A Normal Day

Susan River, a photo by dlnwelch on Flickr.

I spent last weekend up at our cabin on Lake Almanor. Saturday was a beautiful fall day and I decided to spend the morning hiking and taking photos and the afternoon fishing. There was a fishing theme to the morning also as I set out to hike from Devil's Corral along a section of the Susan River that is Catch and Release only. It was ostensibly to scout that section of the river and to get some fall foliage shots. The strategy was to shoot using my "normal" lens only. That lens is a 35mm DX f1.8 Nikon lens which is very small and lightweight. I was also carrying my new Benro carbon Fiber travel tripod which I bought on a recent trip to B&H in NYC. Its a very cool tripod, that is light, packs to a small size, yet extends to nearly 6 ft. Holds the weight of my 300s with a big lens. I have lusted after a Gitzo Mountaineer but this tripod does the job and is about $200 less. The hike was wonderful and there were lots of opportunities to take foliage and water shots along the Susan like the one shown here. What I noticed about using the normal lens is that I would move around a lot more to get the right framing for a particular shot. Feels much more creative to use your feet to get the shot as opposed to zooming in and out. Also, I was more willing I guess, to move around and try different perspectives with the fixed normal lens. Definitely a fun outing and a section of the river I will go back to fish. You can see the complete set here.