The Cost of Being a Nature and Wildlife Photographer

 In the past I have been know to express “Why does it have to cost so much?” I'm sure this is a common lament by many people. I am finding myself expressing this lament at the moment.

Just a few months ago I could fill up the fuel tank on my pickup at less than $1.50/litre (Canadian dollars) but now it's pushing $2.00/litre or well over. This causes me to seriously wonder if I can afford to keep doing this hobby.

A number of years ago I had to leave a job that I enjoyed because it was costing too much to get to and from work. I didn't want to change employment but finances forced my hand. I ended up finding work with a much shorter commute and at a higher wage so the net result was positive. But I did miss working with my former collegues.

Usually in May, I take two to three weeks to go explore the backcountry of a particular region of British Columbia. I don't know if I can afford it this year. Taking the time off work is not the issue but funding the fuel to get anywhere potentially is.

I'm not going to get into the debate over using an electric vehicle for the simple reason that at the time of me writing this there isn't an electric vehicle that has the range needed to do what I would need it to do with the vehicle capabilities needed. Hopefully there will be soon. Hopefully it will be affordable.

What does this mean for me at the moment? Photo trips have always required proper planning. Now the financial aspect has more influence than the time aspect. Will I still do a photo trip this month. Probably yes but it will likely be only a week instead of two or three.

Hope to see you out there.

Frustrations of Balancing a Hobby with Work and Weather

 There are times when I lament a lack of means to just spend all my time wandering around the wilderness and enjoying it without having to do anything to provide a means of income to provide sustenance and other supplies. Part of this is because I can be a lazy individual. Another part of this is that I would much rather be camping then sitting at a desk typing on a computer or writing all kinds of stuff. This is not to indicate that I don't think my work is important. I believe it is very important but the desire is always there to just go hang out in the woods and explore what I haven't seen in person or experienced.

There's always something that will happen to interfere with plans that get made. This spring there have been many days when I was ready to go out and shoot but it just happened to be a day when the heavens brought forth much moisture. Oh well, that's the way life can be.

See you out and about.

What's the plan for 2026?

Sorry about missing posts in December and January with February now being a day late.

So what's going on in the year 2026? Well, I'm not totally sure. The plan is to get a few trips in. So what is the plan? Let's get into it.

January – The plan was at least one trip up into the mountains to get some snow shots. The day job has got lots going on including one weekend so we'll see when the snow pic trip happens. A fellow photog buddy have talked about going together to get snow pics. Unfortunately this did not happen

February/March – Where I live February to beginning of March is the outdoor travel show season. There are three that happen close to me. I hoping to get to at least two of them. I've also got at least two conferences to attend for the day job. Not sure if I'll get out for pics in February but you never know. In March it looks like I might be driving with a friend as he moves from the eastern part of North America to the western shore. Hopefully get to visit some fun locations. Probably not a lot of photography as the main purpose is getting him from one side of the continent to the other.

April – At least one camping trip planned but who knows what the weather will be like.

May/June – Big trips planned. Hoping to do some exploring along a major river in British Columbia and then spend a week fishing with some buddies in eastern B.C.

July onwards – I really don't know. There are several possibilities but they are too many and varied to mention at the moment. Hopefully get a family holiday happening somewhere.

I hope you all have a great 2026. The year is wide open.

Winter Photography

Sorry about missing a blog post last month. I got busy with family vacation and working at Vancouver International Film Festival. Such is life.

Winter can be an amazing time of year to do photography. Especially when there is a proper amount of snow.

One of the challenges of snow photography that I really enjoy working with (or around) is the large amount of contrast between the bright snow and the dark greens and brown of coniferous trees. If you just shoot normally quite often the snow does not look as bright as you want it to and to adjust it on the computer later takes a bit of work. I have found that increasing my Exposure Value (EV) up and trying it from 0 to +1.7 (I usually work my EV's in 1/3 stops) I can usually get the brightness of the snow against the darkness of the trees that I want. Another benefit that I have found from upping the EV is that some of the dark trees show a bit more colour.

I find the difference between the snow and non-snow areas in a scene interesting to work with in finding what looks the best in a picture. Finding what is artistic and/or picturesque is a fun challenge.

