Day 306; The Wall

One of the most enjoyable and most uniquely "camp" experiences at the Iowa 4-H Camp is the climbing wall. I've attempted it a couple times, but I enjoy climbing the wall much less than I enjoy watching others do so. This weekend, armed with a camera, I sat with other chaperones under a tree and watched several campers reach varying heights on the wall. I wanted to get a more interesting action shot, but this particular group was very cautious, and I can't really blame them. Even though it wasn't exactly the composition I wanted, I really liked the lighting and colors of this image. The colors in the camper's outfit pull out the blue of the sky and the hand holds, in addition to making her pop from the brown of the wall.

Day 264; The Path Less Traveled

"Two roads diverged in a wood, and I-
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

Those are the final lines in Robert Frost's famous poem "The Road Not Taken," one of my favorite poems to date. This particular path was in the woods at the State 4-H Camp where I was at the State Council Retreat last weekend. This is actually one of the more popular paths, as it leads to the swinging bridge, my favorite part of the grounds. The sun coming through the leaves left an interesting lighting pattern which looked calm, warm, and earthy.

Day 263; Sunrise at Camp

This weekend was our State 4-H Council retreat at the Iowa State 4-H Center Campgrounds. I didn't have much time to take photos as I was busy working with the other Council members. I did get out on Sunday morning before sunrise to take a few shots in the surrounding woods. I discovered this area my last time at the camp, and I decided to revisit it. The morning light was quite lovely, but I enhanced it a little to make the colors pop more.

Day 242; Wood from Retreat

I had the most amazing time ever at the State 4-H Council retreat last week and cannot wait to work with all the great youth selected throughout the year. There weren't really any opportunities to lug around my camera, but I did go outside before breakfast on Friday and got this shot of the mulch around one of the trees. The early morning light and the great texture of the wood chips appealed to me, though it didn't turn out as dramatically as I had imagined.

Day 234; Charred Wood

We had a bonfire outside the other day, so tonight I took a picture of the left over charred firewood. Since it had been burned there wasn't much color left, so a black and white effect simply enhanced the contrast present.

Day 232; Noah and his Bunny

My brother Noah likes to come out to the barn with me each day to play with the baby rabbits. This little black Dutch in particular has been a favorite recently. A couple mornings ago I had Noah sit on this pile of boards so I could take a picture of him with his bunny. He still squints his eyes when I ask him to smile, but I still love this photo. I especially liked the texture the boards provided in conjunction with the stripes on his shirt. To highlight the the details of the image I used a black and white effect.

Day 163

It's been a little warmer recently, so I've been outside shooting more often. This rusty nail was stuck in a board in a pile near our rabbit barn, and I thought the textures would be interesting to work with. I loved the look I got when I left the nail the original rusty red but painted the board black and white.