I’m so impressed by Snap Happy Gal’s Photography of life in the north, especially her night shots of the stars, that I’ve been trying to figure out how to do it myself.
I messed around with night photography when I was up in Northport last December; by watching YouTube videos I figured out how to use my camera’s manual settings, change the ISO, the aperture, the shutter speed. It was below zero the night I spent an hour out on the beach trying to capture the sky, but I didn’t notice the cold. It was just so much fun being out there.
I haven’t tried it since, and of course now I’ve forgotten how to do any of it, so I watched the videos again, set my camera on manual, and headed out to camp in the backyard last night. I have too much light where I live to see the sky in as much detail as you’d see in the north woods, but I was more curious about the process and the color of the light than I was the number of stars.
I set my alarm for 3:00 a.m. and settled in to sleep. Nothing doing. So I read for awhile and tried to sleep again. Nope. I surfed the web on my phone for a bit and finally nodded off about midnight.
At 3:00 the phone gently nudged me awake and I stumbled out into the yard with my tripod and camera, pointed the lens at the sky and pushed the shutter.
Turns out I’m still way too pink.
Anybody up there?
I figured it would be this way as I didn’t investigate white balance, something Heather (the Snap Happy One up north) suggested after my first foray into night photography.
Never know what I’m pointing at.
Still, I stayed awake a couple more hours thinking about the problem and listening to the bugs, frogs, freeway and occasional snorting white tailed dear. I also watched the stars slide across the sky through the roof of my tent. I didn’t really mind being awake. It was a beautiful night.
So today I studied white balance, read a few articles, watched a video, and I’ve adjusted my camera’s white balance setting. I’m hoping for one more clear night so I can camp out in the backyard again. I figure the worst thing that happens is that the photos are still too pink and I have to study some more.
But I’ll get another nice night under the stars out of it and that’s OK with me.
Katie here. Mama says you’re probably tired of reading about my adventures, but I say that’s ridiculous! Who could be tired of me? Though even I have to admit that I’ve had quite a few camping adventures this summer.
Our beautiful campsite.
Mama and I have been to Harrisville, on Lake Huron, and Leelenau way up north, and we even camped close to home at the Holly Recreation Area just up the road. But I didn’t think that was enough. Oh no, not at all! So I begged mama to take me on one more far away adventure and she did!
Let’s go mama!
We went up to Hartwick Pines again! We went there two years ago, it was my very first real camping adventure, but the mosquitoes were so bad we spent most of the time hiding in our tent! And we were there a couple of winters ago when it was so cold that we could only run into the woods and back out again before my feet froze up!
But this time it was perfect! Hardly any mosquitoes and not too hot and not too cold! We struck the camping jackpot!
These ferns are taller than me!
Do you want to see what we did? Well…follow me and I’ll give you a tour!
We got to explore the beautiful old forest that grows protected at the park. Our first day we walked in the woods on trails that are used for cross country skiing in the winter. These are the same trails mama and I walked on in that below zero temperature winter vacation. This time it was more fun.
Early morning run!
Hartwick Pines is a beautiful park, with many campsites surrounded by birch and white pines, ferns and wildflowers. I liked to walk in between the sites on pine needle covered paths. Our first two nights hardly anyone else was there so mama and I explored the campground a lot. I liked the shorter walks and the good sniffing.
Asters and morning light at our campsite.
But we also went on longer walks, the prettiest one was a paved path back to a logging camp museum. Early in the morning mama and I wound through the old forest, between huge beautiful trees, and hidden way back in the woods was a pretty little log chapel!
Do you see it back there?
We were there really early in the morning and the light just streamed through the window on the east side of the building.
The sun fills the inside of this beautiful little sanctuary.
Mama let me explore while she was busy taking pictures. Then she noticed that I was sitting in a pool of light. She said that God was shining His light on me because I was special…but then again all dogs are special so I shouldn’t let it go to my head. Of course not, I was just happy to be sharing such a special place with my mama.
Me and God.
Eventually we got back to the logging museum grounds. No one was around. Mama made me sit next to all this logging stuff.
This wheel is LOTS bigger than me!
I especially was not happy to sit in front of this big snow rolling thing. What if it moved and rolled over me? Sometimes mama doesn’t have any sense.
I don’t want to sit here mama!