A challenge that is not so enjoyable is driving in winter conditions. I am fortunate that I have a four wheel drive pickup that is designed to handle most of those conditions properly. But that doesn't mean it's going to be easy. In British Columbia we can have the weather change in a moments notice. We've even had snow warnings issued in July. I have had a beautiful dirt/gravel road turn into a mud pit after a short amount of rain. While my vehicle can handle driving in those conditions it doesn't mean it's enjoyable.

The other big issue I find I have to deal with is the temperature. I don't mind it being cold but I don't want to be cold. Proper clothing is essential.

Overall, I find winter photography enjoyable even with all the challenges. It's worth doing.

Talk to you next time.

The Hunt For Fall Colours

 It's that time of year again in the northern hemisphere. The leaves of deciduous trees start to change colour. It is a time of year when a lot of people go out and take pictures. It's very understandable. Maple tree leaves that are turning red or yellow look incredible beautiful with the sunlight reflecting off of them.

Where I live if I want a variety of leaf colours that aren't in an urban area I have to go leaf hunting. This is not a complaint rather it is a fun time of heading out and finding places where the forest is not solid conifers.

Now I love conifers aka evergreens but I do enjoy watching trees like maples changing their colours. It is a fun challenge to locate these regions where you can find a mixture of deciduous and conifer trees. It's also a great reason to spend a day out exploring in general.

So with this autumnal season upon us soon I want to wish you all Happy Leaf Hunting.

Influences

While doing some clean up at home a few weeks ago I came across a schedule from when I used to work at one of the major tourist attractions in Vancouver. Looking through it I saw the names of the people and their faces were recalled by my brain. Memories of my now former colleagues came quickly to mind, with more memories as I write this.

It's interesting to think about the influences we had on each other, both positive and negative. Was I the best person to work with? I tried to be but being human I know that I probably failed many times and hopefully sometimes I was the best person to work with. We all influence the people around us whether we know them or not. We can all be a positive or negative influence on others.

Here's an example that happened yesterday, as I write this.

On of my computers decided to not respond to anything that I did. The previous day it had run low on battery and needed to recharge. That evening I plugged it in to have it recharge overnight. The next day it seemed it wouldn't turn on. It had become a 'brick.' It sat on my desk like it was holding it down so any wind wouldn't blow my desk away. I took it to the Canada Computers store close to where I live and they figured out what had happened and got the laptop working again. Those two men had a very positive influence on me. Their customer service reinforced a reasons to use that retail location to get more computer related stuff in the future.

We all influence each other every day. Let's try and be encouraging in that influence.

I know this is way different then my photography related blog posts but I just wanted to share this.

Start of Summer

 Well, July is here. The summer holidays are in full force. The weather is mostly sunny and getting hot.

A fun time to try and get some relaxing in.

However I do find the summer a challenge to do the photography I like. There's lots of sun! This is great and challenging at the same time. The sun rises a lot earlier and sets a lot later. Many more hours of the day to shoot. This also means that the sun is, generally, a lot brighter which makes getting certain pictures much more difficult. When travelling I have to compromise on getting certain shots. The only time I may be in particular location will be near midday when the sun is overhead and very bright. Often this provides a difficult situation to take pictures in. Everything is overexposed. Yes filters can help but you also have a lack of shadow that many times just makes the picture seem meh and not awesome. But you do the best you can and hope that in post processing you can tweak just enough to look good.

Another challenge with nature photography in summer is wildfires. There have been many times when I have planned to go visit a certain geographic region and then when the day comes the trip has to be cancelled because of a forest fire near there that is making it difficult to access, the smoke pollution means difficulty breathing or evacuation alerts/orders are in place. I was on a trip to capture some fall colours but the smoke in the air made it quite difficult to breathe. It didn't affect the pictures but I had a sore throat and was coughing for a few days. That fire was two mountain ranges away from where I was. I thought I would be fine. Oh well, that's the way it goes.

One of the things I enjoy about photography in summer is that the daylight comes much earlier. I enjoy being woken up by the sun. Most people are still sleeping from spending most of the evening around the campfire so I go out and take the camera for a walk. If I'm by a lake quite often you can get a little bit of a mist coming of the lake and it looks just great. If I'm not taking pictures there's a good chance that I've got a fishing rod in hand and hoping to catch lunch.

Another great thing about summer photography is being able to go out with different people and do photography. More people are able to take vacation during the summer and are able to go out during the week and explore than only on the weekends. It's nice to go explore with people and not just by your lonesome.

Overall I find there are definite pros and cons to summer nature photography. What's the conclusion? Let's just go out and take pictures!