your wildreness photos ~ fudged or real?

[praline3001]

I had a question for those who do a lot of nature photography. Are you really in the wilderness as in hiking 10-20 miles into nowhere or are you fudging a bit here and there and stopping in your car along the side of the road? How much of your photography is "legit" wilderness and how much is fudged by making sure the road/parking lot is out of the shot

[Bruce A]

Somehow I think you might be a bit of a pessimist - what say you Brook?

[praline3001]

Originally Posted by Bruce A

Somehow I think you might be a bit of a pessimist - what say you Brook?

Well lets put it this way... my questions stems from a conversation I just had with my loving hubby. Remember the Green Acres song? Yeah that's us....

I was showing him some amazing wilderness photos as I love studying photos. Our conversation went like this:

ME: WOW these photos are amazing!! Dave come look. WOW. You know maybe I should try my hand at wilderness photography.

(10 seconds of silence)
Him: Well you do know those were taken in the wilderness, right? You have to hike 10-20 miles just to get to locations like that.

ME: Really? WOW. Who the hell put the wilderness way out in the middle of nowhere?! Are you sure there isn't any wilderness closer to the city?

Him: Very sure... eye roll and I think he walked off at that point

He teaches wilderness survival and thinks nothing of backpacking a 100 miles. I am the black sheep of my camping family lol

However I love the wilderness nature photography. I was thinking of fudging more then just a bit however... they have some great scenic drives!

[Bruce A]

Well there you go - you got it straight from the horses' mouth. Oops, your husband's mouth

But, you're right - there are most likely many places not too far off the beaten track that could be constued as "wilderness" areas. But it's the honesty of photographers you are questioning and everyone knows that photographers are beyond reproach.

[RichardTaylor]

Back in my single days - I used to do long hikes - days.
Then getting older, having a wife who doesn't want to sleep in tent any more or use a "natural" toilet it changed to day walks. I must admit having a nice place to stay in at the end of the day is good especially if it has a great restaurant.

Now days I take my wilderness pics where ever I can find them.

Example:



.

Scroll down.































'

from here. Pic by my wife - that's me crouching down.

[Tzetsin]

The answer is simple.

There are LOTS of great photo opportunities right on the road/highway, but if you want the spectacular stuff you gotta get off your butt an hike it.

The thing is, the best time to do nature shots is, as you know, sun up and sun down. Problem is that if you want to be there at those times, you need to spend the night. So unless your the up at the crack of dawn, jump in the truck and zip out to the wilderness before sunup kind of person, your going to miss prime time.

So yeah, you can do it from the car... but so can everyone else. Hike it out, get the stuff nobody else is getting. Thats what photographers do.

[Stephanie C]

[QUOTE=RichardTaylor;1384035

Now days I take my wilderness pics where ever I can find them.

[/QUOTE]

Ahaha! That's awesome!
We'll keep your secret

[RichardTaylor]

@ TStephanie-C

Thanks.
+ smile

[UlpilotSC]

If you fudge it I wouldn't worry. In certain places you can get great shots right off the road. The blue ridge parkway is one that comes to mind, although sometimes getting to it is a backwoods adventure. My daughter took a picture I liked of a house in the mountains last year as we were driving. It looked nice, once I cropped out the opposing lane of I-77.



I took one of myself yesterday on a practice hike, fine tuning my gear. It could be ten miles in the back woods, but in all honesty there's a housing development half a mile behind me.*

[sk66]

With my big gear I don't hike more than a few miles....Just the Camera and Lens mounted on the Tripod is about 25 pounds..