Old Irish clock

Time Management

Old Irish clock

Time and tide wait for no man, no machine

~ This post is from last year, but is still relevant, what are your thoughts…??? ~


 

We had our final planning lunch today for this year’s fall colors trip.   Still a bunch of  details to iron out, like who meets who when and where.   However, we did have an interesting topic show up today as we were looking over the Eastern Sierra AAA map.  How do we manage the time?  Over the course of the day, do we rush and get six different locations, or do we explore Two location in depth for the whole day?  Clearly a matter of temperament, with each having advantages and disadvantages.

There are new places to explore, e.g. there are some sulfur springs that we have not been to, might there be some strange formations, maybe good for macro photography?  Or, what about the new canyon and road to Bodie?   What would that be like?   Is it east facing or west or neither?  But, I may too want enough time that I can really figure out how to light a bristle cone pine given its harsh environment and contrasty light.  This could easily be a half day project or more.

Maybe there is a way to have my cake and eat it too – Sort of….  We will be there for several days. We can split the group with one group having lots of time at each location and the other group exploring.

It is important though for each of us to understand what it is that we want, and how that affects our choices.  Now that the trip is over, and a success.  However, the first timers on this trip had several very important insights around time.  There was not enough of it which is somewhat expected, however it manifest  as not enough time to sleep, not enough time to process photos after shooting, and not enough time to sit down as a group and review photos.

What worked very well was the learning that occurred in the vehicles as we drove from one location to the next.

What we did which seems to be about the limit was about 1.5 to  2 hours per location, and then on to the next.  It was during the travel periods that we took bio breaks, grabbed food, closed eyes, munched on breakfast bars, or drank cold coffee.  For planning purposes, assume sunrise is 7am, sunset at 5 pm.

  • Sunrise at a location – Usually someplace where we saw the sunrise. (need to be there an hour before sunrise and it may take an hour to drive there).  (~2 hours)

    Sunrise

    Sunrise

  • Move to a valley that is still in shadow and shoot for about 2.5 hours until the sun is too high and the light too hard.

    Morning after Sunrise

    Morning after Sunrise

  • Grab food  on way to next location (about 1.5 hours)
  • Drive to next location 30 minutes to 2 hours
  • This location will have hard light, so want either side lighting or back lit in the trees or broad vistas. (2 hours)_MG_1742_3_4
  • Go grab sunset some place ( 1 hour)  Mono at Sunset
  • Drive to dinner
  • Drive back to motel
  • Unload photos, charge batteries, shower, crash.