You know you're addicted to DPC when...

12/26/2009 07:20:53 PM · #1

...in the middle of the very first day of freezing rain/icepellets/rain/snow, when no other vehicles at all are on the road, you fight your way out of your driveway, brave slick roads to get to a friend's house. You stick your head in the door, say hi and yak for a few minutes, then go back outside, hunker down in the cold wet snow (I did mention freezing rain, didn't I?) for 20 minutes and slowly get sopping wet while your fingers freeze as you look for a sweet spot close to your friends' bird feeders, and do your damnedest to get a half-decent shot of a small, drably coloured, fast-moving bird, preferably in flight and of course in perfect focus, on a day where there is only grey murky sky and flat light all around....

And that's just for ONE challenge! For the sake of getting an entry-worthy shot, I've laid down on the ground in front of approaching horses and other livestock, knowing damn well how dangerous it is....climbed up into sometimes rickety old barns' haymows...gone into old houses and even stumbled across what must be an old crypt (no longer in use)...the list is endless.

What have you done for a challenge entry?

delin

Canon EOS-40D

12/26/2009 08:15:14 PM · #2

Hey now, you did all that for a bird feeder shot in a challlenge titled-

"Photograph a wild bird in a natural environment -- no birds on leashes, perched on gloves, no zoos, no bird feeders -- just wild and natural."

This is like the wolf jumping the fence all over again. Say it isn't so...

Ok, I'll confess I was tempted too. Even walked by a good feeder were a rare bird was reported several times this week. But I didn't shoot, didn't even pull a camera.

My bird is wild, no DNMC for me!

12/26/2009 09:07:26 PM · #3

Yeah, I know, I'm a bad person for even thinking of trying to capture birds coming or going from a feeder :-)

But *ahem*...who said I was getting that shot for Wild Birds? Not me! Maybe I planned to use that shot for the December Free Study, and was just in an especially masochistic mood, not to mention suffering cabin fever, so had to go somewhere.

Don't jump the gun! Or the wolf! Or the gate!

My original point/theme/whatever is, to what extent have others gone to get a shot for a challenge?

Message edited by author 2009-12-26 21:20:27.

Ja-9

Nikon D750

Canon 12x IS USM (S3 IS built-in Lens) -- 36-432mm (35mm EQ)

12/26/2009 09:15:42 PM · #4

I have purchased things (of course to return...bad, bad girl), gotten the stink eye from my husband for that...one my current challenge, my husband asked me if I had purchased the item for the challenge...of course I said "huh..." (which I hadn't in this case). I did buy Lady Bugs, countless bunches of flowers. But

snaffles you take the cake with your "stake out". To funny...

GeneralE

Canon PowerShot S3 IS

12/26/2009 09:29:50 PM · #5

Originally posted by snaffles:

My original point/theme/whatever is, to what extent have people gone to get a shot for a challenge?

Somewhere I think there's another "fairly recent" thread on this subject, but I can't remember what it was called ...

delin

Canon EOS-40D

12/26/2009 09:50:29 PM · #6

Originally posted by snaffles:

Sorry to hijack, just had to give you a hard time for ADMITTING you went to a bird feeder :)

yakatme

Lytro Illum Light Field Digital

Nikon AF-S Nikkor 17-35mm f/2.8D IF-ED

12/26/2009 10:11:56 PM · #7

Originally posted by snaffles:

What have you done for a challenge entry?

There's so many to choose from. Here's one of the first in my adventures:

I layed down in the road over and over again composing this shot. The problem was that there was a cold front moving through and the sound of the wind obscured the sound of cars coming around the corner behind me.

So it was pretty scary messing around with the camera and trying to line up the moon with the centerline of the road and having to keep looking behind me for cars. A couple of times I did have to jump up and scramble out of the way.

...then there's the alligator pic...but that's another story. Maybe I'll post that one here after awhile.

