Upstate New York - Life as a photographer in the Adirondacks

I've got a week and a half in upstate New York.  I've been looking forward to this time, but I've also been nervous about it.  There are a few reasons:  being away from my computer (I have a beautiful iMac with a second monitor that I edit all my photos on.  I spend more time with my computer than anything else - it's a huge part of the life as a photographer!), being so off the grid with no cell service and minimal wifi, and a little stress about family dynamics.  I love my family and I love seeing them!  I get nervous because I often become the 14 year old Whitney when we get together and the progress in becoming who I am as an adult goes out the window.  It is interesting to step back and observe this!  I am now Whitney, a professional photographer, and someone who loves learning, people, nature, and arts.

I’ve been here before, but I don’t feel like I’ve ever really SEEN it.  My goal in photography is to show people what a beautiful world is out there and how to open their eyes to it.  Well I’ve been here 3 times in the last 10 years and this week, I finally finally opened my eyes and saw it.  We drove in at 4 am and I was exhausted.  But I saw the room, the view of the lake, and the super moon that night, and I was so inspired that I couldn’t sleep, so I started hiking around with my camera.  This photo above is the very first photo I took here.  That's part of the magic in it for me.  I enjoy looking through 100 photos and finding the best ones (I have 500 photos from this night, and others that I think are prettier) but when it is the very first exposure, it feels different.  I often debate whether to post the photos that I connect most to or the photos I believe that you will connect most to.  Today, this one is impactful to me and I wanted to share.

I stayed out for 4 hours running around the lake, finding reflections, in awe of the fog, and taking photos the whole time.  It felt like a sacred space for me.  For miles and miles, I was the only one awake.  Except for a few animals - there were squirrels or chipmunks or something in the trees literally throwing pine cones at me.  The grass was wet from the dew, and the moon was so bright.  I lifted a beautiful old wooden canoe, much too heavy for one person, but somehow managed it and saw the sunrise from the water.  It’s a large lake with a couple little islands, but I was there in complete solitude.

I watched the sunrise from the middle of the lake on a beautiful old canoe with fog surrounding me.  Yes, I was brave and took my camera with me, just trusting that that the canoe wouldn’t tip. :)  And it was worth it -  The lake was golden, and I have never seen anything like it.

 

I feel I am finding a piece of myself out here.  The beauty, the connection with nature, the lack of connection to technology.  It's almost like a creative retreat.  I have much to be grateful for today.

In My Own Backyard

As you may remember, I've been visiting all the National Parks, with a plan to photograph all of them by 2020.  This has been an incredible adventure, a chance to prove the world is a beautiful place, to really open my eyes and share it!  But every time I travel, I am even more impacted by coming home.  I get to rediscover my own backyard, to see it as though I had traveled miles to get here.  I have mountains as a backdrop to my life!  How much better does it get?  

 

Well, this particular Sunday, I visited a place I knew well, somewhere I often shot for engagement photos.  3 or 4 years ago when I lived in Utah County, Utah Lake was one of my favorite sunset locations.  I had no clue it was a State Park at the time.  In fact, I had NEVER even visited or photographed it other than during an engagement or bridal session.  I got to explore somewhere I'd already been, but never really seen.  To discover something I already knew, but never acknowledged.  I sat on the rocks and wrote, I walked, dipped my toes in the water, watched the clouds move across the sky.  I even started singing songs!  It's inspiring to be surrounded my nature like this.