We spent the day hiking to a beach, playing on slides and swings, and exploring a lighthouse. We were heading to the abandoned passageways at Fort Casey when I saw this field of mustard flowering on the bluffs. I couldn't help myself. I nonchalantly wandered off course and headed down the trail into the field of flowers. "HEY DAD...YOU'RE GOING THE WRONG WAY!!" Wow, he was on to me in a matter of seconds. "Uh..no...I'm pretty sure the fort is this way." Hey, it was worth a try. "NO DAD, I'M PRETTY SURE YOU'RE WRONG." Well, maybe diversion would be a better solution. "Isn't this just a beautiful day and look at these amazing flowers and what a beautiful sky and look at those really cool clouds." The stall for time was working: we were already well into the flower field. "Daddy is just going to take a couple of photos and then we will go explore the fort." He didn't say no.
Time to take a quick assessment of my photo gear. Camera and lens...yes. Polarizing filter...nope. Tripod...nope. Shutter release...nope. Graduated filters...nope. Chance of running back to car to get said equipment and returning to the spot with a 5 year old...zero.
I just had to old-school it with the photojournalist's rule: f/8 and be there. I started to figure out a composition when the tugging began. "C'MON DAD, LETS GO." I composed and executed twenty quick frames (some of them one-handed while fending off a determined child with the other). Somewhere in the mix, this image occurred.
We raced up to the fort and spent the rest of the visit exploring the dark passageways in the concrete bunkers. It was a great afternoon until he thought he saw a monster in the darkest corner of a very dark room. He recovered quickly though. There's nothing that a cheeseburger and an ice cream sundae can't cure.
2 comments:
Gorgeous shot... you son sounds a lot like mine when he was that age!
Thanks Madge. He is fun but can be a handful. Like every child I suppose.
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