I didn’t mind sitting near this guy though. I thought he was kind of cute, in a cold sort of way. He didn’t even want to pet me! I mean…what was the deal? Everyone wants to pet me!
Me and Mr. Logger-Guy.
In fact I met several people including a whole passel of kids that wanted to pet me and I let them all rub my ears and pat my back. I guess I’m finding out that most people are pretty nice and I don’t have to be so shy all the time. Plus I know my mama always has my back.
Definitely taller than me!
But you know one thing I did not like? Bluejays! We had a gang of them that hung around our campsite and they started squawking really early in the morning! They woke me up! Don’t they know I’m a princess and I need my beauty sleep! The only one allowed to wake anyone up around a campsite is me! It’s my job to get mama up early, and if I decide she can sleep in those stupid birds should let us all sleep! And do you know what else? When we came back from one of our walks through the beautiful woods one of them was on my picnic table stealing my dinner!
Stop that thief!
I was outraged! So I ate all my dinner up at one time just to show them! Huh! They better not come around again! I’m keeping my eye out bluejays! Anyway…what we did most on our camping trip was wander sedately through the big trees.
Everything is bigger than me in this woods!
It was so beautiful. We hardly saw anyone else out there. I got to practice some of my obedience skills. Mama said I did very good. I reminded her that was because she didn’t forget the treats this time.
Good mama!
Mamas can be taught things even though they are old.
Anyway…we had a wonderful time. I love camping. Lots of napping while mama is reading. Lots of walks around the campground and in the woods. Lots of sniffing wonderful new stuff. I even like the car ride because we get to stop at rest stops and those always have great smells! I recommend camping to every dog!
Me and my tent. And the sunlight.
I don’t know if we’ll get to camp one more time this fall before it gets cold. I told mama not to put the tent away for the winter just yet. But she says camping is a lot of work and maybe this was our last adventure for awhile. I think I’m going to need all of you to put pressure on her to take me again just one more time before it snows.
I know I can count on all of you, my loyal subjects, to let her know that it’s too soon to pack the camping gear away! I’ll rest up while you get to work.
I can’t let this summer slip away without one more camping trip with the princess. So we’ll be on the road again very soon. Can’t tell you exactly when. Can’t tell you where. But when we get home Katie-girl promises to let you know how it went.
Where are we going mama?
She’s napping now in preparation of her grand adventure.
So many ways to capture the concept of ‘frame.’ Though I planned on going out and finding something new, this photo kept hanging out on the fringes of my mind. So I let it win. It’s from a trip to Washington DC three years ago. Sitting in the lobby of the Hart Senate Building is a large metal sculpture. A hole in that sculpture framed the office windows and struck me at the time as interesting.
I like it still.
You can see other interpretations by clicking on the link above. Or you can check out a couple that I liked here and here.
Katie did a good job describing our latest camping trip. But she left out some of the pretty shots, probably because they didn’t highlight her. You know how she is. So here’s a few of the other pretty things we saw up there. Well. She didn’t see all of it, because she napped a lot.
Katie here. What? You thought mama likes camping in the rain? I guess she’s not opposed, as long as it’s a nice gentle rain that stops by morning and then the sun comes up and dries everything out before we have to pack it into the car. That kind of rain.
But of course that’s not what happened.
I’m getting ahead of myself though, let me start at the beginning. Last Monday we drove all the way over to Leelanau State Park; it’s way up at the tip of the little finger of Michigan, just north of Northport, one of mama’s favorite towns.
We went there so that we could visit a bunch of people, some of whom had never met me! The first person we hung out with was Karen, a friend of mama’s from years ago. They used to work together in the Upper Peninsula in the 80s. We had dinner at her house and mama and I ran up and down the 46 stairs to the beach a bunch of times while mama took pictures of the sunset that night.
I’m not scared of these stairs mama!
Mama has figured out that I’m not exactly telling the truth when I say I don’t do stairs. I ran down those 46 stairs no problem each time. And the first time back I forgot, and ran up halfway before I asked to be picked up! Bummer! Mama’s on to me now!
Sunset light makes me extra beautiful in my beach chair.
That night her friend came up and camped with us at our site. It was fun to have her hanging out with mama, though I have to admit I went to bed as soon as we got back to camp while mama and her friend drank wine and talked.
