The Great Outdoors

I have sort of a "love-hate" relationship with the outdoors, especially when it comes to photography. While I love the look of outdoor nudes, and the wide variety of settings and lighting situations that present themselves, I'm not wild about actually getting there. Maybe it's my suburban upbringing or some bad camp experiences as a kid, but I've never had much of an affinity for the outdoors. Between getting near the location, hauling gear to the actual location, the risk of passersby causing problems, and a reluctance to ask a model to do any tricky climbing or get dirty or wet (especially miles away from a shower), I've done a pretty small number of outdoor shoots. Water presents additional problems, because it's hard to tell just how polluted a stream or pond is, or what's under the surface. That, and just knowing WHERE to go. State parks can be an option, except there's usually hikers and such about. Or I suppose I could just drive to an empty spot on the map and just look for woods or a stream and hike to a secluded spot somewhere in the middle. Or ask around...

Dave Levingston is an expert on this, and seems to have a knack for finding amazing locations anyplace he travels to. Maybe I should pick his brain a bit now and do a little location scouting, before the weather warms up and spring is here again.

Here's Nia outstretched at a location she suggested, on a decidedly warmer day. Sadly, when we got to the location, the water was so filthy that there was no way for her to get in, so we had to stick to the dry land.

P.S. Blogger has been on the fritz a bit lately, so apologies if you've tried to visit and nothing was here. I think it's part of their effort to get everyone to "upgrade" to their new system. I'm dreading that move, but I guess I'll have to do it before long.