In July, Julianna and I will be doing some sightseeing in Arizona. In some ways, it will be like an anniversary getaway where I’ll be able to set aside work to enjoy a relaxed schedule for a few days. But part of the time will be specifically designed for photos! How could we be in canyon country without intentionally taking time for landscape photography?!
So the question for me was, where would I go to take pictures? Of course, friends have recommended “Sedona”, and I’ve always wanted to go back to “Grand Canyon”. But where in Sedona will I go? Where in Grand Canyon National Park will I be setting up my tripod for sunset? We have a limited number of mornings and evenings. We have specific deadlines to meet and places to be. I can’t just go wander around for days, hoping to eventually run across epic photos. I don’t live in Sedona. I can’t just drive to a 1-mile-deep hole in the ground on a weekend.
So this is where online scouting comes in! Where can I expect to see the sun at the moment it reaches the horizon at sunrise? What different subjects do different trails offer? Will I actually be able to get to a desired location in a low-clearance rental car? What spots require taking a shuttle bus to? When do the shuttles leave? A hundred elements all play into being at the right place at the right time! Of course, I don’t want to take the exact same photo that millions before me have. But I also don’t want to wind up at an overlook for sunset that has no view to the west.
Online scouting can often be a headache, though. Information is scattered all over the internet, and it takes time to assemble all the relevant information into one spot. What would be super helpful is if there was a map that already had detailed photography-related information on it about various scenic locations. The point wouldn’t be for it to be comprehensive, as that would take all the fun out of exploring! Just a tool to help make online scouting take less time.
And so that’s why I’ve been building the Scouting Guide over the years! After photographing some place, I’ll add what I learned about that location to the map when I have time. I’ve been adding locations for a while now, but it doesn’t just have to be me. Anyone can add locations to the Scouting Guide! And that’s the purpose of this month’s photo assignment.
Go, find a location of photographic value, take some quality photos, record scrupulous field notes about the location, and then submit everything together. What scenic spots are in your neighborhood? Maybe you do live in Sedona. Where would you recommend I stop by to take photos while I’m in the area? Hopefully the month of July will be a great time for this assignment while everyone is off for summer break!
And I hope it’s a great opportunity for you to do a little bit of exploring in your neck of the woods to to find new places. Or revisit scenic spots you haven’t been to in a while, like what happened to me as I was out photographing this assignment….
Indian Mound Cemetery Photos
Even though there wasn’t much to take pictures of at Indian Mound Cemetery, I went ahead and added it to the map. I gave it a 1-star, to indicate it’s not worth going out of the way to photograph here, but I did enjoy looking for creative ways to artistically shoot there. And hey, it was free entrance (at least, if you were a living person). 🙂
The Second Location
As you saw in the video, the train station turned out to be a bit of a disappointment. I’m sure there are some great photos to be had on the train ride! But there was nothing at the head station that made me want to stop and take photos, so I didn’t even bother to list it.
Cathedral State Park
You might not be able to tell in the video, but at this point in the day, we were all becoming a bit travel weary. We had just come off a very full weekend at the HEAV Convention, compounded with late nights, and we were ready to be home. The photos from earlier in the day had not been what I imagined and as I approached our last stop at Cathedral State Park, I could only hope that we would find something better here. I hadn’t been to this park in probably 20 years. I stepped from the van, nostalgia washing over me like a refreshing breeze.
This was the park I took my first camera to. It was the park at which I borrowed my dad’s tripod, and broke it. And now I came here with my little family, still toting a camera in my hands. We were there right at golden hour, the perfect time of day. We pulled out our table and sandwiches and enjoyed a family picnic by the van. Then we went for a walk down mysterious woodsy trails, freshly wet from a rainfall that made everything dark and vibrant. Mordecai liked shaking the water out of the tree branches above his head.
We came upon a little bend in the trail that held so much beauty and verdant forest vegetation, I felt I could spend many hours there. But time constrained us, so I took a few photos and we went on our way, knowing that someday we would need to come back. I enjoyed editing these photos later.
If you’re allowed to cheat, you can add sun flare digitally to make it look more magical. 🙂
Now It’s Your Turn!
Contribute to the Scouting Guide! Get all the details here. No limit to the number of locations you can submit. In fact, one of three prizes will be given to the photographer who submits the most locations! Go have fun exploring. Have fun taking fun pictures. And I can’t wait to add your locations to the map!
0 Comments