Learning the Hard Way

Today I spent hours taking photos outside of a group of people doing conservation work. There were Boy Scouts there to help and everything. I worked really hard to make photos that they would enjoy. And then, when I got home, I realized that there were a few problems (WARNING: the photo-geek talk to follow; you might want to skip to the ***):

1. everyone was wearing hats and I wasn’t using my speedlight flash, so in most photos, people’s eyes are in deep shadow;
2. from my studio work earlier in the week, I had left the camera at a high ISO, which was far too sensitive for the bright outdoors;
   
3. since people were in constant motion, I should have used the auto focus of my lens rather than rely on manual focus;
   
4. I should have used my polarizing filter to alleviate some of the glare from the sun, since I didn’t actually take photos in deep shade like I thought I would.
   

Rookie mistakes.

***Also, this morning, as I was rushing to meet the carpool that would take me to the conservation area today, I got my first speeding ticket ever. I thought the section through which I was driving had a speed limit of 100 km/h, when it was actually 80. I was clocked at 109 km. I should have paid more attention to the signs; I have no one to blame but myself. The officer reduced the penalty so I won’t have to pay such a large fine and I won’t lose any demerit points, but I still feel … what I did was just dumb.

So I am chastising myself a bit for these two things, but also acknowledging that I need to slow down and stop mentally rushing here and yon: to be in the present and to be observant. I want these lessons to really sink in. I guess as long as I can learn from these experiences, it’s all still good.

On a more positive note, I really like these photos I took today:

Also, the group that I organized to help with the conservation work today seemed to have a great time and to find the experience rewarding. We were using logs and brush to create a sediment trap in order to narrow a stream in a section that was too wide (too wide = too slow and too warm for fish to spawn in).

Anyway, in the abacus of the day, the sum total is still positive. Just how much so is up to me.