NikonJeb

Nikon D850

Nikon AF-S Nikkor 28-300mm f3.5-5.6G ED VR

12/26/2009 10:35:22 PM · #8

NM.....

Message edited by author 2009-12-26 23:29:23.

12/26/2009 11:04:19 PM · #9

I found an abandoned house this summer and went in and shot for about an hour, then fired off the pix to Ryan. He wanted to shoot there too so in we went. I shot a bit, then changed into a wedding gown (his sister's from 15 yrs ago) and posed for him.

Then I heard the sound of a car engine idling outside. I remember saying 'Uh-oh, I think we're busted'...and we were. Mind, there were no signs up prohibiting entry, no locked gates or doors, as we pointed out to the irate property owner. We smoothed things over, packed up and left.

Then later this summer we met a fire juggler at a local carnivale, and contacted him for the Fire shoot. He had me damp my hair down really well to reduce any risk of it catching fire! And he was thrilled with the shots we got, especially Ryan's stuff, and I believe is using it for promotional material now :-)

Message edited by author 2009-12-26 23:06:22.

Panasonic LUMIX DMC-LX100

12/26/2009 11:22:11 PM · #10

Originally posted by delin:

Originally posted by snaffles:
Yeah, I know, I'm a bad person for even thinking of trying to capture birds coming or going from a feeder :-)

But *ahem*...who said I was getting that shot for Wild Birds? Not me! Maybe I planned to use that shot for the December Free Study, and was just in an especially masochistic mood, not to mention suffering cabin fever, so had to go somewhere.

Don't jump the gun! Or the wolf! Or the gate!

My original point/theme/whatever is, to what extent have others gone to get a shot for a challenge?

Sorry to hijack, just had to give you a hard time for ADMITTING you went to a bird feeder :)

But I didn't have to go to another bird feeder, I have one right outside my kitchen window! I just went to where there are more bird feeders offering a greater variety of feed, and attracting a greater variety of birds. Never fear, even so, my seditious efforts were thwarted by the weather. :-(

spiritualspatula

Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 24-70mm f/2.8G ED

12/27/2009 12:23:35 PM · #11

I was going to get a shot for the bird challenge as well. It would have entailed waking up before sunrise, going out to a mostly frozen lake, and waiting for the sun to light the most insanely packed and populated section of open lake you'd ever seen (filled with Canada geese and mallard ducks... we're talking pretty much no swimming room here).
For

I snowshoed twelve miles (I was solo and it was all fresh snow... so that's 6 miles of trailbreaking) I do that stuff anyway, but that trip was for the picture specifically.

Camera got sandblasted on one of the many days I tried to get this one, due to 40mph winds. Plus I had to scurry up and down to the parking area and set up lugging my tripod and camera bag, in order to maximize my free parking time.

For those I drove around in the middle of nowhere Colorado for 3 hours trying to find the right tree. Then went home to come back and get the photo the next day as I was running out of sunlight. Drive directly to and from roundtrip was 1.5 hours the next day, and it was intermittently snowing and blowing at around 35mph.

Threw the ball and rolled around in two feet of snow for about an hour with my dog. Covered camera in snow and my hands got a bit cold, but otherwise that one wasn't that bad.

Message edited by author 2009-12-27 13:07:45.

see

Canon PowerShot S95

12/27/2009 01:05:42 PM · #12

Ok folks, here it is. I have suffered Las Vegas, I know- I know, a tough duty. But I do it all for the sake of youâ�¦â�¦.Your welcome.

sfalice

Canon PowerShot SX60 HS

12/27/2009 01:13:15 PM · #13

I drove 600 miles round trip to get this one
and loved every minute of it.

Skip

Canon EOS-1D X

Canon EF 300mm f/2.8L IS USM

12/27/2009 04:53:57 PM · #14

you know you're addicted to dpc when you're out of work and your kids think you work for a company called 'dpc'...

Ja-9

Nikon D750