I’ve done a lot of traveling in the past 15 years. I’ve pitched my tent in the snow-laden wilderness. I’ve hiked back from epic mountain overlooks for miles in the dark. I’ve camped in my car underneath a canopy of green by the side of National Forest roads countless times. And along the way, I’ve taken lots and lots of pictures. But my life calling is more than just “landscape photography.” “Let no man despise thy youth, but be thou an example of the believers . . . in purity.” I travel to teach photography and raise awareness of a wholesome place for young people to learn photography online. I am a family man too, now. And that has changed life a bit also. We still do a lot of traveling together, but instead of being able to seek out the most epic locations, we look for epic-ness in what most people think is ordinary, hidden gems we can find tucked away between homeschool conventions and visits with family. I always wondered what travel would be like once we had a little one. More stops along the way. Even less time for random detours. And less scenic opportunities. But I decided that instead of longing for the rugged summit of a Colorado mountaintop or the white-washed beach of California, I would embrace the season of life I’m in to its fullest. “In whatever state I am, therewith to be content.” And it’s been interesting to see what kind of photos that have come out of that!

Our first homeschool convention as a family of three happened to be just a hop-skip-and-jump away from home in Indiana. Surrounding the IAHE Convention, we camped at a place called Mounds State Park. Camping with a little one is lots of fun.

I wondered what kind of pictures I might find here. The park was surrounded on all sides by suburban neighborhoods. Our campground was right next to an airport–not the most scenic place in the world. But I still got up early to walk the trails and see what I could find.

It wasn’t long before I saw the sky turning colorful.

Not seeing anything of interest in the forest, I decided to head back to the camping area where wide open fields offered a better view of the sky. When I arrived, the color was breathtaking!

I could have tried to frame up something official with the Outback, but it had a cluttered look. A nearby teepee offered an interesting subject. But then the owner stepped out of the tent and getting permission would add extra time and hassle. So I looked for something else.

There was the airfield itself. The only problem was the big fence around the entire perimeter. I thought, “Hey, I don’t have any pictures of this type of fence in my ‘portfolio.’ Maybe it would sell as a stock photo?” So I set about framing up a shot. Ever seen such colorful photos of this kind of fence? And hey! Maybe the first shot could be a good example of the composition principle of Two-Point Perspective.

There’s a little photography trick that can come in handy in situations like this. If you step in close and use a telephoto lens, you can usually see right through the holes of the chain-link fence without any of the metal wires being visible in your photo. Even if the front of your lens is wider than the “holes”, and you can’t physically insert your lens through the holes in the fence, it’s ok. You might be able to see small sections of wire in one or more corners of the frame when you look through the viewfinder, but they will not show up in the actual photo. You are so close to the fence that any wire be blurred beyond recognition if you’re zoomed in enough. So I tried that. Since the field was empty, I used the rising sun for my subject.

I liked this shot!

For a second shot, I thought it might be nice to go a little wider. To do that, I needed to reposition the camera. I finagled with the tripod a bit, and worked to get everything lined up so there would be no wires from the chain-link fence in the way. By that time, though, the sun had moved behind the clouds and the color had faded dramatically.

I was glad I had gotten the first shot!

I packed up and went back to the car. The light and clouds were still pretty, but without any inspiring subjects around, I felt like I would enjoy taking a little nap more than trying to find another photo.

On our way home from the IAHE Convention, we were driving through Ohio when I noticed an intriguing subject as the sun was setting in the western sky. We pulled off to find a good vantage point and stumbled on a very unique place! But I’ll have to tell you about that in another blog post.