Leaf Expedition

I joined photoblog.com a couple of weeks ago. It's a more photo oriented blog group. There are hundreds and hundreds of photos posted every day of everything you can imagine. Looking at the photo's that my "friends" and others post has inspired me to get out my camera more. Saturday morning, I planned a photo expedition. All week long, as I ride my bike to work in beautiful, sunny, southern california, the light has been fantastic. That perfect lighting that spotlights the leaves and adds a glisten to the dew. That makes the trees glow in yellow, orange, red, and green. As if the world I was riding thru had a ceiling of made of stained glass. Every day it's like that and every day I feel blessed to be able to ride my bike to work so I can enjoy it...stop to smell the leaves, if you will. And every day, I wish I had my camera with me. But numerous falls and getting hit by a car once has made me nervous to carry my camera for extended rides or around traffic. So I usually only take it out on my bike on the weekend. So Saturday, by golly, I was so there.

And then, wouldn't you know...Saturday dawned a gloomy and cloudy morning. Aaahhhh! Where is my light? But I went anyway. It was fun. I'm sure people thought I was crazy peering at leaves on the side of the road. Another cyclist paused to make sure I was okay. My mom's boyfriend came by and made a u-turn for the same reason. A co-worker mentioned today that he saw me out there.

The gloominess meant more even lighting but it also meant slower shutter speeds or less depth of field. I "pushed" to 800 and shot mostly at F5 to get enought shutter speed to reduce the chance of shaking (by me or the wind). Hopefully, the light will be there next weekend and some leaves will still be there. Cross your fingers.