I met up with the young lady at the designated spot.  The shoot location was up a dirt road behind two locked gates.  I’ve shot there many times with no problems.  But today was different.  The first gate was unlocked when I drove up to it.  I started to go through it but though differently after I checked the lock only to realize that the combination was not the same.  Someone had changed the combination.  My fear was that as soon as I got to the shoot location someone would come behind me and lock the gate while I was still in there and I would be locked in.  Not happening.  I knew of another place and off we went.

The other place was not as nice as the first but there would be some privacy.  We drove up to the entrance and there was yet another gate.  This one was shut but not locked.  I got out and opened the gate and drove on through.  Probably not one of my smarter moves of the day.  The road to the top was about five miles and most of it was a one lane road with no room to pass.  We made it to the end of the road to where we were to shoot and there were construction going on exactly where we were going to shoot.  There were bulldozers, dump trucks and front end loaders.  Not a chance to shoot there.

On the road to the top there are a couple of overlooks where one could pull over and see down below.  Pretty nice view during the fall.  We pulled over to find a hiking trail so we did what any desperate photographer would do, we went hiking.  About a mile in we found a little outcropping of rocks that overlooked down below and we decided to shoot there.  It was a nice little location.

About twenty minutes into our shoot a group of mountain bikers road by and asked if that was my truck sitting at the trailhead.  It seems that the park ranger was looking for someone to tow it away because of the heavy equipment being used on that road.  Needless to say we packed up and left.  We decided to call it quits for the day and try it again some other time.  It was a sign for us not to shoot today.  We did get a few useable shoots but to be honest, I normally get around 900 to over 1200 pictures during a two hour shoot.  Today I only got 227 pictures.  Well below my normal.

Heading to the beach tomorrow.  I’m excited.

“Life Goes On!”