The next day mama and I went into town and visited Dog Ears Books in Northport. I didn’t get to meet the resident dog Sarah, because she wasn’t in that day, but I got to meet Sarah’s person Pamela, and I got to wander all over the store with my mama as she picked out a few books.
I like this store! Support your independent book seller!
We visited the marina too. I enjoy walking out on the docks and looking at all the beautiful boats. I imagine what it would be like out on the big lake on a sunny afternoon.
This one’s for sale mama, want to buy it for me?
It would be perfect as long as my mama remembered to bring the treats. Which she forgot a lot on our walks during this camping trip. Just saying.
Back at our campsite mama noticed a big beautiful cloud out over the lake. This park doesn’t have a beach, just a lot of bushes that grow in the water. So mama hiked out through those bushes and into the water to get a picture of the beautiful cloud and some sailboats.
The ‘path’ back to camp.
She figured her feet would get wet, but that was OK. When she finally came back to camp I had to say “I told you so mama!” because of course she got more wet than she expected. Mama never pays attention when she’s trying to get a good picture. Silly silly mama.
Really mama? You couldn’t keep your shorts dry?
She changed her shoes and her shorts and spent the rest of the day moving the wet things around the campsite, following the shifting sun. When we went to bed they were still pretty damp.
That night the whole campground was full! Most every single site had one or more tents in it. We had lots of crazy screaming little kids on one side of us and a whole big group of teenagers on the other side. It was a lot more noisy than before. But I was tired from all our exploring so I went right to sleep.
Peterson Park has a giant tree!
Mama had hoped she could try some star photography, so she set her alarm for 1:00 a.m. so she could go out and check the sky. Of course she got me up then too, to go do my jobs. She thought that by doing that I might let her sleep later than 6 a.m. It’s always good to have hope.
So at 1:00 we were outside, mama checking the sky, me checking for pee-mail. She said the sky wasn’t good for star shooting; to the west it was totally dark and there were clouds and stars just above us. Out over Lake Michigan it looked dark…like fog. Or something.
We walked about three campsites down the road so I could pee, and then mama felt weird being out there alone so late, and she tugged me back to our site. I didn’t want to go back into the tent but she insisted. And as she turned around inside to zip the door shut she noticed that the young tree on the other side of the road suddenly bent over in strong wind! That seemed odd because it hadn’t been windy when we were out there. And it wasn’t windy where our tent was only a few feet away.
So she watched. The tree whipped around, over and over, the waves began to crash, but the wind was louder than the waves. Mom was worried. Then the rain hit.
It came down in sheets, hard against the tent. Mama hoped the weight of us inside would hold the tent down. She worried about what she might have left outside. Like her shoes. And the tent bag. And who knows what else. I slept through the whole thing.
It rained hard from 1:10 a.m. until 6:00 a.m. Mama stayed awake through most of it worrying. But at 6:00 it seemed to stop, and she had to go to the bathroom (I guess listening to all that water will do it to some people!) so she woke me up and we crept outside. Things seemed to be OK. Her shoes were soaked, but other than that we were good. So we headed to the toilet. We were halfway there when the rains came back. Mama debated what to do. Go back to the tent? Or keep going? She decided what the heck…we were going to get wet either way, so we kept going. By the time we got to the toilet it was just pouring. We got soaked!
Zzzzzzzzzzzzzz…
Back at our site she gave up trying to keep anything inside dry, we just dove back into the tent. I was a mess. Mama was a mess. She dried me off with our last dry towel. Turns out I thought that was fun, almost like a game, so I made mama laugh even though she was dripping wet too. We went back to sleep. Well. I went back to sleep. Mama lay there worrying about how she was going to pack up the campsite in this pouring rain. She had to be out by 11:00 a.m.
Then guess what? The rain stopped at 8 a.m.! Really! It just stopped! Mama had already decided that she was going to pack up at 8, regardless. So she got up and got moving fast. I got put in my crate just to keep me from tracking more mud into the tent. I was not happy.
Not fair.
I am never happy when she packs up our tent. It’s my tent and I want to stay longer! Even if everything is soaked! It’s not fair that she put my in my crate in the car where I couldn’t see anything. But she says it’s just faster without me running around after her barking and getting under her feet.
I don’t want you to pack up mama!
