Relaxing at Hillsborough River State Park with canine & human friendsIf you make the effort with your photography, you will be rewarded. Sometimes that effort just comes from physically lugging your gear with you when you might feel like just leaving it at home or in the parking lot. I met some canine and human friends yesterday at Hillsborough River State Park, a very dog friendly place that is also one of the best nature experiences in the Tampa Bay area. Many parks do not allow dogs on boardwalks, but in HRSP they have free reign. So four people and as many dogs were able to roam the banks of the Hillsborough River, walk through the slash pine forest and later relax hig above the river and just enjoy the view.
Certainly it was a bit of an effort to carry my Nikon D300, Tamron 17-50mm lens and Nikon SB-600 Speedlight flash on this 2-hour trek, but not that much because I only brought one lens. I knew ahead of time that the kind of shots I would want to make would require a wide lens. So to save weight and my back I brought the minimum amount of gear to be able to make those shots. Why bring the flash? For fill light in all those three shots above. They just would not have turned out as well exposed and lit without it.
So since I made that bit of effort to carry that minimum gear with me, I will have forever visual aids to help me remember that afternoon spent with great canine and human friends.
My photography tip to you is: yes, do make the effort to bring your DSLR with you, but help yourself by bringing just the one lens you know you will use for the shots you want to make.