Chapter 4: Field Training Lessons

Well, just as I expected, the next morning arrived right on schedule and with it a delightful little 14-year-old girl. She came in just as I was putting on the last of my rough and tumble clothes. I noticed that she was dressed, as I suggested, in jeans and a cotton long-sleeve shirt. As a matter of fact we were almost identical except she was shorter and had some interesting bulges and curves in her shirt.

We sat down to breakfast and chatted while I filled her in on what I had planned for the day. "Kim, this should be an educational day for both of us. I am planning to take you out on an expedition of nature so we can brush up our camera skills."

I handed her a basic digital camera. "I think you will enjoy trying out this camera today. It's nothing fancy but it gets the job done. You can shoot up to 500 full resolution pictures so you don't have to be frugal as if it were a film camera."

I showed her how to operate the camera and she took some test shots around the kitchen. I was surprised that the camera didn't explode when she snapped a couple of shots of me.

She asked, "What'll you be using?"

I showed it to her. "I just got this Nikon 32 Mega pixel camera and I want to see what this baby can do."

Alice had fixed us some sandwiches, cookies and cans of soft drink in an insulated cooler so as soon as we were done eating breakfast we gathered up our supplies and headed out on our excursion. The property in Camelot was mostly wooded with not too heavy undergrowth. Wooded, that is, except for the lake in the middle of the property.

I pointed out some likely candidates for pictures as we made our way through the woods. As I had suggested, she was not shy about taking a lot of pictures. I was shooting a lot too and couldn't resist taking a few pictures of Kim taking pictures. Since the sun was still low in the sky I managed to get some stunning shots of her with her flowing hair floating in the breeze backlit by the sun making it glow like a halo.

We stopped for a minute while I showed her some hand signals to use since we were approaching an area where there were some wildlife nests. I showed her the signal for stop which is my raised fist. I told her, "This doesn't mean I'm about to slug you. It means to stop and remain very still."

She giggled.

I then used two fingers to point at something, meaning 'look there'.

She nodded that she understood. As we got closer to where there was a warren of rabbits I had her approach very slowly and keep an eye out for any movement. I felt a tug on my sleeve and when I looked at her she was pointing two fingers at a clump of bushes with a mother rabbit watching over her group of grazing bunnies. We had set our cameras for silent shutter so we could shoot to our hearts content without alarming the wildlife.

The mother rabbit evidently had not seen us and we were downwind too so she paid us no mind and kept munching on some greenery. I softly whispered to Kim to get ready to shoot when I snapped my fingers. She lined up the shot and was ready, so when I snapped my fingers she snapped off about six shots as the mother rabbit raised her head and looked directly at us just before she quickly herded her offspring into the bushes.

I managed to snap off a few as the rabbits made their mad dash to safety. Kim was tickled pink to have taken those pictures herself.

A little farther on, I pointed out some scrapings on a tree. I told her that those marks were made by a deer marking his territory. She took some pictures of them from various angles as I explained how the angle of the lighting and perspective can enhance the shots. We got a bunch of shots of birds and squirrels in the trees. I mentioned, "Kim, sometimes a picture can be better not because of what you can see but what you cannot see."

To give her an example I put my camera into review mode and showed her a picture I had shot where only the head of the rabbit could be seen. The rest of her body was obscured by a fallen log on the ground. The rabbit seemed to be inquisitively peering over the log to see what the noise was.

I then decided to give her a lesson in depth of field. I told her that if you open the iris to a lower number like f2.0 and speed up the shutter you can get the subject of the shot in focus while the background is blurred. That draws the viewer's attention to the subject without being confused by the surroundings.

When we got to the lake, she wanted to shoot some views of the water. She stood right on the shoreline and took a few shots. I then showed her that the shots would be more interesting if she would back up and shoot between a pair of trees framing the shot. That thought intrigued her so she was very animated moving from spot to spot snapping what she felt were just the right angles. Call it beginner's luck or what you will, but, one of her shots caught a lake trout jumping out of the water after a bug just as she hit the shutter. I could wait all day and not get a shot anywhere near like that.

We decided since it was just about noon that we should have a picnic lunch there. I unpacked the lunch and blanket so we could eat our food comfortably. The sandwiches (jelly and peanut butter, one of my favorites) went down followed by some sodas. Kim took a large drink from her can and let out a thunderous belch which echoed off the woods on the far side of the lake. I broke up laughing as she blushed a bright crimson but finally ending up laughing herself. While we waited for our lunch to digest we snuggled up on the blanket and exchanged some small talk. With my arm around her and her head resting on my shoulder we were quite comfortable and even dozed off for a few minutes.

I awoke to the pleasant sensation of someone kissing my cheek. I guess she woke up before I and was trying to arouse my attention. Well, it worked because I turned my head and gave her a very warm kiss on the lips.