climber
Aug, 2018Views
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Behind The Lens
Location
This was taken at Penitentiary Hollow in Mineral Well State Park. Local schools and colleges often use it for climbing classes. The name comes from the fact that the tall sheer rock walls are almost impossible to climb by hand, they used the area as an outdoor jail for a while in the 1930's.Time
This was taken mid-day. There is a pretty heavy tree canopy, the area is nearly always shadedLighting
lighting is all natural. It can be a challenge shooting up toward the light from the shaded hollow - normally I'd switch to bracketed shots, but HDR's don't work well with moving subjectsEquipment
This was taken with a Canon M50 and 18-150mm lens - the stairs leading to the bottom of the hollow are rough-hewn from sold rock, done by the CCC during the depression - they can be a challenge, so I went small and light in case things got banged against the rock a bitInspiration
Mineral Wells State Park has a lot of cool features in addition to Penitentiary Hollow, there's a lot of other interesting things in the area, and it's reasonably close to home - I camp there quite a bit and there's always something to take pictures of.Editing
This was gently massaged in LightRoom - I've learned a bit since this shot, I think I have the white-balance off!In my camera bag
These days my 'walk about' setup is a Canon RP Mirrorless with a 24-240mm lens, but I'll also carry a 5D Mk III with any number of lenses if I'm looking to shoot something specific. I do have a couple of crop sensor bodies if I want a bit more reach, the extra magnification from the 1.6 crop factor helps there. I'm usually looking for cool things at random while traveling, so I often don't plan shots beforehand - I'm a pretty impromptu/opportunistic photographer. I've found I spend the most time with various prime lenses or some sort of super-zoom so I don't have to changes lenses out in the open.Feedback
Most state and national parks will require groups using the parks to pre-register, or have calendars that list when special events are taking place; give them a call while planning your trip to see if there's anything interesting happening while you'll be there - I've caught several climbing events in this park, along with a group filming part of a movie in the hollow