I guess she’s right, because she got everything packed in an hour. We stopped on our way out to toss the garbage in the bin. It was about 9:10 when she popped out of the car to toss the garbage. The rain began again in earnest at 9:11. I swear, we were soooo lucky to get it all packed up in that one hour.
Through the rain we drove south around Traverse Bay, and then north along the other side. We were going to visit Gerry up near Eastport. I met Gerry a couple of years ago, along with her dogs the Cowboy and Miss Sadie. She lives near the water too and has a lot of stairs up to her house.
I’m not walking up all these steps mama!
Once again I had no trouble going down the steps but I made my mama carry me up every.single.time. After all, I am a princess.
Once inside her house I noticed immediately that there was a sofa! And I spent most of the evening napping on it, or Gerry’s chair. And mama and I got to sleep in a real bed! Gerry was very nice to offer us her spare room, especially since everything we had was wet!
Hey mama! A sofa!
I had a great time at Gerry’s house. We went for walks through the woods and we visited her neighbor and I got to nap while they were talking. I napped a lot on this trip. I think that’s one of the best parts about camping, all the naps.
What? I was just resting my eyes!
The next day we went for one more walk and then it was time to head home. I don’t know about mama, but I was exhausted!
Sure is pretty ‘up north!’
We stopped at my favorite park in Greyling, and a couple of rest stops, but most of the way home I was asleep. Don’t tell mama, she thinks I’m vigilant all the time.
At the little park in Greyling. It’s not raining!
It took mama two days to get everything totally dried out once we were home. I’m already asking her when we’re going again, but she says she’s tired. She slept a lot yesterday. Even more than me! I suppose I should let her rest for at least a couple more days before I bug her about our next adventure. Maybe we could stay in a hotel. I have to admit I did like sleeping on the bed that last night. We’ll see. I can always count on my mama to come up with something fun.
She says she has lots of pretty photos to show you and she’ll do that sometime if I ever finish this blog which she says has gotten way too long. Obviously she forgets I’m the princess of the house.
My mama. Secretly I think she likes camping a lot too.
It all started with Katie as most things do in this household. Rightfully so she adds.
She had to go out; it was about 6:30 in the morning. No sense arguing with her, best to just roll with it. Rub your eyes and find your pink clogs and shuffle with her out the door, down to the end of the driveway to her favorite spot for leaving early morning pee-mail.
Glancing over your shoulder as she snuffles along you see the moon is setting. And you remember you have a brand new tripod and wouldn’t this be a great time to try it out.
But she is still snuffling, she hasn’t chosen her exact spot yet. There is something that smells good over there by the day lily. Really good apparently.
You tug on her leash, urging her to hurry up. Sniff sniff…meander… sniff some more.
Finally she is done and you both sprint for the house, your mind trying to remember where you last saw the tripod. The camera. Most importantly your glasses. Her mind wondering what glorious adventure we are heading toward.
Gathering up all three you fumble attaching the camera to the tripod. Got it finally. Hurry – the moon is going down!
Outside as you tiptoe carefully across the dew slick deck Katie prances and pulls expecting an adventure. She has to go with you because if you left her in the house she’d bark hysterically and spouse is sleeping. Smart spouse.
The grass is flooded with dew. Your pajamas are instantly soaked, the pink clogs slip off your feet forgotten. Katie gets put, much against her wishes, in her pen to watch you from a safe enclosure. And so you don’t have to handle the leash while figuring out the tripod as the moon slips faster and faster toward the tree tops.
Because the moon is so low you have to go behind a line of spruce trees planted on the side of a hill. Out of Katie’s sight. She puts up a small protest. You tell her to shhhhhhhh!
The hill makes setting up the tripod harder. You can’t remember which way to turn this and that. The camera is heavy and you can’t find the knob to tighten the center post and it keeps slipping. You hold it with your hand, bend down and squint through the lens. Your glasses slide off your head and fall into the wet grass.
You grab them up, refocus the wandering lens and shoot, then try to check the image but you can’t see because your glasses are smeared with dew and fingerprints and bits of recently mowed grass.
You refocus everything including your brain and try again. Click
And from behind you comes the unmistakable smell of a visitor. Odious would be the term.
You gather up your camera atop the unwieldy tripod and race on bare feet to get the dog and you both gingerly run across the slippery deck into the house where you begin to laugh and she looks at you like you are crazy.
Change Is Hard 