Presque Isle

On Saturday (January 28) my Nature Photography class went up to Presque Isle State Park in Erie, PA as our first endeavor into nature outside of Downtown Pittsburgh. After waking up at 4 a.m. and driving about two hours we made it to the park. Before going out and shooting though we listened to Chris Rolinson, our professor, give a talk about is Pennsylvania State Parks project. Although we were all very tired, I think listening to him talk about something he is so passionate about and looking at all his fantastic nature photos, we were all inspired to go out and shoot and create our own fantastic photos.

I first walked along a trail, which was flooded in places, making this a true adventure. We were able to get pretty close to some branches with berries and other branches that had fresh water droplets on them. After taking about 75 "water droplet" photos, I stumbled upon this isolated green branch with red thorns on it. This was the br

anch and the photo I

was looking for.

The day was quite gray, but a fresh coating of snow had just fallen, making the beach a beautiful scene. I was able to capture a slight glimpse of the sun poking out behind the clouds.

After walking along the trail we cut up through the brush and walked along the beach. There were trees and driftwood and lots and lots of pebbles on the beach, making for some interesting photos. These trees were especially interesting because they were just coming straight out from the sand.

The pebbles that lay close to the water made good photo subjects. I probably stood for ten minutes trying to capture the perfect photo of the pebbles properly juxtaposed with the water.

This was a fun trip, and I think a good intro into the rest of the semester. I cannot wait to go to all of our other destinations though!

Downtown Pittsburgh Navigation Adventure

Before our little orienteering adventure throughout downtown Pittsburgh I had probably picked up a compass approximately 3 times in my life, but I never bothered to learn how to use one. Needless to say it was an interesting experience navigating my way from Point Park's campus to Point State Park and the North Shore using a compass. My group and I got off course a few times (mainly because we are kind of compass dumb) but we made it, sticking to the path set out for us.
I'm glad I now have some sort of idea on how to use a compass, even though I'm still not an expert at it, but I am sure that will come in handy someday...I hope.
Finding "nature" in downtown was a bit of a challenge. There is nature, but not a lot that proved to be interesting right away. This was a good exercise on finding ways to make visually boring things more interesting. It was definitely a challenge of creativity. I liked finding all the ways to juxtapose what nature there was with the urban surroundings, which made for some interesting pictures.