Bastrop State Park

Two months ago, Jeff Kohn and I took a photography trip to Bastrop State Park. I had visited the park earlier this year with my family (see pics) and enjoyed shooting there, particularly in the bracken ferns. I really wanted to go back for more.

Jeff and I had been planning to get together for a serious photo outing for months, but you know how life gets busy and gets in the way of "hobbies" :-) In late September, we finally found a free weekend that didn't have excessive heat or hurricanes and made a one-day trip to the park.

click to enter gallery

I haven't seen any of Jeff's work from Bastrop yet. Maybe this post will get him movin' ;-)

Jeff doing his thing :-)

The weather was fairly nice during our trip. We hiked several miles and scouted around the park in the early afternoon. My heart sank when we arrived at the ferns and found them burned to a brown crisp. The drought conditions earlier in the summer had wiped out most of them. However, it did appear that they were making a comeback. A few bright green ferns stood proud above the crunchy forest floor.

Jeff and I made the best of it. It was good to get outdoors, talk photography, and shoot some. I certainly enjoyed it.

I got a chance to process my photos last weekend. I had shot several series of exposures attempting to capture some difficult backlit forest scenes. TuFuse worked extremely well and produced excellent results straight off. The first two photos in my photo gallery were TuFuse'd blends. I was fortunate that there was no breeze during the exposures and the trees remained perfectly still.

Those first two shots feature an oak tree beside a rock outcrop that Jeff and I became enamored with and photographed extensively. I'm looking forward to seeing his take on the scene.

I really enjoy seeing other people's work from group shoots. It's fascinating to see what different perspectives and ideas come from the same scene at the same time.