Seasonal Photography: Tips for Capturing Year-Round Photos—Course Preview

So here it is spring, gorgeous morning light, sunrise, great time to be out here. Every season offers really a unique opportunity for photographers to be out and get a variety of images based on those seasons. And then there's spring, which I think is one of my favorite times of the year. Not only because everything comes to life, when leaves bud out there's a quality of the green that you get in spring that you don't get any other the time of the year. Think about it, big picnics down at the lake, a vacation at the resort, county fairs, we're at the Minnesota State Fair, the great Minnesota get-togethers, we're going to have a lot of fun here shooting. I'm going light, it's one of the things I like to do when I come to events like this, is rather than bringing everything that I need in the world which I think a lot of photographers do, I'm going light. The heaviest thing I'm bringing with me is my tripod. And I'm going to bring that along just simply because there's a couple of things I like to do when shooting crowds, but also at the mid-weight night when the fair lights start to come on and that ambient light is perfect for shooting at night. I think fall is the season that really draws out even your most casual photographers to get out and take photographs of this great light. So it's the season that you go out. And when I think about going out in the fall, I think of those crisp mornings which means I got to bring a few extra gloves, maybe a hat, and a windbreaker to break that morning chill. As far as equipment goes, I don't need to bring anything more than I normally bring, my normal arsenal. I bring a tripod, a variety of lenses, and I bring my flash at times, as well because that can kind of come in handy, reflectors. But other than that, I just go out and find the most appropriate compositionally pleasing scenes and fire away. Growing up in the North, I have a tremendous affection for shooting in winter and there's a lot of reasons why. One, fewer people go out in the winter. So it's a great time to be out there and kind of have the place to yourself. Secondly, you get to a place like this where it's un-tracked snow, but when you do see a track, you become so connected with the area that you're in that you become alive in a very different way. And the other is the fact that you get to go out and be kind of all by yourself. And I like that and with fewer people out shooting winter, it gives us the opportunity to really bring home something special that others don't go do.