round. You don't want to be low on oil or burn up your transmission while out in the country because you are a turn key driver.  Your wallet will thank you later too.
During winter snow, ice and wet debris can stick to your windshield and side mirrors. Having an ice scrapper, towels and window cleaner in your vehicle will help you keep them clean and functional = safe.
Once your vehicle checks out to be road trip ready you can pack your Go Bag and Camera Gear and start off on your journey safely.

Winterize Your : Tripod

First signs of cold winter conditions is the frosty cold breath and frosty fingers. Using a tripod as a stable platform for landscape and wildlife photography is almost a neccessity only to be reinfornced when your feet, arms and fingers are cold.
The materials used in today's tripods are increasingly becoming lighter and stronger but one thing they do not have is a heating element.
Venturing out into the cold winter landscape or out on a multi hour wildlife stakeout is hard enough on your body not to mention the gear.
Here is a quick and affordable modification that you can add to your tripod to make handling and carrying it a bit more comfortable so you can deal with making an image.

Time: less than 10min
Items needed:

1 x tripod
1x 6ft section of 1/2" pipe insulation (note: measure the widest part of your tripod foot to make sure you buy the appropriate diameter insulation)
1x Roll of Gaffers Tape

Most foam pipe insulation comes pre-cut. Cut the foam pipe insulation to the appriate lengths of the first leg section. Repeat for all three legs. Pull apart the insulation and wrap it around the tripod. Use gaffers tape or another form of adhesive tape to secure the insulation to the tripod leg in multiple sections.
The foam insulation will make grabbing the tripod easier with gloves on, keeps your fingers away from the freezing aluminum or carbon, and make it more comfortable to carry over the shoulder.


I have used the Manfrotto 190XB 3 Section Aluminum Tripod since 2010 and am very pleased with it. Here are some other ones I recommend:

 

Gift Ideas for female Photographers

Books featuring / geared towards female photographers 

Food Photography Books 

Photography Accessories 

 

Welcome to the Focus Point Blog on Photography for beginners to Enthusiasts

Hello and welcome to my more technical and behind the scenes photography blog that will discuss and go over some of the basic fundamentals of photography that can help you make the most of your time, location and photography to help improve your images and keep a high percentage of favorites.
   If you think photography can be as easy as just pressing the shutter button and making a beautiful image, you would not be that far off. Modern digital cameras and cellphones have made the entry in to the art of photography affordable, simple and mainstream for the masses. But just owning a camera or cell phone doesn't make you or turn you into a photographer. 90% of digital images uploaded to the internet every to various websites and social media are just quick, simple, spur of the moment press of the button images. These are just snapshots and they have little impact, interest and meaning beyond the person taking the image. Often times you had to be next to the person with the camera or cell phone to understand the meaning behind that image because the photographer did not tell or evoke that in his/her  composition, lighting use and choice of subject.
     Photography spans many many genres of art, subjects and techniques. Next to the written word photography is an import way of documenting a moment in time. Photography captures the good times, the bad times, exciting times, sad times, heroic actions, less fortunate actions, changes in the environment, landscapes, seascapes, people, animals and numerous other events in a single frame.
    Its very difficult to become well versed and experienced in all genres of photography. That is why most photographers may start out shooting everything that comes in front of their screen or lens but ultimately focus on a few subject matters to master and become good at capturing the moment. But theses genres of photography do share similarities in techniques and camera gear, so that once you have an understanding of what makes a good image possible, you can take your practice, experience, knowledge and skill from one genre and transfer it onto another subject and within a few frames come away with a decent photograph.
     Once you start bringing photography into your daily routine and become a photography enthusiast you quickly learn that just simply pressing down the shutter button is not what makes an interesting, emotional, story telling frame in time. It is a series of tasks and experiences that will guide your composition of that moment. The more you practice, the more you shoot, the more mistakes you make while taking a picture the better your future images will be.
Buying a guitar at a garage sale or as an impulsive buy at a music store and letting it collect dust in the corner will not make you a guitar player overnight, even if sits there for 1 year or 5 years.  Without practice and discipline and an understanding of music and cords its just another piece of room decor.
Same thing rings true with photography. Just because you bought a camera and lens does not make you a photographer. Its the hundreds or thousands of hours of practice and making errors that make you a better photographer.
      Don't let your camera just sit in the corner and collect dust. For one, dust is bad for your photography gear. It gets on and inside your camera leaving annoying dust spots on your sensor. And if you do not go out and shoot you won't making any improvements to your to photography.

My goal with The Focus Point Blog is to get you shooting with what ever gear you currently have and make images.  I will give you some insights, practical advise, mistakes I have made, tips and techniques to help you improve your imagery.

Now, get your gear out and go shoot something!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!