I’m usually not real competitive, but recently my husband and I have developed a little friendly rivalry over which of us can capture the best nature photographs. For a while I was sure I had an edge, but it seems now that he might be catching up.
If practice really made perfect, I would easily be ahead since I have been the shutter bug in the family most of our three decades together. But now, with his new-found interest in digital photography, his shots - just as often as mine - are advancing to the status of backdrop image on our computerdesktop.
About a year ago we got our first digital single lens reflex camera and we are both trying to improve our skills with it. We trade off taking pictures, which often ends up with each of us snapping shots about the same time and of the same subjects. That makes it easy to compare our work and decide who wins the blue ribbon for that photo session, as long as we make sure and keep straight who actually took which pictures.
For this challenge, we have developed a strategy that works most of the time. Before one of us hands the camera over tothe other, we snap a picture straight up toward the sky. This serves as a signal for us later that it was then that the camera changed hands. If we forget this little step, then I shift to plan B and attempt to lay claim to any really good pictures taken with “my” camera unless he can make a convincing appeal.
Last weekend we had the perfect opportunity to continue our little competition while enjoying a gorgeous spring morning at Hobbs State Park. Together we took part in an outdoor photography workshop. So we wouldn’t have to share a camera this time, we borrowed a similar one from our daughter Megan.
The event was scheduled to begin at 7 a.m., at the park’s visitor center. We were glad for the chance to see this facility, an opportunity we missedlast year during our time at Hobbs.
The center has been open for less than a year, and like so many of the other newer state park visitor centers, it is a beautiful facility with lots to offer those who take time to stop in. Interpretive exhibits, displays, artwork and a film to watch are just some of the things that make this a rewarding, worthwhile visit.
After a short meeting in one of the visitor center classrooms, we drove with other workshop participants to the parking area at the Pigeon Roost trailhead. That’s when the real fun and competition began. Dogwoods and Redbuds were in bloom, along with a few delicate wildflowers. The early morning sun streaked through the trees and backlit the fresh, tender forest vegetation. With photo opportunitiesleaping forth with virtually every step, it is no surprise that the group of camera toting enthusiasts moved quite slowly down the pathway.
Although we had traveled Highway 12 across the county to reach the eastern side of the park, we choose a different route home that took us through the nearby historic War Eagle Mill area, another place that offers many photo possibilities.
Beside being the destination for droves of craftfair lovers every spring and fall, the quaint three-story mill is a busy stop for tourists other times throughout the year. Powered by an 18-foot wooden waterwheel, visitors can watch milling as it is being done, shop for grains and other items, eat lunch in the Bean Palace restaurant, take pictures, or all of the above.
Lunch includes a nice view through the restaurant’s third-story windows and on this day included a show by one fisherman standing on the old iron War Eagle Creek Bridge who reeled in a rather large fish as we watched.
When we returned home, we anxiously uploaded our combined total of over 400 jpeg images and tried to declare the photo winner of the day. After our admittedly-subjective judgment of our own work, we agreed to call it a tie.
I am not sure then how his creek shot ended up on the computer desktop - oh wait, that one is probably mine!
Annette Rowe is a freelance writer and a speechlanguage pathologist at Siloam Springs High School. She may be reached by email at awalkinthepark50 @ yahoo.com.
Opinion, Pages 5 on 04/21/2010