When you decide you want to take some photos, do you make a day of it? Do you plan in advance, take a lunch (or a tent), etc.? Or do you just look out the window and say "hmm, it's a nice day, where's my camera?". Or do you simply carry your camera with you everywhere you go?

I have to plan an outing in advance (due to family considerations), and I generally plan to be out for a 2-3 hour period. To get the best light, it's either an early morning shoot (yawwwn) or late afternoon. I know a lot of folks who take a camera with them wherever they go, but mine isn't pocketable, and I worry about leaving it in the car -- Arizona heat, theft, etc. I miss some opportunities due to leaving it at home. :(

9 times out of 10 I go "damn, left the camera at home"

All of the above!!

I carry a camera with me most everywhere I go. If I don't want to carry my Rebel XT and lenses, I carry one of a number of pocket digitals our family has. since we have 3 kids (it's interesting to see what they are looking at) we also keep a number of disposable film cameras around-in the house, in the cars, packed in with their sports gear, etc.

I make plans to go out on photo shoots taking whole days or weekends. I don't buy into the theory that I can't shoot in the middle of the day because of light...I just find other subject matter. Maybe shoot macros in the woods or something more abstract that will play off the dark shadows and harsh light created by midday sun. I also use this time to scout for shots I might take in the early evening or at another time and date.

I also may simply decide it's a nice day and I will go shoot for a couple of hours. More often than not though, I decide it's a nice day and I am going to scout out subjects for future outings. I will go out and just shoot snapshots of any and everything. I put the camera on auto and don't worry about framing and composing. I just shoot at anything that catches my eye. I often end up with at least one or two images that make for good photo art and hopefully a few that I will consider going back for a more serious approach.


Planned or not, it's always fun.............

When you decide you want to take some photos, do you make a day of it? Do you plan in advance, take a lunch (or a tent), etc.? Or do you just look out the window and say "hmm, it's a nice day, where's my camera?". Or do you simply carry your camera with you everywhere you go?


I only have one answer for the above questions...YES. :) :)

Thank ya'll very much.

Janet